Haunted Summer (1988) Mary Shelley, Byron et al torrent

After the Napoleonic wars, a bevy of decadent aesthetes goes on the Grand Tour in Europe. The year, 1816, was notoriously one with no summer - adding to the gloom resulting from the destruction of the war.

Thinking dark thoughts, our adventurers find themselves on the Lake of Geneva with little to do during the pouring rain. They engage in desultory couplings and other forms of decadence, and challenge each other to write a ghost story. The most famous result of this is Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". Mary Shelley had had a wretched childhood, her father (a human-rigts activist!) rejected her after his beloved wife died giving birth to her - no wondher she liked the Gothic tradition.

The same story would later inspire Ken Russell's "Gothic", this is a more realistic treatment.

In segmented mpg format, plays on VLC.