Kemp, J. (2001) a glossary of Literary Gothic Terms. Web

3. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense
The work is pervaded by a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. When first published, Wilkie Collin’s ‘The Woman in White‘ was identified as a “sensational novel.” The story involves family secrets, faked identities, and false imprisonment.
Objects or paraphernalia which help create the Gothic atmosphere are burial vaults, suits of armour, flickering candles, cracked mirrors, portraits and evil potions.

Director Fritz Lang and Brigitte Helm (in costume) on set of the film METROPOLIS, 1927. Note the inverted pentagram symbol in the background/ Bridgeman Images

The concept of alchemy and experimenting with living organisms would now be classed as a science fiction idea but it began life as an element of the gothic, seen in poems and victorian text, from Edgar Allan Poe to Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis, where the bubbling laboratory of the crooked scientist Rotwang is adorned with an inverted pentagram – itself a symbol of the occult.

FRANKENSTIEN movie poster, starring Boris Karloff, 1931/ Bridgeman Images

4. There is a ghost or monster
In Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein‘, Victor Frankenstein creates a monster using body parts from deceased criminals in an attempt to make the perfect human being. Other main characters have included supernatural or grotesque creatures, ranging from vampires, devils, ghosts, monsters, demons, zombies to evil spirits, the “possessed,” and werewolves.

Werewolves, Angus McBridge /Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images

Sometimes, the villain is more than merely a monster from one’s nightmares. On occasion, and perhaps more prevalent recently with advances in biology and technology, the central villain will themselves be part one creature and part another – for example, a cyborg or mutant. Today, body horror is one common element of horror films and programs.

Heathcliff and Cathy, from the novel Wuthering Heights, Robert Brook / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images