GOTHIC

A film by Ken Russell

Starring Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson, Myriam Cyr, Timothy Spall

BFI Blu-ray release on 18 September 2023

Directed by cult favourite Ken Russell (The Devils) in 1987 and starring Gabriel Byrne (Hereditary), Julian Sands (A Room With a View), Natasha Richardson (The Comfort of Strangers) and Timothy Spall (Mr Turner), GOTHIC delves into the erotic and terrifying night on the shores of Lake Geneva that ultimately gave birth to Mary Shelley’s classic horror story Frankenstein. On 11 September it comes to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, released by the BFI with extras including a feature commentary, new interview with screenwriter Stephen Volk, an interview from 2017 with the late Julian Sands, and Russell’s last feature film The Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002).

As a wild storm rages over Lord Byron’s literary house party, the poet suggests that his famous guests concoct a ghost story. But after deciding a séance would liven up the evening, they soon conjure up their deepest fears and are plunged into a surreal horror. Is it merely the power of their own intense lust and vivid imaginations that is tormenting them or have they, in fact, raised the dead?

Special features

• Presented in High Definition

• Feature commentary by film historian Matthew Melia and Lisi Russell (2018)

• The Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002, 83 mins): Ken Russell returns to gothic themes in this legendarily lurid late video work starring both the director and his wife, Lisi Russell

• A Haunted Evening (2023, 35 mins): Stephen Volk, the writer of Gothic, revisits his earliest feature script

• The Soul of Shelley With Julian Sands (2017, 18 mins): the actor reflects upon the making of

Gothic

• Amelia and the Angel (1958, 27 mins): in this charming early Russell short, a young girl, cast as an angel in the school play, is distraught when her brother damages her treasured wings. Pocket money in hand, Amelia traverses London on the hunt for a new pair in time for the play

• The Guardian Lecture: Ken Russell in conversation with Derek Malcolm (1987, 88 mins, audio only): the director reflects upon his career up to the release of Gothic

• Original trailer

• ***First pressing only*** illustrated booklet with new essays by Ellen Cheshire, Jon Dear and Matthew Melia, film credits and notes on the special features

Product details

RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1496 / 18

USA, UK | 1987 | colour | 88 minutes | English language with optional descriptive subtitles | original aspect ratio 1.85:1 // BD50: 1080p, 24fps, LPCM 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit)

Pre-order now from the BFI Shop: https://shop.bfi.org.uk/pre-order-gothic-blu-ray.html