Review of Gothic (1987) by Stuart K — 17 Mar 2009
Ken Russell turned to horror with this intellectual horror film, based upon a real encounter of real literary figures which occured one night and resulted in the creation of one of the best horror stories of all time.
It's not a vintage Ken Russell film, (he was clutching at straws for film financing at this time), but it is a very eerie and excessive visual piece. The film is set at Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, and it tells the story of Percy Bysshe Shelley (Julian Sands) and his wife Mary Shelley (Natasha Richardson) coming to the estate by the lake to visit Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) and Dr John William Polidori (Timothy Spall).
During the night of their stay, they had a famous challenge amongst themselves to write a horror story, which would eventually end up with Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein and Polidori writing The Vampyre.
This is the kind of excessiveness you would expect from Britain's maddest filmmaker. It is a flawed film, with the expected emphasis on sex and shocking imagery. It does have a weird modern score by Thomas Dolby to it's name, but it's good performances and grand location at Gaddesden Place in Hemel Hempstead make up for any of the film's shortcomings.
This review of Gothic (1987) was written by Stuart K on 17 Mar 2009.
Gothic has generally received mixed reviews.
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