Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

inioi No wonder that a lot of reviewers didn't like the movie. This Ken Russell's interpretation of that famous summer nights in 1816 is quite unusual...but it has sense to me.We have to keep in mind the turbulent times in which these people lived (Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairmont), full of war conflicts, loss of family members (Mary Shelly lost 3 of her children), important economics debts...It is therefore not surprising that this issues leads them to visit Lord Byron in Villa Diodati (Lake Geneva, Switzerland) and release their worrying state of mind reading and writing horror stories.The movie is an hallucinatory trip through fantasy, mystery, literature, eroticism, visions...all spiced with psychedelic moods. Music, camera and photography are set in terms to increase this perception.Not for everyone.Just for open-minded movie goers8/10

canopic1 Ken Russell hit his stride as a visualist in the late 80s with his sexual horror romps "Lair of the White Worm" and "Gothic". "Gothic" covers the story the Romantic Poets Lord Byron & Percy Shelley, Shelley's wife Mary as well as their companions and the evening that lead to the creation of Frankenstein and the Victorian vampire tale. Russell uses an 80s MTV aesthetic combined with lavish period set pieces and bizarre horror elements to create a rock star world that the poets would have surely be drawn to if they had lived 150 years later. On top of this Russell successfully integrates Henry Fuseli's ( an early love interest of Mary Shelley's mother) painting masterpiece "The Nightmare" into his film. This piece of art caused such a sensation when unveiled in 1782 that it can really be considered the first great horror franchise so it's very cool to see it come to life on screen and such surrealism sets Gothic apart from "Haunted Summer" and "Rowing in the Wind".... 2 pretty good contemporary efforts that also cover Byron and Shelley's Swiss exploits.

george karpouzas I have read some, quite of lot, of the viewers' critiques before watching this movie again, from start to end, and form a final opinion. I did see the movie, which I have seen whole or in fragments previous times and some things became clearer to me.You have to know enough about the background of the story and the heroes to understand the plot. Otherwise you will think that they are a bunch of raving maniacs. I happened to be interested in the Romantics, thus I knew a lot about the stories generated from the time spent in the famous villa. There the most famous novel of Mary Shelley, Frankenstein was conceived. I had read the novel in the English language with a dense introduction that was describing the preoccupations of Shelley's circle, the infatuation of the age with the newly discovered electricity and the belief that it could generate life. Also I knew about the intricate relationships of the characters involved.If someone without this background tries to understand what the movie is about, he will be disappointed unless he has such a fine artistic sensibility and general education that can fill the gaps of the ignorance of the facts and emotions surrounding this coterie of quite exceptional people.All the information relevant is contained in the dialogues and images but unless you knew that before you would be unable to make the relevant connections or understand why the characters behave in such a manner, why and what they speak about and the whole purpose of it all.The actors are good I think for their roles. Gabriel Byrne has the latent evil touch and subdued lasciviousness that we attribute to Byron, Julian Sands is truly, the "Mad Shelley", as he was called by his fellow schoolboys when at Eton, Timothy Spall gives a grotesque image of Dr. Polidori, which is perhaps unavoidable given the fact that tradition has so much focused to the personalities of the two great literary men that his reputation has been eclipsed, therefore a normal appraisal is perhaps impossible. Myriam Cyr as Claire Clermont follows the conventional interpretation of her character as a sensuous girl attracted by the fame of the poets and lacking herself the depth and gravitas of Mary Shelley. Natasha Richardson is the most normal character among the protagonists and has a fine sequence of scenes, near the end, where she sees as if a prophetess the ensuing fate of many of the characters, which latter developments validate. The other point I wanted to make about Claire Clairmont is that when she is not portrayed as a slut with cultural pretensions, she is shown in a condition of animalistic primitivism or as possessed by demons. Dr. Polidori is also a buffoonish homosexual who eyes both the great poets. It is clear that because Claire Clairmont and Dr. Polidori were the ones of the company that did not achieve literary fame, because the were not the "literary monuments" the other two and to a lesser extent Mary Shelley later became, they have to suffer in the hands of posterity when a director has to cast their roles so as to fill the required quorum along with the "great ones". Not only life but also posthumous reputation is unfair....Sound and visual effects are adequate and achieve surprise and fear, especially the first time the movie is watched. A lot of demons and related creatures occupy the screen. One though must not blame the director for overdoing it because those elements formed the staple iconography of the so called "Gothic" atmosphere and the diaries of the heroes contain references to hallucinations and the like, perhaps because of drug taking, or just because the symbiosis of some of the most active and strong imaginations alive during that particular time.The best word that I can use to describe this movie is "uneven". It has good actors, it is supported by sound and scenic effects, it has costumes that look authentic but at times it becomes disgusting, chaotic, devoid of a real plot and radiates hysteria. There are attempts towards sexual explicitness, though by today's standards not so offensive; it must have been for the eighties though...I was interested in the movie because I am very interested in the Romantics. Otherwise it can be seen as a story of rich people indulging to their decadent appetites for sex, drugs, aimless philosophising and self-absorption, reminding one of a company of people devoted to Marquis de Sade's idea of pleasure(graphic illustrations of his books are page-turned by Mary). Mind you, if tabloids had existed during that time the story would have been a scoop. It might even hit YouTube. When famous people follow their fancies or get their kicks, it is always different from simple plebeians.... Apart from the literary fame of the characters, which in their lifetime was actually secured only by Byron, Shelley and even more Mary Shelley were to be vindicated by posterity; and Shelley was actually more famous-that is- notorious for his unconventional sexual mores, his atheism and his political radicalism, rather than for his verse, is this a story actually worthy to be made to a movie? I can not give a definite answer. Would such a story of drugs, free love (actually sex), hallucinations and sheer self-absorption be of interest to anyone? But of course it produced Frankenstein the most famous of Gothic novels …. I do not think that all this creativity was portrayed in the film. It focused more on the "bad, mad and dangerous to know" aspects of the characters. In that sense I do not think it does justice to what happened in the villa of Geneva and mainly to what was produced. Not all hedonists produce novels of enduring value. Stressing on the eccentric aspects of the lives of the characters the film has betrayed their literary significance and succumbed to sensationalism and cheap thrills.

Michael Neumann Percy and Mary Shelley visit Lord Byron's Swiss retreat to stimulate their calloused nerve ends in a wild orgy of free sex, laudanum, and the sort of Freudian psycho-sexual hallucinations only true poets can conjure. All for nothing, since in his attempt to duplicate the unbridled amorality of the evening director Ken Russell throws in everything except a reason for making the film in the first place. Supposedly Mary Shelley was inspired afterward to write her novel 'Frankenstein', a fact simply mentioned in passing after everything is revealed to have been nothing but a collective bad dream. Like its characters the film is self-absorbed to the point of unintended parody, with lots of florid emoting, profound dialogue, and nauseating, drug-induced imagery meant to either shock or titillate the viewer. A generation (or two) ago it might have been considered a 'heavy trip', but in these jaded days the strongest reactions will likely be fatigue and embarrassment. A bad dream is, after all, nothing but a bad dream.