Being Film #23 for Hooptober 2023

Having finally felt like I caught on to Ken Russell’s particular and peculiar wavelength, I called an audible and went back to a film I saw as a teenager and never revisited. Gothic purports to dramatize the night that Lord Byron, Dr. John Polidori, Percy Bysshe Shelley and, of course, Mary Shelley spent on holiday and the events of which formed the basis for Shelly’s writing of Frankenstein. In Russell’s hand it becomes a delirious dog freakout, where breasts grow eyes, imps sit devilishly on a beautiful woman’s chest (that iconic poster and shot in the film) and everyone has their emotions and performance buttons pushed and dialed to 11. And while narratively it might not be as steady as Lair of the White Worm (which is saying something), it’s another dizzying ride that – taken in the right spirit – is a blast to watch.

Continue reading “Hooptober 10.0 – Gothic (1986)”