Horror

Gothic

Virgin Vision

United Kingdom

English

Gabriel Byrne

Julian Sands

Natasha Richardson

Myriam Cyr

Timothy Spall

Alec Mango

Andreas Wisniewski

Dexter Fletcher

Pascal King

Tom Hickey

Linda Coggin

Kristine Landon-Smith

Chris Chappell

Mark Pickard

Kiran Shah

Kim Tillesly

Ken Russell

Cosey Fanny Tutti

Stephen Volk

Al Clark

Robert Devereux

Mary Selway

Lissa Ruben

Bruce White

Andy Nelson

Mike Dowson

Steve Parker

John Chandler

Graham Day

Iain Patrick

Callum McDougall

Peter Freeman

Meinir Jones-Lewis

Pat Hay

Yvonne Coppard

Tracey Smith

Michael Jeffery

Laura Julian

Nick Daubeny

Jane Studd

Michael Buchanan

Trisha Edwards

Peter Grant

Rodney Pincott

Peter Pennell

Clive Coote

Zakiya Powell

Ronaldo Vasconcellos

Roy Street

Tony Smart

Helen Caldwell

Christopher Hobbs

Victoria Russell

Kay Gallwey

Michael Bradsell

Penny Corke

Thomas Dolby

Mike Southon

John Roberts

Lord Byron

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Anne Tilby

Mark Latimer

Graham Sutton

Karen Cross

Gerard McCann

Tommy Moran

***Looks great, sounds good, but a load of dull, pretentious, perverse dreck***

The writer of Frankenstein (Natasha Richardson), her beau (Julian Sands) and half-sister (Myriam Cyr) visit the mad, bad recluse Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) at his lavish estate on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. There they meet Byron’s equally bizarre physician friend (Timothy Spall) and spend the stormy night of June 16, 1816, in hallucinatory revelry, including a challenge to write a spooky story, which gave birth to Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and John William Polidori’s “The Vampyre,” the first published modern vampire story.   

The premise of “Gothic” (1986) is great, the first act is interesting and the short epilogue is effective. Unfortunately, the hour in between is meandering, hedonistic, perverse, outrageously overdone and utterly tedious. I can handle the unsavory elements (and expected them) as long as the story is compelling, but that’s not the case. It’s basically a string of coked-up theatrics and perversions in an attractively gothic setting. 

Speaking of attractive, one of the few consolations is the jaw-dropping Natasha Richardson in her prime. She was Liam Neeson’s wife from 1994 until her death in 2009 from a skiing accident. 

If you want to see a gothic flick set in the 1800s that’s actually decent, check out “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992). For a movie that treads similar terrain that’s really good and in some ways great see “Marie Antoinette” (2006). “Gothic” is trash by comparison and fittingly bombed at the box office. Sometimes director Ken Russell’s unique projects work, like “Altered States” (1980), but not this.  

The film runs 1 hour, 27 minutes, and was shot at Gaddesden Place & Wrotham Park in Herfordshire, England. Thomas Dolby wrote the score, his first and last.

GRADE: C-/D+

Clip

Gothic ≣ 1986 ≣ Trailer

Gothic (1986) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

Best Movies

Gothic

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Gabriel Byrne

Julian Sands

Natasha Richardson

Myriam Cyr

Timothy Spall

Alec Mango

Andreas Wisniewski

Dexter Fletcher

Pascal King

Tom Hickey

Box office

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