18 Great Films Of Gothic Horror And Romance To Watch Before 'Crimson Peak'

"It's not a gothic horror, it's a gothic romance" has been repeatedly asserted about this week's "Crimson Peak" (our review) from modern gothic maestro Guillermo del Toro. But while the distinction may seem important to del Toro and stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain, it ultimately means less than you might think: it's more a difference of degree than of actual type. After all, horror is usually concerned in some way with death, and romance is concerned with love, but love and death and how one is bound up in the other is the very essence of gothic. All gothic romances have elements of horror, and it's only few gothic horrors that are entirely devoid of romance (and none at all if we take romance as simply "love" in all its forms).

Beyond the essential, though, there are obvious hallmarks of the gothic film. Often revolving around a female protagonist/victim, the gothic movie often includes a fraught love triangle, a big house...