Gothic

The poet Percy Shelly, his lover Mary, and her cousin Claire spend a nightmarish night at Lord Byron’s mansion.

Gothic is somewhat of a mess. A visually innovative film with a script that goes nowhere and a talented ensemble cast that has little chance to show their range.

Director Ken Russell adds his usual kinky touches, alternating between dream-like and nightmarish visions, which ends up being Gothic’s strongest suit. The material is virtually oozing atmosphere and Russell makes the most of it. Unfortunately the script by Stephen Volk does not.

Lacking in any real suspense, the script seems to setup scene after scene that goes nowhere. Russell’s visuals set the perfect mood for each scene, but again and again the script lacks any real payoff. Indeed, the only real payoff in the story is the true origin of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein story, but even with a running time of only 87 minutes Gothic is much too long for such a small amount of story.

This is a real shame since the cast is quite capable, and a more fleshed out script could have easily allowed them to shine. As is, only Natasha Richardson’s character has any kind of real arc, and even that one is too abrupt. Julian Sands and Gabriel Byrne, while looking their parts well, are wasted here.