Gothic | Craig's Movie Report

Viewed – 22 October 2015 Cinema

I had been looking forward to this gothic horror / romance for a while and it was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Director Guillermo Del Toro had become one of my go-to directors in recent years, especially for his two Hellboy movies and the seminal masterpiece that is Pan’s Labyrinth. So anything with him at the helm seemed guaranteed for success. However my expectations were set a little lower after the stunning looking but disappointing Pacific Rim.

This follows the period-set story of Edith (Mia Wasikowska) whose father is a big shot and attracts the attention of mysterious clay miner (?) Thomas (Tom Hiddelston) out to raise money for an invention but needs Edith’s father’s backing. Yet Edith’s father doesn’t like the look of him or Thomas’s creepy sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain). Yet intent on swaying the man, Thomas sets out to win the heart of Edith after muscling his way into a ball put on for the local dignitaries. Very Pride and Prejudice so far you may think. However following a turn of events I won’t spoil, Edith is whisked off by Thomas & Lucille, to an ancient creepy old house with more than it’s share of ghouls and ghosts, and so Edith must unravell a mystery surrounding the house and the brother and sister who have come into her life.

For a start, this is one of the most breath-taking visual treats I’ve had at the cinema in a long time. Every shot and camera angle and corridor, room and costume is a work of art – it really is a gothic visual masterpiece. How then, you might ask can the movie be so uninvolving and lacking in depth or personality? The performances are decent (especially Hiddleston) but with a plodding script, zero chemistry between Thomas and Edith despite their insistence on being in love and scenes I’m sure were meant to be scary or disturbing, much of this just came off as ‘meh’. It goes as far as how the characters react to stuff, like Edith witnessing some grotesque legless creature coming out of the floor and crawling after her down a corridor – only for Edith to look puzzled and run away. Yeah, I see that sort of thing every day! What doesn’t help either is that the ghosts seem overly CGI – Del Toro is known for pioneering some amazing creature designs over the years and has used prosthetic make up to brilliant effect (Pan’s Labyrinth’s awesome Pale Man). These sequences just didn’t have the same impact. Add to this the eventual reveal and point of the whole story coming off as ‘…is that it?’ – and I just came away feeling deflated. From early word I’d read I hadn’t expected a full on horror, but did hope for characters I would care about and a story that pulled me in – but beyond the obvious artistry of the visuals, this did anything but. I have a feeling a second viewing may fair better, but as it stands this was disappointing.

Verdict: 3 /5

Viewed – 03 October 2013 DVD

I have been a casual admirer of the horror movie output of rocker turned director Rob Zombie over the years, especially liking his masterful ‘The Devil’s Rejects’ and even bizarre freakishness like ‘House of 1000 Corpses’. His style, skill and taste for disturbing violence and hallucinogenic imagery struck a cord with this horror junkie. Even his ill-advised but interesting remake of Halloween didn’t put me off (less said about the awful follow up, the better). But now we come to his latest and strangest effort, showcasing the obvious screen presence of Goth muse (and wife) Sherry Moon Zombie.

Sherry plays Heidi, a radio DJ living in Salem who rents a room at a hotel run by three slightly odd elderly women. When a mysterious record is delivered to her personally at the radio station, on playing it she begins to experience disturbing visions, apparently relating to a witches coven back in the sixteen hundreds. Is Heidi going crazy, or are The Lords Of Salem back?

A slightly different style for Zombie this, less violent slasher, more freaky supernatural fantasy with echoes of The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, and even his own House of 1000 Corpses. Sherry is both likable and quite sexy as the main star and carries the movie well, and although this isn’t about performances, all cast members help create a foreboding and eerie atmosphere. The devil-worship themes are very under your skin stuff and although fairly tame for Zombie standards, when the claret flies its quite nasty. Mostly though this is a movie about style, and weird shit going down, goats, mutant babies (!), demonic women and biblical & satanic imagery. It all gets a bit nuts towards the end and the conclusion is underwhelming … but overall I had a good time, and yes it’s far better than Halloween 2 (damn I thought I wasn’t going to say anything about that!).

Verdict: 3 /5