Abigail (2019)
Alternate Reality/Steampunk and Magic
Russian film that creates a fascinating alternate reality where Steampunk and magic blend in an almost familiar world
Steampunk
Steampunk is a form of science-fiction based on the imagined possibilities of Victorian technology. It is filled with images of deliberately antiquarian machines based around steam technology and early developments of electricity, all in the designs of 19th Century industrialism and peopled by typical characters of the era. Crucial to Steampunk is the common setting of Victorian England and Europe, although there have been several entries that place Steampunk technology in a Western setting.
Steampunk can be a full Alternate History depicting widespread changes in the existing timeline, or as a single or several Steampunk-styled inventions in a period adventure with no implied alteration to existing history.
Steampunk appeared on screen before it was ever labelled as a genre, beginning with the various Jules Verne and H.G. Wells film adaptations of the 1950s and 60s. It has sporadically appeared since then, while in the real world it has even spilled over into fashion and cosplay.
For more detail and an overview of the genre see the Theme Essay Steampunk Films.
April and the Extraordinary World (2015)
Animation/Steampunk Alternate History Adventure
Animated film that takes place in a Steampunk alternate history. This brims over with an extraordinary degree of visual invention from the amazingly detailed vistas of the world to a script tossing in quirky twists and wacky inventions
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Jules Verne Comedy Adaptation
Jules Verne’s classic adventure novel is turned into a comedy vehicle for Jackie Chan. One of Chan’s biggest flops, an overblown turkey packed with celebrity cameos and replacing Verne’s adventure with incredibly unfunny slapstick
At the Earth’s Core (1976)
Lost World at the Centre of the Earth/Edgar Rice Burroughs Adaptation
Second in the trilogy of Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations starring Doug McClure. This opens with the fabulous invention of the drilling mole but the arrival at the earth’s core look cheap and tatty
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
Disney Animation/The Quest for Atlantis
One of the less successful films of the Disney renaissance of the 90s/00s. Disney has never done well with animated SF. That aside, this a very nicely animated Steampunk adventure
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Time Travel
Third of the Back to the Future films, which takes everything back in time to the Old West. Probably the slightest of the trilogy, this nevertheless goes out with a rousing farewell
Captain Nemo and the Underwater City (1969)
Underwater Adventures
Amid the fad for Jules Verne adaptations in the 1960s, Captain Nemo was spun off in this original adventure. By now Verne’s brooding inventor has become an absurdly larger-than-life comic-book character
Dilili in Paris (2018)
Animation/Journey Through Belle Epoque Paris
Michel Ocelot is one of the great underrated animators of the world. Here he makes an exquisite tribute to the Belle Epoque featuring appearances from names of the era and decked out in Steampunk inventions
The Empire of Corpses (2015)
Anime/Alternate Victorian England Based on Frankenstein Technology
Fascinatingly original anime set in an alternate history Steampunk version of Victorian England that has developed a technology based on Frankenstein’s corpse resurrection experiments
The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958)
Jules Verne Adaptation/Steampunk
Czech Jules Verne adaptation that conducts an extraordinary blend of animation and live-action. Maybe the purest evocation of Steampunk that has ever been placed on screen. A work of underappreciated genius
The First Men in the Moon (1964)
Victorian Lunar Expedition/H.G. Wells Adaptation
Adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel about a Victorian journey to the Moon and encounter with its denizens. The film comes with Ray Harryhausen effects but is considerably weakened by a buffoonish tone
The First Men in the Moon (2010)
Victorian Lunar Expedition/H.G. Wells Adaptation
Very nicely produced BBC retelling of the H.G. Wells novel that conducts an extremely faithful adaptation of the story and captures a perfect period sense of wonder
Frankenstein (2025)
Frankenstein Adaptation
Guillermo Del Toro tackles his long-planned adaptation of Frankenstein. An exquisitely designed and costumed film that is a feast for the eyes where Del Toro determines to wring out new angles on an oft told tale
From the Earth to the Moon (1958)
Victorian Moon Expedition/Jules Verne Adaptation
One of a series of Jules Verne adaptations that were popular in the 1950s about a Victorian-era Lunar rocket launch, this starts with great promise but loses impetus once it gets into orbit
Gentlemen Explorers (2013)
Steampunk Film
This advertises itself as the first live-action Steampunk film. What we get is like a Victorian version of The Librarians with two adventurers hunting mythical artifacts while armed with steam weapons
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2013)
Animation/Boy With a Cuckoo-Clock Heart on a Quest
A French animated film where a boy with a cuckoo-clock for a heart goes on a quest for love through a surreal quasi-Steampunk world. With cameos from Georges Melies and Jack the Ripper
Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon (1967)
Victorian Rocket Launch Comedy
This jumps aboard the 1960s fad for Jules Verne film adaptations but it has nothing to do with Verne and is instead a slapstick caper film about the building of a rocket during the Victorian era
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Teamup of Characters from Victorian Fiction/Graphic Novel Adaptation
The much hated adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novels. It is undeniable fun watching the crossover between various fictional Victorian characters, while the production design is amazing
Master of the World (1961)
Victorian Airship Adventure/Jules Verne Adaptation
One amid the spate of Jules Verne adaptations of in the 50s/60s with Vincent Price as Robur, the inventor of an amazing airship
Mysterious Island (1961)
Desert Island Survival/Giant Animals
Amid the fad for Jules Verne adaptations of the 1950s/60s, we had this version of Verne’s desert island story, which has been pumped up with the addition of giant-size Ray Harryhausen animals and insects
Poor Things (2023)
Frankenstein Film
Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone conduct a revisionist take on the Frankenstein film. This ended up a critical favourite at most of the 2023 awards with Emma winning the show in an hilarious performance
The Prestige (2006)
Rival Victorian Stage Magicians
Christopher Nolan directs a beautiful period piece with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as rival Victorian stage magicians. The film is an elegantly crafted Hall of Mirrors and illusions, capped by sterling performances from all involved
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Sherlock Holmes Steampunk Adventure
A mockbuster take on Sherlock Holmes from The Asylum released the same time as the Guy Ritchie-Robert Downey Jr film. Ben Syder makes for a neurotically subdued Holmes but the film takes a leap off into demented Steampunk territory to emerge as one of The Asylum’s better offerings
Steamboy (2004)
Steampunk Anime
Sixteen years after making Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo returns to direct a full-length anime, making a Steampunk work that is dazzling in its epic quality and vistas of mass destruction
The Stolen Airship (1967)
Jules Verne Adaptation/Steampunk
Another of the delightful Steampunk adventures from Karel Zeman that blend animation and live-action in unique ways
Sucker Punch (2011)
Fantasy Action in Dreamed Alternate Realities
Bizarrely uncategorisable film from Zack Snyder that seems a mix of Girl, Interrupted and Inception
Taichi Hero (2012)
Wu Xia Film
Sequel to Stephen Fung’s Taichi Zero. The first film was distractingly self-conscious and hyper-active; by contrast, this is much less so, allowing it to settle down and start being the fantastic martial arts film it sets out to be. Even so, classic Wu Xia directors leave everything Fung does for dead
Taichi Zero (2012)
Wu Xia Film
From the high-profile release this had, I was expecting it to be a Wu Xia epic – instead we get what feels like a martial arts film by way of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World where instead of amazing us with the fight scenes the director seems in love with self-conscious cuteness of his own visuals
Terra Incognita 1901 (2024)
Animation/Steampunk Adventure
A very nicely animated French Steampunk film about an expedition aboard a steam airship to explore the secret entrance to an underground world in the Antarctic. A computer animated film all made by one person.
The Three Investigators in the Secret of Terror Castle (2009)
Juvenile Detectives Investigate a Spooky Mansion
The Three Investigators books were an essential part of my youth. This does a fair job of remaining faithful to the stories, albeit with the addition of some grating modernisations, and creates reasonable atmosphere as they investigate a seemingly spooky mansion
Tin Man (2007)
Modernised Wizard of Oz
Nick Willing conducts the first of his SF revampings of popular tales. Here The Wizard of Oz is reworked into a Steampunk fantasy with some startling reinterpetations of the familiar characters
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Victorian Submarine Inventor/Jules Verne Adaptation
Disney’s adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel is a lavishly produced period adventure. This became the definitive version of the book and inspired a string of other period-set Verne adaptations over the next decade
War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012)
H.G. Wells Sequel/Steampunk Alternate History
Sequel to the H.G. Wells novel that imagines a fascinating alternate history that might have occurred following the Martian invasion. The clear appeal has been creating a series of scenes showing humanity tackling invading tripods in giant Steampunk manned robots
Warlords of Atlantis (1978)
Lost World Adventure
Not one of the Doug McClure Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations but by the same people and in the same vein. Thanks to a particularly inventive script this is the best of these lost world adventures
Wild Wild West (1999)
Western Spy Film/TV Series Remake
The big screen remake of the 1960s Western/spy mashup tv series is transformed into an overblown and painfully unfunny Will Smith vehicle that loudly signals it is taking none of itself seriously
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
Teenage Sherlock Holmes/Adventure Film
Steven Spielberg produced film about an adolescent Sherlock Holmes often feels like it is Holmes being pitched as an Indiana Jones adventure but comes with some beautifully made touches