Gothic Poster

Gothic (1986)

Horror  
Rayting:   5.8/10 7.3K votes
Country: UK
Language: English
Release date: 27 February 1987

The Shelleys visit Lord Byron and compete to write a horror story.

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User Reviews

Andy-296 25 January 2008

I saw this some twenty years ago, and haven't seen it since. It is a very particular vision of the famous night when Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley spent a night in a country estate in Switzerland and decided to see who wrote the scariest story. Mary Shelley, of course, wrote Frankenstein out of that night. There are other movies on this subject - I think Roger Corman made one. Gothic is what one expects from Ken Russell - lurid, grotesque, hallucinatory, over the top. It hasn't been seen a lot since then, it hasn't become one of his classics, but it is a good film for those who like this sort of thing. And there is the addition of seeing the then young and upcoming English actors playing this - Natasha Richardson (as Mary Shelley), Gabriel Byrne (Lord Byron), Julian Sands (Percy Shelley), Timothy Spall. The scene that have stand most in my memory: Myriam Cyr's nipples turning into eyes.

BaronBl00d 19 January 2009

Fmovies: ...which undoubtedly explains my lack of appreciation, understanding, or any positive feeling I might muster against this extraordinary piece of rubbish. I love Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the Frankenstein films(for the most part), and history but this film has virtually nothing to do with any of that. It looks like some guy on a big acid trip got a camera and some far-out crew and made this film coaxing some over-the-top performances from what normally would be a great cast. Yes, many will say I lost the point. I didn't get what director Ken Russell was trying to do. His vision is lost on me(thankfully I might add). The best part of this film is the beginning prologue and end epilogue of a tourist group in Switzerland seeing the place where Frankenstein was born. Pity, we had to endure the bit in the middle. The film lacks cohesion so to give you the story would virtually be impossible but here goes: five people(Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, some other girl, and Dr. Polidori)are vacationing in the Alps and taking part in all kinds of perversions that would make the Marquis de Sade quite happy. You might have been taught in school that they had a contest and each set out to write a ghost story. Here there is little screen time devoted to that. What we do get is intellectually pompous drivel devoid of any real substance - substantiative or artistic. The cast drives around like mad with Julian Sands parading naked on a roof top and looking more like an inmate of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest rather than a great 19th century Romantic poet. Gabriel Byrne is sadistic as the great Byron. Timothy Spall is mad and disgusting as Polidori. Only Natasha Richardson give a somewhat subtle performance - if you can call it that for it lacks any direction at all. Ken Russell has always been intriguing as a director and if you are looking for something off the beaten track - this road is spotless and free of conventional transportation. Sometime; however, I would rather take the road more traveled.

psycho-dj 14 October 2000

I didn't quite understand this film the first time I saw it. It was like a mass of confusion, but after watching it a few more times, I understand why it seemed as such. It can be difficult to tell what's real and what's just a hallucination (or a ghost). Gothic is definitely a thinking person's horror film. These people (Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, etc) were definately ahead of their time and very strange for lack of a better word. I was never a big fan of the story of Frankenstein, despite being a horror movie fan, but this film reeled me in to wanting to know more about Mary Shelley and the bizarre lifestyle of her and her friends. How true to their actual lifestyle this film actually is, I'm not sure, but it makes Mary Shelley's masterpiece make more sense. As for the film "Gothic" itself, words are hard to describe it as it is hard to understand it. But once one does get it, it is far more intriguing than "Frankenstein" in my opinion. With the insanity, freaky images, and the insight into the lives of these famous literary people, I would highly recommend this film to intelligent people who like horror films. It may be far from the best film ever made, but it is excellent for people with a mind. And as I tell people who haven't seen it, 'this movie will make you never want to do drugs again'!

brchthethird 25 December 2014

Gothic fmovies. Gothic, directed by Ken Russell, is a rather interesting film that deals with, among other things, the dark side of creativity and imagination. More specifically, it's about the night when Mary Shelley came up with the idea that she would later turn into the novel "Frankenstein." By and large, the performances are quite good, although I didn't really care for Julian Sands. However, the story was almost non-existent and ephemeral, existing merely to have a bunch of people go around saying stuffy lines and get scared out of their wits by creatures borne of their imaginations. Granted, some of these sequences and images were haunting and surreal, but it all added up to a lot of style with very little substance. As far as the score is concerned, I thought that the work Thomas Dolby did was impeccable as far as its musical quality, but some of the cues didn't really fit (to me) with this kind of period piece. The story takes place in the early 19th century, but a lot of the music sounded very 1980's with synthesizers and programmed drums. It's a score that I'd buy, but I'm not too sure that it completely fit the film. From a technical standpoint, I thought it was very well-made, i.e., it was well-lit and the shot composition was varied. There were also some Dutch angles that accentuated the disorienting feel the filmmakers seemed to be going for. Overall, if you're looking for a well-told story that has characters you care about and identify with, this might not be the best choice for you. However, if you like heavily stylized and surreal horror, this will probably suit your fancy.

amplexuslotus 9 July 2009

This is the type of film which makes you fall in love with movies. Ken Russell is a master filmmaker and one which always captivates, delights and challenges the viewer. I was lucky enough to catch him in Philadelphia in the 90's where he was given a filmmaker award for excellence in film. He's as interesting, humorous and intelligent as his movies.

Other films by him I highly recommend WOmen in Love (1969), Lisztomania (1975), Altered States (1980), Salomé's Last Dance (1988), The Lair of the White Worm (1988), The Rainbow (1989) and there are probably many others - including his work for British TV - but I've yet to see them yet unfortunately.

Gothic is a film which will enthrall, engage and frighten the viewer with excellent acting from ALL the actors - support and lead. Sad that this was Richardson's first major film and we have been denied the grace of viewing any future projects from such a wonderful actor.

I highly recommend Gothic to any serious film goer. This is the type of film which will make wish to research further information about the main characters. Mary Shelley is brought to flesh through Russell's excellent direction and Richardson's beautifully nuanced intelligent interpretation.

robotman-2 18 October 2000

GOTHIC is a seductive and fascinating study of the four principle players in the turn-of-the-century origin of at least one, if not two, of the principle monster icons of popular culture: the

vampire and the Frankenstein Monster. But despite the incredible (and true) historical significance of the writing challenge, to produce a ghost story apiece worthy of these literary personages, Mary and Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and Polidori, the film is brilliant in its fictional depiction of people whose minds are brilliant enough, creatively, that their ideas become tangible forces, released, and uncontrollable.

The chaotic structure of GOTHIC is excellent, while the interplay between the actors is fabulous. GOTHIC's intellectual hysteria creates an atmosphere where ghosts and demons gain power and autonomous life from their creators, showing the formulation in Mary Shelley's mind of the Frankenstein story, and the tragic consequence of both the story and the real lives of Percy Shelley, Byron and Polidori. Well worth experiencing.

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