Search - Gothic on DVD

BEWARE!!! Awful DVD transfer.

Dev Endra | 11/26/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I cannot believe how awful this transfer is from Synergy Entertainment. Someone actually took a BAD VHS recording and slapped it onto a DVD-R. I just realized after complaining to Amazon's customer service that it is briefly mentioned under the Editorial Review that it is a DVD-R disc that the company made based on "demand". BS. Had I known this, I could have ordered the OFFICIAL out-of-print DVD for even less than this piece of garbage cost. I am very surprised Amazon is selling such a "bootleg-like" item.

Until something better comes along, take my advice and buy a used copy of the out-of-print Lion's Gate release. That's what I am going to do. It has to be much better than this."

Gothic Erotic

B26354 | Atlanta, GA | 11/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On a dark and stormy night in a Swiss castle by the lake, the ménage à trois of Mary Godwin (played by the gorgeous Natasha Richardson), Percy Bysshe Shelley (Julian Sands), and Mary's clingy, childish step-sister Claire (Cyr), visit Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) their host, and his live-in doctor "friend" Polidori (Spall) for a night of ghost stories, creative exploration, and weird hallucinogenic experiences that range from the sexual to the horrific, out from which the stories Frankenstein and Vampyre were born, legend has it. These five come together this night to conjure up their true fears for fun by way of séance with a skull, but as it turns out, backfires considerably as the evening descends into a hell of bizarre and nightmarish images.

Claire is stalking the manipulative, selfish and sadistic Byron who has previously rejected her; the free-loving Shelley, who lives his life like he writes "I'm too restrained by narrative prose" is simply trying to escape the responsibilities of his mundane every day life it seems; Mary mourns the loss of her dead child and we learn, her fear is that she would give anything to bring it back to life (sound familiar?), and as for Byron and Poli (Byron's pet name for him), it's hard to tell what, if anything, they are seeking, except maybe some entertainment and opportunities for new sexual conquests. It's clear that of the group of five, Poli is the outsider, having appeared for the first time at the top of a staircase behind a goat that is apparently allowed to roam free around the house. Byron fails to introduce Poli to any of the guests properly and is even ganged up on at one point by Byron and Shelley after attacking them in a drug-induced frenzy with an unloaded pistol.

The beautiful and repulsive are married in some fascinating sequences, among the most impressive are Fuseli paintings come to life - Shelley stands naked on top of the castle in a thunderstorm and Mary becomes the dreaming woman in The Nightmare - the incubus clawing at her neck. Also captivating is what I believe to be one of the most erotic scenes ever to be caught on film: the sexual tension between Byrne and Richardson erupts when he attempts to seduce her by undermining the solidity of her relationship with Shelley is unlike anything I've ever seen. Byron receives a lukewarm slap across the cheek for his rude inference: but the slap she receives in return nearly takes her off her feet and he kisses her with a ferocity and hunger women have only fantasized about. Clearly she is aroused by this exchange and kisses him back, but when he insists on going a step further, she rejects him, conflicted by her feelings for Shelley. Why Byron lets her go, I'll never understand. She should have dumped Shelley - the chemistry between her and Byron is devastating. I wanted more! Great performances by these actors, intense sexual imagery, and the glorification of the grotesque make this movie an interesting jewel for fans of the British Romantic and Horror genres. And where else can you see Julian Sands and Gabriel Byrne share a passionate kiss? Nowhere I tell you! Nowhere!"

Good Classic Movie - BUT Bad DVD - Very Poor Quality Copy

J. Nessen | 09/12/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"It's a classic . . . and I wish we could have enjoyed watching it. But, the quality of the disk was the worst we've ever had to deal with. Bad color, grainy, major variance in focus. It was so bad we returned the DVD for a refund."