Ok, internet, I am looking for VERY SPECIFIC movie suggestions. READ TO THE END OF THE THREAD. IT WILL BE CLEARLY MARKED AS THE END.
I want a particular vibe. Something goth but NOT in a modern setting. Modern setting is Right Out, don’t even bother. I want like…opulent decaying aristocracy.
I want a particular vibe. Something goth but NOT in a modern setting. Modern setting is Right Out, don’t even bother. I want like…opulent decaying aristocracy.
Comments
Roger Corman's The Raven
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Beauty and the Beast (1946 French film)
The Curse of Frankenstein
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091142/
if you like cheese, get out some crackers 😁
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0057091/
✔️Brooding forests
✔️Decadent aristocrats
✔️Monstrous creatures killing people
✔️Veins of gothic ore spread through the thing like an elegant piece of creepy marble
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0053925/
Great costuming a plus!
If someone had crossed Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Lion In Winter, it would be that.
In 18th-century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king's behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.
Staring Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci.
Now—here is the kicker—this is a lot of vibes so it does not have to be a GOOD movie. It can be absolutely shit.
You might also want to try The Innocents, from 1961, based on The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, with a screenplay adapted by Truman Capote and William Archibald.
https://youtu.be/ICFDe3223MQ?si=Wn31M4D5GBw67oGb
Any genre is fine, but again, NOT MODERN.
Snow White & the Huntsman, yes! The Craft, no!
THIS IS THE END OF THE THREAD
(was listening to a podcast on intercultural communication recently that blamed it on the way we have participation points in N. America—had to sit with that for a bit...)
And them.
I read and went "ooh! Wait... No. How about... No... OH!.. Fuck, no... Huh. Nevermind I guess"
7 hours of pure gothic costumey darkness + amazing story
Labyrinth, Ladyhawke, and The Princess Bride are probably the three most perfect movies to come out of the 80s. Oh! And The Dark Crystal. Four! Four most perfect movies!
On the other hand, cueing up Lair of the White Worm right… now
(I’m also no help bc I can only remember that one movie exists at a time)
Or how about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? (If your library has Hoopla, you can borrow it there.)
Korean zombies, decaying royalty, very period, nice costumes, brooding in very very large amounts
i guess whether brotherhood fits depends on the exact def of “gothic”
I do this sort of thing for a living, so let me know if you want more.
-Masquerade
-Hwang Jin Yi
-The Night Owl
-The Throne
"I don't have to give a recommendation every time someone asks for one."
"I will not recommend a thing if it doesn't meet the constraints of the request, no matter how good it is."
"A question with constraints on the answers is not an invitation to criticise those constraints.
SO MOPEY. Has violence. Pretty costumes. Dark as fuck.
LA REINE MARGOT
THE BABY OF MACON
ANDREI RUBLEV
THE GREEN KNIGHT
CARMILLA (2019)
FLESH+BLOOD
TALE OF TALES
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
BLACK DEATH
NOSFERATU (79)
THRONE OF BLOOD
THE SWORD OF DOOM
GOTHIC
GORMENGHAST
FELLINI'S CASANOVA
La Belle et La Bete (1937) is an absolute treat if you haven't seen it yet.
- The Company Of Wolves
- Snow White - A Tale Of Terror
- Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
- Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell (series)
- The Wolfman
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_(TV_series)
Written by Warren Ellis (if that matters)
The House of Usher, The Tomb of Ligeia, Masquerade of the Red Death, etc. For foreign films- The Little Stranger, The Seventh Grave, Lady Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Castle of Blood.
And I remember The Chinese Ghost story movies being set in decaying yet opulent mansions. But again, old memories.
There’s also a French series called Versailles that might do?
1960 Horror/Drama
Vincent Price.
Decaying Gothic mansion.
Haunted by the ghost of his dead wife.
Based on Edgar Allan Poe story.
Roger Corman director.
Costuming is fabulous.
Setting is perfect.
1946 - Horror/Romance
Gene Tierney, Vincent Price, Walter Huston
Based on the novel by Anya Seton.
Gothic romance set in declining mansion. Oh, is it haunted, or is Vincent Price mad?
(I unreservedly love the creepy housekeeper to the marrow of my bones)
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0087075/
https://youtu.be/TXGzg3uJrOc?si=mgDn0-EzXVwTeHq-
Too medieval?
It's pretty broody and grim.
Also, I haven't seen Dragonwyke in decades, but I do remember the house as Gothic.
But I've no strong memories of it now, decades later except that the ending is different from the film.
Bonus ghosts. Brooding *and* scheming.
Also the recent Nosferatu movie was pretty good.
https://m.imdb.com/es-es/title/tt0164961/
- Crimson Peak
- Van Helsing
- Sleepy Hollow (the Tim Burton one)
- *possibly* the film of Phantom of the Opera, though that's maybe more gaudy than Goth
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
-animated, romantic, violent, post-apocalyptic setting mixing old gothic architecture and new sci-fi futuristic. Character designs by Yoshitaka Amano very gothic
-Sweeny Todd
The Fassbender/Cotillard Macbeth
Ladyhawke (bit of a stretch, but dark and with yearning and definitely a vibe)
There's also Gone with the Wind, for a slightly different take.
https://www.slashfilm.com/1858217/best-gothic-horror-movies-ranked/
Nosferatu (2024) and Nosferatu the Vampire (1979) are definitely in the Victorian vampire goth category.
Particularly the scenes where the towns people go mad. Dancing & tea parties in the street with rats underfoot.
but I recently saw Nosferatu (1922) with an improvised live score and that really fits your vibes. it's not online yet, but there's a lot of options on YouTube that I haven't checked out yet
On the off chance that series & mansions are also accepted:
Gran Hotel is a Spanish TV series set in brooding Mansion/hotel in 1905.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091142/
Will also throw in a rec for his Salome's Last Dance.
one of the most deliciously beautiful movies. acting and plot is so-so to decent but the overall experience is such an EXPERIENCE
and idk if there’s a dub but i would choose subtitles
If you're up for some decaying peasantry in with your decaying aristocracy, I cannot recommend The Vourdalak highly enough. It's French, it's got unique vampire mythos, AND the creepiest creature puppet I've ever seen.
2. Julian Sands 😭😭😭😭😭
Shadow of the Vampire
Tumbbad
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Errementari
Curse of the Golden Flower
November (2017)
Blancanieves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NIXWgBkJNU&ab_channel=IGNMovieTrailers
Russian movie "The Ninth", 2019
Set in Petersburg, 19th century, visually great, occultism, serial killers, forgettable plot, not great but pretty
French film « Portrait d’une jeune fille en feu » *might* fit? It’s realist and very brooding, *possibly* not gothic enough? Castle/manor is decaying and definitely the social order is a mess and so are the women.
Flesh and Blood
The Name Of The Rose
Orlando
Anne of a Thousand Days
Lady Jane
- The Raven (with Vincent Price)
- Castlevania series
- Nosferatu (seventies version)
- Phantom of the Opera (non-musical. Has Patrick Troughton as a ratcatcher)
- Hunchback of Notre Dame (may be too early, but... cathedrals! B&W definitely sets a vibe)
"Interview With A Vampire" (1994), apart from the first and last 5 minutes being in the early 1990's.
Failing that: "From Hell" (2001) is Victorian Gothic, and "Sleepy Hollow" (1999) is Period Gothic.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
https://youtu.be/_U3I6V0SS_k?si=jAPvk26AK49PRhM5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Walked_with_a_Zombie
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050613/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Extraordinary_Adventures_of_Ad%C3%A8le_Blanc-Sec_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_Lost_Children
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Tale_(film)
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
I think they tick the marks.
Black Cat Mansion (Japanese )
https://www.dogomovies.com/borei-kaibyo-yashiki-black-cat-mansion/movie-review/770801848
Sansho the Bailiff.....? maybe.
https://letterboxd.com/film/sansho-the-bailiff/
I simply came to add my votes for Brotherhood of the Wolf, Crimson Peak, Gothic, and Ladyhawke
But also the French version of Beauty and the Beast (2014) with Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux is gorgeous and may fit the bill?
Black Angel (short film, 1980)
Black Sunday (1960)
Rebecca (1940, might get close to what you consider modern)
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Gothic (1986)
The Spiral Staircase (1946)
Viy (1967)
Black Death
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saragossa_Manuscript_(film)
Derek Jarman's Jubilee. All the way. It's got John Dee for fuck's sake.
There was an utterly incoherent French film about sterile university academics stealing kids whose title I forget but alas, it's modern. Full points for terrible, though.
Like the Australian.
Maybe The Invitation? It's not a 100% fit but costumes and vampires are yes.
The Secret of Moonacre, brooding aristocracy and costumes.
Super cool moody homage to Hammer era Dracula, in Japan. So damn good!
Alternately, The Name of the Rose feels gothicky in a couple of ways.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0834001/
(Note to the confused, both played by Michael Sheen).
Only movie I've seen in imax, that wasn't a nature documentary, and it was so worth it.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1224378/?ref_=mv_close
If you're OK with dark, brooding, gothic, violent and wierd, but sorry, no castles, The Northman.
Wild re-telling of the famous night Mary Wollstonecraft, Lord Byron & Dr. Polidori hung out.
(Four hours running time on two DVDs, NTSC version behind link)
https://www.amazon.com/Gormenghast-Warren-Mitchell/dp/B00005B9CZ/
The setting was modern for when it was made, but that was 1940.
Caveat, I haven't seen it in awhile, but I think it hits the vibe your looking for.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0101659/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
The Brothers Grimm.
Sleepy Hollow.
Raise the Red Lantern might count, but might be too modern? Set in 1920s China.
A lot of people have said Brotherhood of the Wolf and The Name of the Rose, those might count, though they are more action and whodunit, respectively.
-Historical setting, albeit just barely
-Opulent, decaying aristocracy
-Set almost entirely in a dark, moldering mansion (not a castle only b/c China)
-Pretty (visually very well done)
-Brooding (Ennui! Woe! Dark secrets! Wailing at cruel fate! Murder! Madness!)
-Beautiful costuming
And even then it's only modern from a five thousand year view*. It's set a century ago.
(*that's the point)
Also the Gormenghast miniseries if you can find it.
So hear me out. I know it’s not a movie. It’s a music video. But it’s 7 min long, has a storyline, and it’s filled with gloomy brooding with plot twists. It’s decayed opulence.
https://youtu.be/4GuR_g75ufY?si=Fg7Xhi6Qo4V7LWiL
https://youtu.be/5d6IiLmjQYg?si=vzpR0M1D2-vPIXl1
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0091142/
Ginger Snaps Back
It's not good, but you may find the vibes to be what you're looking for.
The bloodbeast terror
Interview with the vampire (Pitt/Cruise ed)
Underworld
Penny Dreadful (tv)
Phantom of the Opera
Picnic at hanging rock (80s film)
City of Lost Children - French!
The Cell (yeah, technically "modern" but not really set in reality) - mostly for visuals and costuming, hesitate to call "good" but opulent? the opulentest!
Dark City - cenobite noir?
and just to be perverse - The Chronicles of Riddick, lol.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2554274/
https://www.criterion.com/films/177-beauty-and-the-beast?srsltid=AfmBOoqFwaJlqfoCEdCBbfVrCz3gg4WoiryacFr7oh725QxAHSZnJEor
*its
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_of_Night
Lust For A Vampire
Poor Things
Shadow of The Vampire
The Elephant Man
Also, zombies.
Tales of Terror comes to mind first.
this. It’s not goth per se but the trailer is bonkers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clT8P-v9uso
Skim over "period horror" in catalogues, as a lot of classifiers don't seem to get what gothic is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_the_Wolf
The Kingdom - regency Korean zombies. Stunning costumes.
Penny Dreadful- historical monsters in London- my favorite Frankenstein's monster. Josh Harnett gets pegged by Dorain Gray.
Absolutely stunning