The Nightmares and Terror of Reality - Can Goth make a Comeback to 21st-century Hollywood?

A tale as old as time

is that art, especially visual art like movies, is a conversation about our cultural perception and the state in which we see humanity. This conversation about reality and self-perception is often closely intertwined with trends – they come and go, bring new ideas, and repeat old ones. However, our times have proven to be a somewhat unsteady storm regarding cultural imprints and the steadiness of trends. At the sweet and ripe age of 25, I saw skinny jeans come and go and eventually return. While we collectively seem to agree on fashion these days, the cultural and political turmoil we are witnessing can hardly be denied. Arguably, we are seeing a time of great historical distress: the advancement of technology, international crisis and uncertainty, and cultural division – a future that seems somewhat uncertain, as traditional ways are challenged.

It seems inevitable that Hollywood might be caught in the middle and has already fought its share in the cultural turmoil. However, the overall arc of storytelling in which our cultural distress can be captured has instead remained untouched. Hollywood has remained consistent in its tales about the hero’s journey, in which either a morally pure individual single-handedly and selflessly fights the pure evil to save humanity, or the anti-hero has to discover that he is not the demon society thought him to be and eventually proves himself to take a well-deserved place in society. To put it simply: the good prevails. Central to these stories is the deeply rooted assumption that humankind, despite its flaws, has ideals worth fighting for, and, most importantly, it is easy to differentiate between the good and the bad people. Our self-perception is relatively reliable, and we positively see our future and humankind. However, it does not seem to be a big stretch to assume that currently, the majority would disagree with this statement – it may even be argued that an artistic reevaluation of our common psychological state is necessary. The persistent feeling of terror, of losing control of which path will lead to the future, is the labyrinth we have to artistically fight through again.

Can Hollywood contribute to this psychological revaluation?

Well, it has been before. After decades of monumental movies throughout the 1950s and 1960s, which followed the same scheme as the modern-day hero journey, it was the wrong answer to the turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. A young generation of moviemakers created a new age for Hollywood, called New  Hollywood. Some of the most boundary-pushing movies were developed, such as The Graduate and Taxi Driver, which explore and challenge moral Western values and protagonists that move seemingly between all spectrums of morality. Hollywood became dirty, complex, and grey in its character analysis.

Several movie makers are seeing the changes in the tide. In January 2025, Robert Eggers published his fourth movie, Nosferatu, a retelling of the 1922 Vampire Movie, based on Dracula. This year, Guillermo del Toro will also bring his adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to the movies. Saltburn Director Emerald Fennell will have her adaptation of Wuthering Heights in the cinema by Valentine’s Day 2026. Not only are all these movies adaptations of classic novels, but they are all classic Gothic tales. So, in other words, a subgenre of horror.

In these times of turmoil, horror reflects what currently mirrors a cultural status. However, even though Goth is closely related to horror, it is necessary to distinguish that the feeling transmitted through Goth differs, as a terror that evokes the sublime. In contrast, modern-day horror instead transmits the element of shock and violence. Robert Eggers argued that he can share his fears and nightmares with everyone through his movies.

These dreams reflect ourselves, and it is my unoriginal notion that we are most afraid of the darkness within us. This is where the most successful talks of horror come from…it is when the darkness takes over, when it is absolute and inescapable, that is the most terrifying. These daily monstrosities [crimes, war] are inescapable. These evils haunt us. They force us to ask ourselves, how are we humans capable of such darkness?

Eventually, Eggers summarizes what horror and Goth can transmit in a debate, where human nature is essentially debated.

…horror author's duty to probe malevolence in our nature. If an audience partakes in a story that endeavors to articulate some of life's inner and outer demons, can we meet them face to face and pass through the perils of Hades together? Can we do this and come out unscathed, and even more human?[1]

But what makes Goth so compelling that a trend of the 19th century is about to make a comeback?

As so often, Goth is also the result of a countertrend. It originates with Romanticism, which was also an answer to the Neoclassical style of the Enlightenment, which emphasized the perfection of the human mind and rationality. On the other hand, Romanticism emphasizes extreme emotions and even the supernatural. Goth takes these fundamentals and adds the thrill of fearfulness and evocation of the inherent sublime.

The development of Goth was linked to a reaction to a world that gained in complexity. Geographical mysteries disappeared, and the disenchantment of the unknown needed to be replaced; the collective imagination was longing for something new. A second factor was political upheaval, such as the English Civil War, the Jacobite Rising in 1745, which erupted the collective political memory and the spread of uncertainty and fear, ultimately resulting in a lack of trust in the civil order and those who prevailed in it. Through the emergence of Goth, this cultural instability could be explored metaphorically.

The essential key to Goth is the transmission of terror, which is evoked through an environment of fear, the terror of the mind, and a threat of a supernatural event. The eviction of the sublime is key, as it was considered the strongest emotion evoked by terror. To evoke terror, we need obscurity, which is created by the terror of the unknown.

Therefore, the plots often revolve around real-life scenarios, such as persecution, imprisonment, and murder, in which these events function as a metaphorical expression of psychological and social conflicts.

Goth is a unique development in its approach to horrifying the realities of everyday life and the uncertainty of the trustworthiness of the people surrounding you. It often lacks a path to redemption, making the terror permanent and claustrophobic.

Another important factor in the development of Goth was the aspect of Female Goth, which was introduced by authors like Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, Charlotte, and Emily Brontë. In times of strict social conventions, Goth allowed women to fictionalize and introduce female views on society and the critique of social rules. Often, this critique included stories that criticized male power, violence, and predatory sexuality toward women. Usually, these horrors coincided with the supernatural to social horrors women encounter; rape, incest, the dependence on men through marriage, or even the risks of childbirth. Through these stories, women could openly communicate their discontent with the patriarchal society.

These concerns persist to this day and have not lost any of their relevance – it is a terror that many women face every day. Furthermore, the consequences of a dangerous man depicted in Goth, and what consequences it bears. Currently, one trend is very prominent: Dark Romances, in which a hazardous male becomes obsessed with a woman, sometimes even committing crimes to get her, but the only consequences often presented are that as long as a man loves you, actions matter less. In contrast, Heathcliff presents a real Dark Romance book boyfriend; he might even be the original. But the consequences of such behavior are represented fully. The novel purposefully allows the possibility that his cruelty merely expresses his frustrated love for Cathy or that his behavior conceals the heart of a romantic hero. Ultimately, the reader expects that the character contains a hidden virtue because he resembles a hero in a romantic novel, in which the man first appears dangerous but then emerges as fiercely devoted and loving. Even 100 years before Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights, the notion that a "reformer's rakes make the best husband" was already a cliché of romantic literature, which persists until today. But Heathcliff does not reform; his path is long-lasting and permanent. Joyce Carol Oates once stated that Brontë does the same to the readers as Heathcliff does to his wife Isabella, testing how many times the reader can be shocked by Heathcliff’s violence and still insist on seeing him as the romantic hero – ultimately being trapped in his violent outbursts and being unable to leave due to societal circumstances.

Robert Eggers' adaptation of Nosferatu also centers firmly on the Gothic narrative of the daily terror women must encounter. Nosferatu is based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The story focuses on a real estate transaction in 1838, in which a young, newlywed solicitor travels to Transylvania to finish said real estate transaction with a mysterious Count Orlok. Orlok catches a glimpse of Ellen, the solicitor's wife, and makes her his primary target. In the beginning, the movie is about seduction and desire. One reviewer of the NYT describes that the scariest part was not the look of Orlok, but the manipulation into sexual empathy that one feels with the rising sexual tension between Ellen and Orlok, [2] In which Ellen becomes trapped. For him, Eggers' Nosferatu dares you to feel seduced and sick over the seduction. At the same time, Ellen slowly goes into madness over her situation. Even though Ellen remains a woman of her time, she has agency. Like women often are in Goth, she is a victim of the plot and eventually of the 19th century. She experiences sexual desire but is shut down and declared as mad. Eventually, Ellen understands the shadows of her world. Still, she does not have the language to express what she feels, which summarizes her tragedy.[3] and the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in your own life.

The story of Frankenstein falls off a bit from the narrative that Wuthering Heights and Nosferatu share regarding obsession to a certain extent. Nevertheless, Frankenstein has not lost its appeal. The story connects to the human desire to create and enter a God-like status. The resemblance to modern-day technological developments is apparent, in which the creator always avoids losing control over their creation. However, the most compelling part of the story is about isolation and loneliness. Frankenstein’s creation is ultimately a creation of scientific advancement, that results in Frankenstein's monster's struggle with the real-life consequences of loneliness, which results in him observing the life of people from afar – a situation that leads to the sublime terror of being without any human interaction, while seeing others living the life you wish for. Consequently, science and advancement have real-life consequences on our lives, as we often witness today through our phones.

Goth still persists, as it accounts for timeless and universal truths. The struggle of rising social status, the consequences of unfulfilled love, and hatred unleashed on an environment. Women struggle to express themselves, while society does not validate their feelings and longings. And the consequences of advancement that have implications on the structures of society can lead to the horrors of isolation and loneliness.

But so many of these things were already confirmed in the 19th century. Why tell these stories not in our time, creating stories that are more relatable and fit for our time? First, I believe it must be said that adapting a classic can be a relatively safe choice – the story has proven itself over time and still attracts people to guarantee an audience. Therefore, it is safe to say that economic security certainly plays a role. However, there must be a belief that this story is still relevant today and holds up a mirror to ourselves. Taking and retelling stories that have proven themselves, while simultaneously commenting on current issues, has been a proven method to avoid a political backlash in times of political uncertainty. Even Shakespeare chose stories from the Middle Ages to comment on events of the 16th century without facing the political consequences of lèse-majesty. Goth authors have chosen different settings to avoid being called out for wanting to disrupt the social order. Therefore, it seems like a natural reaction to use the past to comment about the present, without earning the label of trying to take a stance on a political side. Of course, it is difficult to determine if these movies mark the beginning of a longer-lasting trend. Still, the reappearance of Goth elements tells the story that the need is felt to expose modern structures of society through emotional terror and the evocation of the sublime.

 Sources

[1] Eggers, Robert. “Plumbing the Depths of Darkness and Finding Liberation.” The New York Times, June 13, 2024.

[2] Morris, Wesley. “’Nosferatu’ Review: Drace’s Back, Sucking Blood and Souls.” The New York Times, December 25, 2024.

[3] Wilkinson, Alissa. “With ‘Nosferatu,’ Robert Eggers Raises the Stakes." The New York Times, December 27, 2024.