Gothic (1986)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Written by Stephen Volk
Directed by Ken Russell
Starring Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, and Natasha Richardson

Features:

• Dolby 2.0 Stereo Surround
  

Rating: R

Anamorphic: Nope. Fullscreen.

My Advice: Rent it. Or don't.

As a huge fan of Romantic era fiction, as well as the acting styles of Julian Sands and Gabriel Byrne, I was excited when this movie came out. A sort of behind-the-scenes look at the dark psyches that created Frankenstein and a whole host of properly gothic poetry. The film purports to tell the story of one fateful night where Byron, Shelley, Mary Godwin (would-be Shelley), Claire Clairemont, and Charles Polidori gathered on an estate to tell ghost stories.

Unfortunately, this movie is just not what it could have been. The main characters, who are usually fine actors, do not seem themselves at all in this film. For example, the usually elegant and refined Byrne spends the entire film trying to be sinister and effeminate, and Sands as Byron is just irritating. They spend the entire night of the film jumping at shadows and storms, having random sex scenes, and hallucinating for no apparent reason. One can only assume that Byrne and Sands signed on hoping Gothic would be more of a concept art piece than it really is.

As flat as the characters are, the plot is even worse. The general idea is interesting enough: what experiences generated Frankenstein, and what were these literary geniuses really like? But in execution, it is a series of apparently unconnected scenes, seemingly generated only to frighten or titillate an audience--and rather failing at both. While the idea might be to put the viewers into the be-opiumed minds of the writers, the effect is less interestingly surreal and frightening than just bizarre and silly; after all, a film is not a documentary--it is supposed to have a story to tell and characters to bring to life, perhaps even a point to make. Somehow, the writers and director managed to work in a belly dancer and a stigmata--I'm still trying to figure those out. While the last half hour or so manages to attain a sort of low-level creepiness and surrealism suited to the creative process, it's too little, too late.

The DVD extras are non-existent. One can only assume the studio realized that there was no point... However, it would have been nice to have had, for example, some scenes from Frankenstein paralleled with events from the movie, but there would have had to be some legitimate connection between that book and the movie for that to have worked.

If you enjoy pointless orgies, horrid dialogue, hate the Romantic era and want it to suffer, or you like cheesy scene shots, then you might enjoy Gothic. Might. If, on the other hand, you actually have some respect for the writers involved, like horror movies that are actually frightening, or just want to be entertained by your films, then you're better off looking elsewhere.