| | | Conjure up your deepest darkest fear...now call that fear to life.
Features: DVD
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 fiancŽe Mary Godwin, Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont 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 clasic Frankenstein and Dr. Polidori to pen The Vampyre, which became the basis for the creation of Dracula
"...strikingly shot..." Desson Howe, Washington Post
Editor's Note
Bringing together historic fact, fiction and modern horror, this film tells the story of Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron's experimentations with love, sex and drugs that purportedly inspired Mary Shelley to write the novel FRANKENSTEIN. See HAUNTED SUMMER for an interesting comparison.
Plot Summary
A richly detailed, delightfully chilling horror tale, centering around romanticism's poetic elite.| When Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley, and other assorted artistic guests gather at a secluded mansion, they enjoy a frightfully scary drug-induced evening that ultimately inspires the writing of both Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and Polidori's "The Vampyre."
| Features | Full Frame - 1.33 |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
|  | Studio: Pioneer |
| Release Date: 3/14/2000 |
| Running Time: 87 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1986 | | Catalog ID: 15215 | | UPC: 00013023036192 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...As ghoulishly funny and frenzied as a carnival ride....[Richardson is] an original..." 04/10/1987 p.C16Variety
"...A poetic masterpiece....Ken Russell has made an unrelenting nightmare that is both uncomfortable and compulsive to watch..." 12/10/1986 Washington Post 7 of 10
...Byrne plays a grim-faced, perverse Byron with great presence. Julian (Room With a View) Sands once again bares his boyish good looks... As a sleazy...Polidori, Timothy Spall seems so revoltingly convincing it makes you concerned for his family... Gothic happens to be strikingly shot, the special effects inspired, albeit gruesome. Although he slops his signature blood...across the screen, Russell makes it slick, with dynamic cutting, vivid lighting and framing. - Desson Howe
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http://www.buy.com/prod/gothic/q/loc/322/40131825.html
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| Customer Reviews | ![]() | | Cinematography |  5 | | Plot | 5 | | Acting | 5 | | Overall Satisfaction | 5 |
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5 of 5 Ken Russell's Best Film Friday, March 03, 2000
A Viewer from New York
An original, memorable, disturbing film, Gothic is Ken Russell's most poetic film with haunting visuals and eerie camera angles. The lighting is also memorably 'gothic.' For ANY horror film, cult film, or Ken Russell film fan, Gothic is not to be missed. Note that it is an atmosphere piece and not plot-driven. It must be watched in the right environment, preferably late at night. If you liked Altered States or Lair of the White Worm, this film packs more of a punch, and less hokeynes. The plot needs no description other than it is based on a true event, when a number of prominent horror writers met one evening prior to their respective successes. Was this review helpful?  
5 of 5 Absolute Genius! Wednesday, January 19, 2000
Hebron from New York
Gothic is PURE CINEMA. Ken Russel's most famous films (Altered States and Women In Love) do not compare to the beautiful cinematography of Gothic.
Gothic is kind of like a combination between the flavor and style of Amadeus and EVIL DEAD II.
Note that Gothic MUST be seen in the right atmosphere; that is, eary, seance, campfire-esque!
--If you liked Altered States, Women In Love, Salome's Last Dance, you will love Gothic.
If you enjoy horror, you will appreciate Gothic's uniquely insane atmosphere. Nothing else compares to it. Was this review helpful?
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