Earlier last month, I was talking about how I watched some movies, stumbled upon some fun ones, and then forced myself to suffer something out of my comfort zone… which is ROMANCE. And it’s funny I think this way when I do write romance and whatever, but for some reason, as I grew, I was exposed to the 90’s ROMCOMS. I never did try to watch anything that was beyond that boundary.
I do love PERIOD ROMANCE. I love Jane Austen’s adaptations; they are so prude and delicate, and the characters are so STIFF and MORAL. This is the type of stuff I ENJOY.
But there is one genre that trickles in my little black heart, and it’s Gothic Romances. But what is a Gothic romance?
“Gothic romance is a literary and cinematic genre that blends dark, foreboding atmospheres, eerie settings, and elements of the supernatural or macabre with a central love story. It emphasizes suspense, intense emotion, and the battle between passion and terror.”
Some examples that were adapted into movies ( cause that’s what I am talking about): Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Rebecca, Crimson Peak, and what I will be putting my hate on today, Wuthering Heights.
I’ve been wanting to talk about the movie adaptations of Wuthering Heights for the longest time, but for that to actually be consistent, I had to go and check out what other adaptations are out there before I even consider doing anything of the sort.
From Beauty to Horror … to what the hell??
Alrighty, now that we have the basics of what is considered a gothic romance, let’s dig in on the subject.
“Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's classic 1847 novel, a dark and passionate story of obsessive love, revenge, and social class, set on the Yorkshire moors. It follows the turbulent relationship between the wild Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, spanning two generations and exploring themes of love, jealousy, and the supernatural through a complex narrative structure told via multiple narrators, including Lockwood and Nelly Dean. The novel is famous for its intense emotional depth, gothic atmosphere, and unforgettable, complex characters.”
My first interaction with this title was HONEST TO GOD when the new one came around.
Personally, I thought it looked MEH, any other romance, any other smut book adaptation. With that, I went on with my life… until I started seeing some rants in my book talk YouTubers. Watched a couple; there was a lot of commentary on how the adaptation was… rather LOOSE. Some fashion YouTubers spoke on how INSANE the outfits were… and so on. Not to mention the visuals.
This was before I even tried to watch anything, so one day I realized that HBO had the original 1939 adaptation; eventually, they were putting the new one (this was earlier in the year), so one day I gave it a go.
This was my first interaction with said story. The story is not bad at all. Yes, it is indeed a romance, an intense one. There are a bunch of characters in this story… and most adaptations really don’t use them all together. The key elements here are Catherine and Heathcliff and their intense romance. A bunch of bad decisions and a tragic ending.
After that watch I checked out the book. Most adaptations are very loose on characters and events, but the strong element that lingers is the generational factor. Yes, the romance is the main case, but there are the kids who came from all this commotion. And it’s understandable; the story can’t be just contained in a 2-hour run… although my next exposure was the 1992 version with Ralph Fiennes (his movie debut) and Juliette Binoche.
This adaptation does add up a lot of the elements from the book; if anything, it’s the most loyal to the book in my personal opinion, but I did not have the chance to watch some of the older adaptations. Also, as I mentioned in my last update, this one made me cry ugly. It was so freaking good; I was a bit annoyed that I had to watch it with ads, but I endured and took breaks.
But let’s talk about the new one…
Welp… This has romance, alright, but they lost me in the first minute of the film; it just made it clear that whatever was going to happen here … leave the classiness outside the door, cause this is gonna be a SMUT ADAPTATION, which is rather unfair. At least from my perspective, because I understood some of the elements from the original book that they changed them for… purposes. This does feel like a girly movie, for sure. I have not watched the director’s other movies, even tho Saltburn was on my radar when it came out, but after this, I just decided maybe some other day.
The movie starts, FOR SOME REASON, with a public hanging and the people having an orgasm with the dead guy having a stiff while dying. Which, for me, I was like… wtf was that about? Probably the movie, looking at me breaking the fourth wall and saying, “Buckle up, this is gonna be a sweaty adventure,” instantly made me say… eww.
Starts with some changes, Catherine, in every freaking adaptation, and in the book, she is a brunette. NAH fam, she needs to be blond. They totally ignored the Drunk Son… turned it into a bastard child and fused it with the housekeeper for Nelly. The drunken character is now the Father, who is just revolting, and as I said, a drunk.
Other than that, everything is pretty much the same, except for the latter half of the movie, where, after the death of Catherine's father, she goes into a horny sex marathon.
By this point, Catherine is expecting, but I guess after she finished her “love affair” with Heathcliff and he marries Linton’s sister Isabella, which… they make her AUTISTIC for some goddamn reason. Still, once she gets laid by Heathcliff, she turns “evil” (?) and plays along with him.
They chopped up a lot of things by the end; no generational things are happening anymore. The story ends and dies with Catherine dying of sepsis because the child dies in her womb, making it hauntingly beautiful… which is one thing I wanna add: the visuals are so pretty. The colors, the environments are very beautiful.
It’s hard for me to admit that, even tho a lot of the rants were about outfits and visuals being over the edge, but personally it added a bit of the hauntingly beautiful aesthetic of the whole film.
The contrast in the scenes was gorgeous; even I stopped for a second to actually enjoy the colors and the pictures. It was so beautifully portrayed. I can’t really complain about that; not to mention the crazy fabrics and fashion decisions, which made it kinda avant-garde, and I was ok with it. Some will disagree, but it fit the style of whatever the hell they were adapting.
But unfortunately… the whole sex fest… I just wanted it TO END. There was not really anything explicit, but it kept GOING AND GOING, and I was tired by the end of it; it wasn’t even THAT LONG, but it felt like an eternity.
Final thoughts…
As much as a lot of people don’t agree with the 2026 adaptation, I feel that, like many of the others (some I did not touch because I am yet to watch them), they are all, in their own way, the director's interpretation in hand.
Personally, I can’t recommend any director to do it… because each would bring a different vibe to it. My best suggestion is that you sit and read it for yourself. The best adaptation is the one you portray from it, the one YOU experience from reading it.
As much as I can complain… I may just do that myself.
Some day.
Thank you so much for reading the rambles of an old Otaku.
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