Haunted Summer
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| Haunted Summer | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ivan Passer |
| Written by | Lewis John Carlino |
| Based on | Haunted Summer by Anne Edwards |
| Produced by | Martin Poll |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Cannon Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million |
Haunted Summer is a 1988 romantic period-drama film directed by Ivan Passer. The film is a fictionalized retelling of the Shelleys' visit to Lord Byron in Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, which lead to the writing of Frankenstein.
Plot summary
In 1816, authors
Cast
- Philip Anglim as Lord Byron
- Percy Shelley
- Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
- Alex Winter as Dr. John William Polidori
- Laura Dern as Claire Clairmont
Development
In 1971,
Production
Principal photography began in May 1987 and ran until July. Passer was so keen to cast Stoltz as Percy that he delayed production by seven months. Location shooting took place in Switzerland and Italy, with Lake Como doubling as Lake Geneva, on whose shores the movie’s main events happened; finally, sound-stage filming (including a rainstorm scene shot in a water-tank) took place in Malta. Hollywood Reporter gave the film’s final cost as $6 million.[1]
Reception
The film opened in Los Angeles on 16 December 1988.
Carlino has given us exactly what Russell’s scenarist, Stephen Volk didn’t: a sense of Shelley and Byron as poets, of Mary and Polidori as novelists, a real delight in the kind of language they used and their own relish in using it.[2]
He approved of the deliberate, "anachronistic" casting of Americans and suggested parallels between the film's historical moment and the late 1960s "summer of free love".[2]
By contrast, Haunted Summer was not released in New York until the summer of 1989, when it played briefly as half of a double bill with the same director's Cutter's Way.[1] Caryn James wrote in The New York Times,
it cannot have been easy to turn material so rich with imagination and drama into such a tepid, excruciatingly slow film. Mr. Passer seems to have no defense against Lewis John Carlino's inept screenplay... the characters soon appear as shallow libertines, posturing ninnies who spout the most effete period dialogue.[3]
Like Wilmington, she contrasted the film with Gothic, but preferred Russell's film, concluding by calling Haunted Summer "supremely disappointing".[3]
By the time of its New York premiere, the film had gone on release in Britain. Derek Malcolm in The Guardian, like James, compared it invidiously with Gothic: "hardly an ounce of humour or visual flair, despite the fact that Giuseppe Rotunno shot it".[4] The Sunday Telegraph was equally dismissive ("For unintended humour, try Ivan Passer's Haunted Summer"), calling it "Ken Russell's Gothic minus the monsters".[5] David Robinson in The Times struck a similar note ("the emotional entanglements are not much more enthralling than flirtations and quarrels on a Saga Holidays tour"), but at least praised the film's look and the performances, particularly Laura Dern's.[6]
See also
Other films about this meeting of authors include the following:
- Gothic (1986 film)
- Rowing with the Wind (1988 film)
- Mary Shelley (2017 film)
References
- ^ a b c d "Haunted Summer". afi.com. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
- ^ The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
- ^ a b James, Caryn (July 5, 1989). "A Summer with Byron and Shelley and Others". The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
- ^ Malcolm, Derek (April 6, 1989). "East Side story". The Guardian. p. 24.
- ^ Mayne, Richard (April 9, 1989). "The mystery of Hearstory". The Sunday Telegraph. No. 1453. p. 18.
- ^ Robinson, David (April 6, 1989). "The same beneath the skin". The Times. No. 63361. p. 18.
External links
- Haunted Summer at IMDb
- Haunted Summer at Rotten Tomatoes
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