Gothic (film)
| Gothic | |
|---|---|
1986 Virgin Films poster
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| Directed by | Ken Russell |
| Produced by | Al Clark Robert Devereux |
| Screenplay by | Stephen Volk |
| Story by |
Lord Byron Percy Bysshe Shelley |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Thomas Dolby |
| Edited by | Michael Bradsell |
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Release date
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Running time
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88 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4.5 million |
| Box office | $916,172 |
Gothic is a 1986 British horror film directed by Ken Russell, starring Gabriel Byrne as Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Natasha Richardson as Mary Shelley, Myriam Cyr as Claire Clairmont (Mary Shelley's stepsister) and Timothy Spall as Dr. John William Polidori. It features a soundtrack by Thomas Dolby, and marks Richardson's film debut.
The film is a fictionalized retelling of the Shelleys' visit to Lord Byron in Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, shot in Gaddesden Place. It concerns their competition to write a horror story, which ultimately led to Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein and John Polidori writing The Vampyre. The same event has also been portrayed in the films Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Haunted Summer (1988), among others.
The film's poster motif is based on Henry Fuseli's painting The Nightmare, which is also referenced in the film.
Through her stepsister Claire Clairmont (Myriam Cyr), Mary Godwin (Natasha Richardson) and her future husband Percy Shelley (Julian Sands) came to know Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne). During the summer of 1816, Lord Byron invited them to stay for a while at Villa Diodati in Switzerland. There they met Byron's physician friend, Dr. John Polidori (Timothy Spall). On 16 June, while a storm raged outside, the five of them amused themselves by telling ghost stories and revealing private skeletons. From Mary's previous experience of miscarriage came the desire to raise her child from the dead, which led to the creation of the Frankenstein monster. From Polidori's homosexuality, suicidal thoughts, and fascination with vampires came the story "The Vampyre".
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