Living in an estate on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron is visited by Percy Shelley and Mary Shelley (Godwin at the time). Together with Byron's lover, Claire Clairmont, and aided by hallucinogenic substances, they devise an evening of ghoulish tales. However, when confronted by horrors, ostensibly of their own creation, it becomes difficult to tell apparition from reality.
An 80s Ken Russell creation, so you already know the movie is going to be weird. It had heaps of potential though: the meeting of the Shelleys and Byron, the sheer creative forces at work, the idea that this will lead to some great art (and, if you know your literary history, it did) and the blurring of fiction and reality.
Yet, despite this and Russell's attempts to turn the experience into one nightmarish trip, it really doesn't go anywhere. More than this, you sort of know this, as you think 'None of this is real'.
Despite this, there was room for some scary scenes but even these seem quite tame. Rather than make us genuinely scared, Ken Russell just throws random weird imagery and scenes at the audience.
It's all quite random and pointless.
An 80s Ken Russell creation, so you already know the movie is going to be weird. It had heaps of potential though: the meeting of the Shelleys and Byron, the sheer creative forces at work, the idea that this will lead to some great art (and, if you know your literary history, it did) and the blurring of fiction and reality.
Yet, despite this and Russell's attempts to turn the experience into one nightmarish trip, it really doesn't go anywhere. More than this, you sort of know this, as you think 'None of this is real'.
Despite this, there was room for some scary scenes but even these seem quite tame. Rather than make us genuinely scared, Ken Russell just throws random weird imagery and scenes at the audience.
It's all quite random and pointless.