Nothing beats a good gothic romance to get the blood pumping, and these are the 7 best movies in the genre.
I never thought I would write this sentence, but there is unrest in the Gothic romance fan community this week. The famously tall Jacob Elordi has been cast as Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights; however, Heathcliff is described as dark-skinned and of average height in Emily Brontë’s original novel. Guess which part of this is making people mad. (It’s not the height difference.) Also, I thought Elordi was canceled after assaulting that radio producer in February, but maybe the police were just dazzled by his incredible tallness or something because he’s clearly fine.
Anyway, if y’all want to watch a movie version of Wuthering Heights, then you should just watch the 2011 version in which Heathcliff is actually black, since Emerald Fennell already has enough money. Or you can just watch these seven other gothic romances instead.
Speaking of the Brontë sisters, Wuthering Heights is not the only adaptation of a Brontë novel that came out in 2011. There was also Jane Eyre, which starred Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska as Edward Rochester and the titular Jane in a misty English landscape populated by exquisite shadows. Elegant, clever, haunting, and – importantly – romantic, the movie did its source novel justice. It will make you alternately swoon and shudder.
Speaking of Mia Wasikowska, she starred in another gothic romance in 2015: Crimson Peak. Directed by Guillermo del Toro, the movie pairs its nightmarish production design with a compellingly distressing story about a writer who falls in love with the wrong guy. Sources tell me that it is a documentary about my life.
Speaking of nightmarish production designs, 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula is another great Gothic entry. With a shadowy castle, a Dracula in whiteface, and a catatonic Keanu Reeves, this Francis Ford Coppola-directed adaptation is the hottest nightclub this October. Plus, like any good Gothic romance, it features Winona Ryder as a pale, quivering scared person. Just try to ignore Reeves’ British accent, which is best seen and not heard.
Speaking of Winona Ryder, this classic 1990 Tim Burton flick features her as the suburban love interest of the titular spiky humanoid played by Johnny Depp. Taking inspiration from Frankenstein, the movie expertly layers on themes of loneliness and depression that are typical of so many great Gothic romances. The movie also has enough disconcerting imagery to fill an entire year of night cheese-induced nightmares.
Speaking of Johnny Depp, his turn opposite the delightful Christina Ricci in the 1999 Gothic horror-romance Sleepy Hollow is pure ‘90s camp, but with Tim Burton’s characteristic flair. Murky without being incomprehensible, and gloomy without being dull, the movie’s definitive take on Ichabod Crane will make you laugh, sigh, and shiver in equal measure. On top of that, there’s no shortage of jarring violence, and Danny Elfman’s score is to die for.
Speaking of Danny Elfman, he teamed up with Johnny Depp and TIm Burton yet again to deliver the thrills and chills in 2005’s Corpse Bride, a dreamy stop-motion curio starring Depp as a nervous wreck who accidentally sets his fiancée’s dress on fire and then gets kidnapped by a horny corpse. (If only this could have happened to him in real life … #TeamAmber.) Still, despite this movie’s whimsicality, it is Gothic at its core – it’s about a lovelorn dead girl, after all. Plus, Helena Bonham Carter is great at voicing the titular corpse bride. She somehow lends humor and heart to this decaying corpse with a partially deformed face.
Speaking of partially deformed faces, the Phantom in the 2004 movie musical The Phantom of the Opera also has one! OK, so that transition wasn’t as smooth, but it was the last one, so chill. Anyway, I can’t speak to this film’s cinematic merits so much as its hunk-ematic merits: Gerard Butler is incredibly sexy as the Phantom, even when he’s shout-singing like a musical Soul Cycle instructor. Thus, when he inevitably whisks Christine (Emmy Rossum) away to his beautifully scored sex dungeon, the Gothic romance sparks come hot and fast. Their duet in “Past the Point of No Return” is even sexier. However, I cannot stress enough that you should only see this movie if you like musicals. If you remove the music, then you just have 30 minutes of Gerard Butler growling, and at that point, you might as well just watch 300 since at least he’s shirtless in that.
