MovieChat Forums > Middletown (2006) Discussion > gothic thriller? NO!

gothic thriller? NO!

posted 17 years ago by lukas8
4 replies | jump to latest

I hate the reviewer on IMDB who called this a "gothic thriller." Without a doubt, he/she is crazy.

Gothic? Look, just because the movie has absolutely no sunshine and half of it takes place in a church doesn't mean it is "gothic." You need to learn the difference between "gothic" and just poor, drab country life. It shouldn't be that hard, considering they are nothing alike.

Thriller? You have to be kidding me. This might just be the slowest movie ever made. There is little to no action. How anyone could call this a thriller is beyond me.

Maybe I sound bitter. It is because I just made it through that crappy movie with the expectation that it might turn around. I am not even a particular fan of the thriller genre, but I am even less of a fan of the bore-you-to-tears-and-leave-you-with-no-resolution,-moral,-or-thought-provoking-ending genre.

The movie is not total crap, it does have some striking cinematography and great acting by almost everyone involved. It is the story that stinks. A very cliche premise that leads you absolutely nowhere for 95% of the film, and then shocks you with a totally unrealistic and... there is no other way to say it... stupid ending.

[–] UKman30 17 years ago

I have linked to this header because I would not want anyone to read the above and take it as a reliable review of the film. O.K. to the 'Gothic Thriller' point though. The film is well made and totally absorbing although perhaps it would seem slow moving to someone expecting 'thrills a minute'. The main point of the film is as a reminder that, in the U.K and Northern Ireland, our own fundamentalist religious past, and Taliban style authority, is not so long ago. I understand that in the US it still exists. It shows, quite believably that, when surrounded and supported by blind faith, a little evil can go a long way.

[–] salmo365 17 years ago

wasn't a thriller either.

[–] blacknorth 17 years ago

I agree, there is more to gothic than slipping a coloured lens over your camera. The film has been misclassified... it is a well-filmed and nicely written character study. Would have played better on TV, but as far as NI film-making goes it's a hell of a step up after rubbish like the children's film foundation fare, The Mighty Celt.

[–] combatreview 17 years ago

>>>I agree, there is more to gothic than slipping a coloured lens over your camera

Indeed there is. However, there is also a lot more to Gothic than any of the comments above appear to be aware of.

'Gothic' is, more specifically, Anti-Gothic Polemic. We use the word 'Gothic' because the Goths were a barbarian tribe that assaulted the civilisation of Rome in its dying days. In other words, the Gothic genre is about the forces of anti-civilisation, in whatever form that may be. Sometimes it's the forces of superstition and the supernatural, sometimes it's the forces of criminality and barbarism. 'Gothic' is not a fancy word for 'horror' or 'ghost story', it's more complicated than that.

Now, since Middletown is wholly about a destructive man who uses superstition to ravage a community in a manner wholly retrograde to civilisation, and since it dwells consistently on the psychological landscape of the barbarous, the unreasoning, and the anticivilised, this film absolutely 100% Gothic. If you were disappointed because you expected a horror film that's a shame, but I suggest you blame the people who've used the word 'Gothic' in such a simplified way over the years. The original reviewer clearly knew what they were talking about when they used it, however.