Haunted Summer 1816: the Shelleys Byron Polidori
by sambson | created - 26 Aug 2017 | updated - 04 Mar 2019 | PublicThe summer of 1816 saw Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (before their marriage) travel to the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, Switzerland, to visit Lord Byron and his personal physician, John William Polidori. Each of these people wrote something of major significance that summer. These are movies about them. Most anywhere you read about 'The Haunted Summer', the standard line is that there were 3 films made about it in the late 80s - end of story. This list shows there are much more. (Claire Clairmont joined them that summer but wrote nothing. Also: the unusually cold and stormy weather in 1816 resulted in it being called 'the Year Without a Summer'. This was caused by the volcanic erruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia.)
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1. Gothic (1986)
R | 87 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
The Shelleys visit Lord Byron and compete to write a horror story.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson, Myriam Cyr
Votes: 8,865 | Gross: $0.92M
2. Haunted Summer (1988)
R | 106 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
In 1816, authors Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley get together for some philosophical discussions, but the situation soon deteriorates into mind games, drugs and sex.
Director: Ivan Passer | Stars: Philip Anglim, Laura Dern, Alice Krige, Eric Stoltz
Votes: 586 | Gross: $0.01M
Adapted from the speculative novel by Anne Edwards.
3. Rowing with the Wind (1988)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Lord Byron, poet Percy Shelley, his future wife, Mary Shelley (writing Frankenstein) and others spend the summer of 1816 together.
Director: Gonzalo Suárez | Stars: Hugh Grant, Lizzy McInnerny, Valentine Pelka, Elizabeth Hurley
Votes: 1,138
4. Frankenstein and the Vampyre: A Dark and Stormy Night (2014 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 53 min | Documentary, Horror
A drama-documentary telling the story of the celebrated gathering in Geneva, 1816 which led to the creation of both Frankenstein and the first modern vampire story.
Director: Philip Smith | Stars: Claire Foy, Neil Gaiman, Richard Holmes, Miranda Seymour
Votes: 77
Yet another take on that infamous stormy summer night.
5. Frankenstein: Birth of a Monster (2003 TV Movie)
70 min | Drama
A drama telling the story of the life of the writer of Frankenstein. Telling of her influences, her writing and her personal life.
Director: Mary Downes | Stars: Robert Winston, David Schofield, Lucy Davenport, Raphaella Pester
Votes: 54
A 70 minute TV movie featuring the characters of Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont.
6. Goodbye to Language (2014)
Not Rated | 70 min | Drama, Fantasy
A silent, surreal parallel between a couple and a dog.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Héloïse Godet, Kamel Abdelli, Richard Chevallier, Zoé Bruneau
Votes: 6,315
This is Jean-Luc Godard's 3D experimental narrative essay film. One of the themes involves different threesomes and their similar lives in different time periods. For this list, we;re concerned with the part where a narrator mentions that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein near the lead couples house in Cologny; the character of Shelley is seen in the country writing her book with quill and ink and is joined by the Lord Byron and Percy Shelley characters.
7.
The Romantics (2006–2011)
Episode:
Nature
(2006)
Biography, Drama, History
Director: Sam Hobkinson | Star: Cara Horgan
The second episode of The Romantics 3 part mini-series, on 'Nature'. Features Mary and Percy Shelley as well as Lord Byron.
8. Frankenstein's Patchwork Monster (2015)
Unrated | 100 min | Horror
A wager is made, a book of horror fiction is written. It becomes know as, "Frankenstein, or a Modern Prometheus", by Mary Shelley. Though what happens if fiction was fact? Can a soul be immortal. Is everlasting life worth such misery?
Director: Emil Novak | Stars: Melantha Blackthorne, Bob Bozek, Jason John Beebe, Michael Sciabarrasi
Votes: 14
A low budget independent film set in NYC, which examines the idea behind Mary Shelley's premise; from Lord Byron's challenge to Victor von Frankenstein lamenting rejection from the creature and having allowed Proteus his freedom.
9. The Lost Day (2016 Video)
95 min | Thriller
After witnessing a horrific sight, two men inexplicably claim to be one another at New Year's Eve parties...only the parties are six years apart.
Directors: Kipp Tribble, Derik Wingo | Stars: William Baldwin, John James, Danny Trejo, Laura James
Votes: 169
A time travel film in which Percy and Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, John Polidori, and Claire Clairmont all appear.
10.
Screenplay (1986–1993)
Episode:
Dread Poets Society
(1992)
30 min | Drama
Benjamin Zephaniah, renowned Rastafarian poet/rapper is traveling by train from Birmingham to Cambridge to receive his Creative Arts Fellowship sharing a carriage with a racist and ... See full summary »
Director: Andy Wilson | Stars: Benjamin Zephaniah, Timothy Spall, Alex Jennings, Alan Cumming
Votes: 24
A half hour TV episode in which a Rastafarian poet/rapper, a racist and a car spares salesman are visited on a train by Keats, Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley - who have been transported from a séance they were conducting by a freak electrical storm.
11. Conceiving Ada (1997)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Emmy Coer, a computer genius, devises a method of communicating with the past by tapping into undying information waves. She manages to reach the world of Ada Lovelace, founder of the idea ... See full summary »
Director: Lynn Hershman Leeson | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Francesca Faridany, Timothy Leary, Karen Black
Votes: 534
A time travel film featuring Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and Lady Anne Isabelle Byron to boot.
12. Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
PG | 123 min | Drama, History, Romance
A noblewoman doomed to a loveless marriage falls into a scandalous affair with the dashing Lord Byron.
Director: Robert Bolt | Stars: Sarah Miles, Jon Finch, Richard Chamberlain, John Mills
Votes: 555
13. Byron (2003 TV Movie)
147 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Following the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.
Director: Julian Farino | Stars: Stephen Campbell Moore, Oliver Milburn, Michael Elwyn, Jonny Lee Miller
Votes: 1,157
14. The Life of Lord Byron (1922)
80 min | Biography, Drama, History
Lord Byron's wife leaves him after a jealous lady plots his ruin.
Director: Charles Calvert | Stars: Howard Gaye, Marjorie Hume, Mary Clare, David Hawthorne
15. The Bad Lord Byron (1949)
85 min | Drama
Seriously ill on a military campaign in Greece, Lord Byron dreams of being judged upon his death, as either a poet and soldier or as a seducer and libertine. Amongst the witnesses called ... See full summary »
Director: David MacDonald | Stars: Dennis Price, Mai Zetterling, Joan Greenwood, Linden Travers
Votes: 171
The sanitised biopic - which is odd considering the title, but obvious considering that it's 1949.
16. Byron: Ballad for a Daemon (1992)
138 min | Biography, Drama
Poet Lord Byron decides to fight with the Greek revolutionaries in Missolonghi against the Turks but instead the glorious battle wrestles with fever and his own demons.
Director: Nikos Koundouros | Stars: Manos Vakousis, Vera Sotnikova, Vasilis Laggos, Igor Yasulovich
Votes: 136
17. The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron (2009– )
48 min | Documentary, History
Star: Rupert Everett
Votes: 27
18. Lord Byron (2011)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
Byron lives with his ex-wife, her kids, and her boyfriend, and when he's not pursuing his primary passion, women, he spends his time smoking weed and loafing around. But he's grown restless... See full summary »
Director: Zack Godshall | Stars: Gwendolyn Spradling, Kayla Lemaire, Eric Schexnayder, Bria Hobgood
Votes: 42
Thoroughly modern adaptation based on the character and lifestyle of the real Lord Byron.
19. Byron libérateur de la Grèce ou Le jardin des héros (1973 TV Movie)
Director: Pierre Bureau | Stars: Jean-François Poron, Bernard Alane, Charles Charras, Bernard Dhéran
A French TV movie that I know next to nothing about, except it features the characters of Lord Byron (as the lead) and Mary Shelley.
20.
Biography (1970– )
Episode:
Byron
(1970)
Biography
The life of the infamous - but great - poet.
Director: John Glenister | Stars: Keith Barron, Julian Burbery, Gigi Gatti, Margaret Ford
The BBCs earliest Biography programme did an 85 minute episode on Lord Byron.
21. Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
R | 85 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
The ultimate weapon which was meant to be safe for the mankind produces global side effects including time slides and disappearances.The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817's Switzerland.
Director: Roger Corman | Stars: John Hurt, Raul Julia, Nick Brimble, Bridget Fonda
Votes: 4,132 | Gross: $0.33M
Time traveller Dr. Buchanan meets Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley - as well as Victor von Frankenstein.
22. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Not Rated | 75 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson
Votes: 53,263 | Gross: $4.36M
23. Mary Shelley (2017)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
Life and facts of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who at 16 met 21 year old poet Percy Shelley, resulting in the writing of Frankenstein.
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour | Stars: Elle Fanning, Bel Powley, Owen Richards, Joanne Froggatt
Votes: 17,770 | Gross: $0.11M
24. Mary Shelley (2004 TV Movie)
72 min | Documentary
In 1816, Mary Shelley, 19 years old, had written Frankenstein, the first science-fiction novel. She died, without knowing that she had given rise to one of the most important myths of the ... See full summary »
Director: Guylaine Dionne | Stars: Sarah Allen, Stéfanie Buxton, Joe Cobden, Jesse Aaron Dwyre
Votes: 13
25. Shelley (1972 TV Movie)
75 min | Biography, Drama, History
Director: Alan Bridges | Stars: Jenny Agutter, Peter Bowles, Nicolas Chagrin, David Dundas
Votes: 18
26.
Nightmare: The Birth of Victorian Horror (1996– )
Episode:
Frankenstein
(1996)
Documentary
Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Frayling, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee
An hour long documentary featuring the character of Mary Shelley. (A series with 3 other episodes on Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, Dracula and The Hound of the Baskervilles)
27.
The Mark Steel Lectures (2003–2006)
Episode:
Mary Shelley
(2004)
Documentary, Biography, Comedy
Director: Michael Cumming | Stars: Mark Steel, Emma Kennedy, Martin Hyder
Stand-up comedian Mark Steel's satirical and educational lectures on history's greatest thinkers, and this episode on Mary Shelley also features Percy Shelley.
28.
The Mark Steel Lectures (2003–2006)
Episode:
Lord Byron
(2003)
Documentary, Biography, Comedy
Director: Michael Cumming | Stars: Mark Steel, Gerard Logan, Ty, Mark Lamarr
Stand-up comedian Mark Steel's satirical and educational lectures on history's greatest thinkers, and this episode in on Lord Byron.
29. The Sick and Twisted Tale of Frankenstein (2015)
Horror
A modern retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Director: Phil Nichols | Stars: Yankie Grant, Shelley Boozer, Phil Nichols, Maria O. Sirgo
A post-modern riff inspired by the 'Haunted Summer' tale featuring the characters: Detective Mary Shelley, Detective Gordon Byron and Dr. Joan Polidori. Supposedly released October 31, 2015 (USA), but there is almost no evidence of it's actual existence, as well as no streaming version or trailers. (curious)
30. The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015–2017)
TV-MA | 48 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Inspector John Marlott investigates a series of crimes in 19th Century London, which may have been committed by a scientist intent on re-animating the dead.
Stars: Sean Bean, Richie Campbell, Tom Ward, Ryan Sampson
Votes: 12,298
A 12 episode series about a killer on the loose, with implications it is Mary Shelley's creation. Features the characters of Mary Shelley (4 episodes), Percy Blythe Shelley (1 episode) and a rare appearance of the character Percy Florence Shelley (2 episodes); Mary her husbands only child (though not born yet as of the writing of the infamous story).
31. Frankenstein: The True Story (1973 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 185 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.
Director: Jack Smight | Stars: James Mason, Leonard Whiting, David McCallum, Jane Seymour
Votes: 1,962
And here we have something interesting. What appears to be something 'inspired by' Mary Shelley and her novel - though it's not entirely evident how the true event and this film intersect. The character of Polidori rarely gets as much acclaim as the rest of the group, and this was one of the few examples I could find (though it seems to only be 'in name'). Apparently scriptwriters Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy were so dissatisfied with this film that they published their script as evidence of their best intentions (which apparently involved Jon Voight playing Victor Frankenstein with John Boorman as director). The 'Dr. Polidori' character apparently has little resemblance to the real life man. The entire production is rumored to be permeated with psycho-sexual tension and a great cast. (interesting)
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