Gothic (1987)

Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent but underrated film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Gothic" is a fictional account of a June evening in 1816 which purportedly inspired Mary Shelley to write "Frankenstein." It was at the Villa Diodati, with her soon-to-be-husband Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, her stepsister Claire Clairmont, and Dr. William Polidori—all important historical figures. During a storm, the group decide to have an impromptu seance, after which they are tormented by apparitions, visions, and bumps in the night.Criticized by some for being one of Russell's more outlandish works, "Gothic" is certainly bonkers —like a fever dream crossed with the literary works of its subjects. Total cohesion is impossible given Russell's aims here, which are far more impressionistic than anything else. The film works itself into a frenzy that mirrors the state of mind of its characters, under the influence of the monsters of their own minds, or of God's, or the devil's, or perhaps (according to some historical accounts), opium use. The film never clues the audience in to any of these; we are simply handed the madness all its own.There are some nightmarish visuals throughout and several notably disturbing sequences. Others are utterly bizarre and borderline comical, a line that seems to be toed quite finely throughout. Intimations of the characters' own inner struggles and demons are transmitted subtly and overtly: Miscarriages, lost romances, homosexual desires, and religious paranoia. The performances match the content in terms of their histrionics; Julian Sands is especially over-the-top as Percy Shelley, and the same can be said for Miriam Cyr and Timothy Spall, while Natasha Richardson and Gabriel Byrne are a bit more understated in comparison.In the end, "Gothic" is really one of those love-it-or-hate-it types of films. It is thin on plot and thick on impressions and visuals. At times the film feels like a haunted funhouse where things go bump in the night, and at others is far more grave and dark than its more tongue-in-cheek moments. For what Russell seemed to be aiming to do, the film accomplishes it with the help of each creature, apparition, and hysteric. As a deluge of human repressions, fears, and existential dilemmas come to life, "Gothic" is an appropriately bloody, dripping pulp. 9/10.

Story of the night that Mary Shelley gave birth to the horror classic "Frankenstein." Disturbed drug induced games are played and ghost stories are told one rainy night at the mad Lord Byron's country estate.When you have a horror film directed by Ken Russell, starring Gabriel Byrne as Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Bysshe Shelley and Natasha Richardson as Mary Shelley, you expect a certain level of quality, or at least entertainment. And I think this more or less hit those marks.For me, the most troublesome part was the poor quality DVD. Maybe there are good ones and bad ones, but the one I had was pretty fuzzy -- not unlike a VHS transfer. This is the sort of title that Shout Factory could do wonders with.

Ken Russell's "Gothic" has a title both redolent of itself and the literary genre whose birth it charts. The renowned English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (Julia Sands), his soon-to-be wife Mary Godwin (Natasha Richardson), and Mary's highly-strung stepsister Claire Clairmont (Miriam Cyr) travel to the Villa Diodati in Switzerland to be house-guests of the infamous exile Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) and his fawning physician Dr John Polidori (Timothy Spall). After an evening of excess imbibing laudanum and reading ghost stories to combat the boredom due to being kept inside by a lightning storm, all five denizens of this house of horrors (the Universal-esque title "House of Byron" would have been just as apt) must contend with nightmarish hallucinations and come face to face with their innermost terrors.As a literary biopic, viewers may find Russell's trademark auteur-ial flourishes offputting, but they are well suited to the subject matter and the larger than life grotesqueries of the characters themselves. Gabriel Byrne portrays the club-footed and lascivious Byron with great relish, and is reminiscent of the gentlemen who essayed the role in the opening prologue to "The Bride of Frankenstein". Spall is twitchy and nervy as Polidori, barely suppressing his homosexual lust for his devilish master, and conflicted with the Catholic upbringing that teaches him such feelings are evil. Polidori would come to chart his leanings, and his tortured feelings for Byron, in "The Vampyre": in which the Western world's first literary bloodsucker Lord Ruthven is a thinly-veiled portrait of the poet.Julian Sands (the "Warlock" himself!) and Miriam Cyr give a good acquittal of themselves as a soppy and foppish Shelley and the hysterical Claire respectively, but the showpiece of the film is in my opinion the performance of the late Natasha Richardson as the nascent Mary Shelley, whose nightmares of her stillborn child and yearning to bring it back to life give birth (pun intended) to the legend of "Frankenstein". The sequence in which Mary sees a grotesque version of herself - looking spookily like Erica Blanc's succubus from "The Devil's Nightmare" - nursing a baby's skeleton in a crib stayed with me for a long, long time (perhaps i shouldn't have been watching this at eight years old..?).

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.