Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303343525
Format: Color
ISBN: 630334352X
Label: Media Home Video
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Media Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Media Home Video
Release Date: 1994-12-14
Running Time: 106
Studio: Media Home Video

Customer Rating:
Summary: Think before speaking
Comment: On viewing this film again I wish to add that I did a disservice to Anglam's portrayal of Byron. It is too subtle a performance for the merits of it to strike one immediately. On a second viewing one is left with the correct impression of Byron as a man plagued with doubts, who is aloof yet has moments of great generosity of spirit, and who in turn is equally capable of cruelty or kindness dependent on his mood.
A fine film, historically accurate and wonderfully portrayed by all concerned. A genuine unsung classic.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best attempt to date
Comment: This film has a near ideal actor in Eric Stoltz to play Shelley. He captures his reported mannerisms, shrillish voice and general demeanour well. Alice Kriege is perhaps too beautiful for Mary, but she adds nobility and understated intelligence to her part, and her subtle acting is a joy. Anglam plays Byron and conveys it in a manner which would give us every reason to believe he was mad, bad and dangerous to know, but he lacks the complexity and depth in his delineation of a character who was in turn also deeply adored and emulated by so many. For this, a good streak of humanism and a certain likeability is necessary which is not evident here. Claire and Polidori are also well played.
This is the best of the three versions to date. Gothic is the product of Russell's directoral whims and foibles, and suffers in part because of it. Rowing with the Wind has Hugh Grant playing Byron in a less one dimensional and less malevolent way, but the film as a whole doesnt seem to carry the credibility that this version does. All in all recommended. The river scene and the end are genuinely moving and just serve to emphasise what an incredible poet Shelley was. The verse is staggering in its beauty.
Incidently I obtained this film for 5 pounds in the UK yesterday. It is not rare but should be released as a DVD!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Original Hippies
Comment: Haunted Summer is an amazingly obscure film given that it was so well filmed and acted. All four of the leading roles are spot on with historical knowledge and these actors show a true brilliance which allows the viewer to fall right into the summer of 1816. I can't help but ponder the similarities between the lives of many English romantic poets and the hippie culture of the late 1960's. This film is a true gem for many reasons, entertaining and far superior to "Gothic" which was fictional and dark. Someday we may all have the ability to own Haunted Summer on DVD, let's pray.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Total Crap
Comment: What a waste of time. Two hours of pretentious poets trying to outwit each other. If Lord Byron was as big of a jerk as he's made out to be in this waste of time, why would anyone spend 5 minutes, much less days with him. Gothic was entertaining at least. This was lousy. No redeeming value.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Shimmering and debauched
Comment: You can just feel the creativity spark and sizzle in this movie. It's the summer of 1816, and authors Lord Byron, Mary Godwin (later to be Mary Shelley) and Percy Shelley escape repressive England for Lake Geneva. That part is historically accurate, although how much of the rest is true, who knows? They have many discussions about life and art, use drugs medicinally and non-medicinally, cavort in the bedrooms, get frightened by a storm, and play mind games on each other. All this adds up to an ecstasy for creation, with a realization of the dark side of man's urge to control the natural world. Alice Krige is excellent, passionate and thoughtful as Mary Godwin, who got her inspiration for Frankenstein that summer. Her parents were early feminists and she definitely doesn't simper or believe herself inferior to the men.

The scenery and costumes are all glorious and the other leads are good, including Eric Stoltz as Shelley, and Laura Dern as Byron's lover.

...P>I also loved how uninhibited these people were. They have many of the values that many in our society have today, but they lived almost 200 years ago. They loved to push the limits of man�s ability to experience life, all in the service of their art. I wouldn't want to live the way they did, but I'm glad they did, so they could report back to us in their poetry and stories what the "other side" is like. Our culture wouldn't be what it is today without the Romantic visionaries of the 19th century.

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