By Teagan Martin
Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wuthering Heights. These pieces have two things in common. One, they’re all gothic pieces of literature. Two, they’ve all had recent movie adaptations.
Over the past few years, many original gothic stories have been remade through different points of view and different directors. Some were very applauded for how great they were and others were hated for how they were made.
In the year of 2026, Wuthering Heights was released. Many people were excited to see it get adapted, however the excitement quickly dwindled. One review by Rahul Menon says, “But here is the problem. It wants to feel like Wuthering Heights without actually being Wuthering Heights. And that is not a minor issue. That is the whole movie.”
They also went on to say, “That decision alone drains the story of its venom. Wuthering Heights is not a romance. It is Gothic horror. It is a story about emotional violence, obsession, cruelty, and class rage. It is feral. This film is soft. Polite. Tasteful. It treats one of the angriest books ever written like a doomed love story you might half watch while scrolling.”
The original story is supposed to be about a toxic relationship between the main characters. However the movie portrays it more as a forbidden relationship where you should root for them to get together. Another thing people are upset about is the movie also white washes Jacob Elordi’s character Heathcliff. In the book he was described as dark skinned however in the movie he is white.
Another new gothic romance that came out is Dracula: a Love Tale. That one also had many negative reviews for not being accurate, being boring, as well as the director being very problematic.
A review by CJ Jones says, “The cinematography is decent with some semi-interesting shots, but many feel repetitive and lack the proper substance for audiences to connect with the characters.” The writer also says that women are very underdeveloped and not well written characters and that “Story elements that get an attempted set-up fall short.”
However, what makes the movie even worse is the director. The director has been accused of sexual harassment by nine women and that was only in 2018. He also has multiple counts of rape that he was never imprisoned for.
He also had a relationship with a minor when he was in his late 20s early 30s. In an article by Anjelika Mühe, they say, “In interviews, French actress and director Maïwenn has spoken openly about her relationship with Besson, which began when she was 15 and he was 31, after having met 3 years earlier.”
A recent gothic movie that came out that I personally was the most excited about was the remake of Nosferatu. It was based mostly in mental health (especially in women) as well as being very accurate to the original vampires which conducted themselves as people deepest most ignored desires.
In an article by Andreas Babiolakis, its said that, “There are other themes in the film, but the aesthetic choices and pacing certainly lean towards Eggers’ perception of how poorly society treats those who are in need; when society itself crumbles due to an outbreak (a plague), it doesn’t know how to treat itself, either.”
They also say that, “When the camera slowly cuts to the right into a dark corridor only to lead us into a new shot we didn’t expect, that’s us understanding Thomas’ delirium within Count Orlok’s castle. When a pan suddenly clicks into a static shot so suddenly it’s as if Nosferatu has possessive control of our head and is forcing our gaze.”
In the movie Ellen is Thomas’ wife who is mentally unwell and has been previously. When Thomas leaves to sell a house to Count Orlok, who is later revealed to be a vampire, her visions get worse and Thomas begins to go crazy in the castle by himself.
It also had references to the original movie where the Count released a plague and there was a shot with the shadow of his hand stretched across Ellen’s face.
There are very few negative reviews about this movie and the only few I could find either complained that the remake just followed the exact 1922 story instead of its own spin, it was too long and boring or just critiqued the actors performance.
An article that i found by katie walsh says, “The film is a whole lot of style in search of a better story and, without any metaphor or subtext (nothing about immigrants or foreigners?)It’s a bore.” Which is a fair piece of criticism however I think they glossed over the metaphor of the original vampires that represent the darkest desire of a person like in the original Dracula by Bram Stoker or in Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.
Another movie coming out is Return to Silent Hill based on the video game Silent Hill 2. It’s not technically a ‘gothic’ movie, but it does try to have a similar atmosphere to that of a gothic movie. However, it was immediately met with disapproval from fans of the original franchise.
The original Silent Hill 2 is a game where you play as James Sunderland searching for his wife Mary in the old foggy town of Silent Hill. In it he has to deal with many different types of enemies the most known ones being pyramid head and the nurses. The game deals with sensitive mental health topics and was originally made to be a psychological horror game where you’re on edge every second you play.
However an article by Jacob Oller states, “Each frame is so sparsely filled and every shot is so wide that there’s no creepiness or claustrophobia in its bare monotone; when James crashes over a trashcan, it’s not a tension-breaking shock, but the obvious bumblings of a fool.”
That immediately goes away from the original game which was made to feel like you don’t fully know what’s going on and the feeling as if you don’t know if something is going to pop out or if it’s simply just a jumpscare from a rat.
The article also says, “James does seem to be struggling with his mental health, these problems revolving around his relationship with Mary, but various flashbacks also add in material differences that seem far more important, not least of which is a cult plot taken from the other games.”
Instead of making the first Silent Hill its own movie, it puts its plot into the second one. It takes away from the plot of Silent Hill 2 and, as also stated by the article, makes it feel more like a fan-made remake instead of its own official movie.
There are many movies coming out this year, both good and bad. Even if they’re bad, they’re still a movie to watch if you want to hate-watch something and make fun of it.
beniciapaw.com 