Gothic
Written on February 19, 2008
Gothic The year is 1816. A sprawling villa in Switzerland is the setting for a stormy night of madness. On this night of the “Haunted Summer,” five famous friends gather around an ancient skull to conjure up their darkest fears. Poets Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, Shelley’s fianc?e Mary Godwin, Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairemont and Byron’s friend John Polidori spend a hallucinogenic evening confronting their fears in a frenzy of shocking lunacy. Horrifying visions invade the castle - realizations of Byron’s fear of leeches, Shelley’s fear of premature burial, Mary’s fear of birthing a stillborn child - all brought forth in a bizarre dreamscape. They share the terrifying fantasies that chase them through the castle that night. The events of that night later inspired Mary Shelley to write the classic “Frankenstein” and Dr. Polidori to pen “The Vampyre,” which became the basis for the creation of Dracula. Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson
Customer Review: Frankenstein’s origin ~ Ken Russell style!
So we’ve all read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein…we know the story…we’ve seen in sliced, diced, chopped, smothered and covered in many different adaptations over the years! This movie, GOTHIC, tells us how Mary was creatively inspired to write the story.
Other than the cinematography and brilliant sets/costumes, Gothic is by no means a brilliant peice of cinema. The script is very muddy and you can tell Ken Russell took A LOT of liberties with it for shock value! The eyes/breasts scene for example as well as the electronic harem stripper. But hey, wine mixed with opium could probably make you see these things. The difference is that most people would laugh out loud instead of being horrified.
The cast is first rate. Natasha Richardson, always the lady, makes this film her own. You empathise with her fears most of all because of Mary’s tragic backstory. Sadly, Julian Sands and Gabriel Byrne although accomplished actors, are wasted here…especially Sands. He plays Percy Shelley like a little boy who has been told there’s no such thing as Santa Clause. Byrne is great but his Lord Byron is shoved too far into the background for his performance to actually further the plot.
Overall the film is sufficient entertainment. Something to pop into the old DVD player on a boring weeknight when you need to take your mind off of the days worries. But if you really want to be scared, go to your local bookstore and pick up Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN. She knows what scares you!!!
Customer Review: The Power of Imagination
On a dark and stormy night, in a remote, but lavish country estate, in an equally distant Victorian mansion there resides the charismatic, but often eccentric, Englishman, Lord Byron. Staged for an exercise in humanistic logic, scientific philosophy and creative writing, he gathers an odd assembly of thrill seeking Bohemian characters. Among the notables, are poet Percy Shelly, his author wife Mary, his personal physician, and of course their host, Lord Byron. Beginning with a blasphemous premise that they are imbued with the power to create life itself, Byron suggests they abandon their earthly inhibitions of morality and civil conviction and drink a concentrated draft of Laudium laced wine. The terrifying after effects manifest themselves in the literal passages later found in the poetic works of Percy Shelley or his wife’s most famous novel Frankenstine. With a storm raging high above them, the group evokes sacred beliefs, sacrilegious rites and amoral concepts which create a frightening spectral atmosphere that nearly consumes them. Anyone seeking the foundation of the most popular Gothic monster ever created, should view this film. ****
godwin mary, ancient skull, mary godwin, night of madness, percy shelley, natasha richardson, julian sands, mary shelley, shock value, stillborn child, premature burial, ken russell, gabriel byrne, fianc, stepsister, clairemont, stormy night, friend john, leeches, dreamscape
Filed in: Goth Lifestyle.
