08-05-2008, 07:53 PM
It wasn't based on a book, but The Skeleton Key is quite gothic. A young nurse moves into a battered old Louisiana plantation as a caregiver to a man who can't speak...because if he did he would reveal the terrible secret of the locked attic room. It's a highly evocative mood piece with elements of voodoo and spirit possession as well as some excellent haunted bayou imagery.
The Others, with Nicole Kidman, is another recent great gothic ghost story, but again, not based on a novel.
I found Dark Water with Jennifer Connelly to be quite gothic as well. It is based on a Japanese short story, by the same author who wrote The Ring (movie with Naomi Watts) - also chock full of gothic imagery. But be warned, Dark Water and The Ring are both primarily "horror" films so they may not appeal to some of our more genteel aficianados. These kind of ghost stories remind me of Barbara Michaels' more supernatural works in that the ghost story aspect is quite tragic and the films have an overwhelming sense of melancholy.
Oh, and another one is the recent Spanish film, The Orphanage. Still not based on a book.
The Others, with Nicole Kidman, is another recent great gothic ghost story, but again, not based on a novel.
I found Dark Water with Jennifer Connelly to be quite gothic as well. It is based on a Japanese short story, by the same author who wrote The Ring (movie with Naomi Watts) - also chock full of gothic imagery. But be warned, Dark Water and The Ring are both primarily "horror" films so they may not appeal to some of our more genteel aficianados. These kind of ghost stories remind me of Barbara Michaels' more supernatural works in that the ghost story aspect is quite tragic and the films have an overwhelming sense of melancholy.
Oh, and another one is the recent Spanish film, The Orphanage. Still not based on a book.