Top 10 Best Gothic Romances

#10: “Edward Scissorhands” (1990)

Only Tim Burton can make us cry over a man with blades for hands and an … avant-garde hairstyle. This Johnny Depp–fronted film follows a lonely, half-finished humanoid who lives in a brooding mansion atop a hill. When he’s taken in by a human family and showered with kindness, he falls in love with Kim, the teenage daughter of the house. Their romance is doomed from the start. Edward is misunderstood, abandoned when he can’t be controlled, and cursed to never belong, though he yearns for connection. By the end of the film, he exiles himself to his decaying fortress, keeping his love alive from a distance.

#9: “Corpse Bride” (2005)

Who’s surprised to see another Tim Burton classic starring Johnny Depp on this list? We’re guessing … no one. After all, what could be more gothic than a hapless man who unwittingly finds himself married to a cadaver? The blue bride, Emily, whisks her warm-blooded groom, Victor, away to the surprisingly vibrant Land of the Dead. Their tryst is a farce, but she clings to him with the hope of healing her past heartbreak. She’s a woman scorned who longs for eternal love, but by valuing his life, no matter how grey, more than her spirited afterlife, Emily finds something far more meaningful: liberation.

#8: “Crimson Peak” (2015)

Guillermo del Toro’s brand of gothic romance prods into the darkest recesses of the human psyche, and leaves your heartstrings not just torn, but tangled. “Crimson Peak” follows American dollar princess and fledgling author Edith Cushing, who marries a mysterious Englishman named Sir Thomas Sharpe. The seemingly lovestruck pair move into his mansion in Cumberland, which turns out to be not just decrepit, but also haunted. However, the ghosts aren’t even the real horror. Edith’s biggest enemy is her unhinged sister-in-law, who keeps poisoning her and stealing her husband away at night. It is soon revealed that a murderous conspiracy is at play, but Thomas’s growing fondness for his newlywed wife complicates things. Obsession, betrayal, and bleeding hearts make this film a spooky delight.

#7: “The Haunting of Bly Manor” (2020)

Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Henry James’s “The Turn of the Screw”, with influences from “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes” and “The Jolly Corner”, is brimming with emotion. Our protagonist is Dani Clayton, an American governess working for the Wingrave family in England. Her precocious charges, Miles and Flora, unnerve her, while paranormal activity shrouds Bly Manor. However, the heart of the story lies in the sublime romance between Dani and Jamie, the estate’s gardener. Love blooms amid shadows, specters, and blood-stained walls, and is immortalized with a great sacrifice. This show will leave you feeling both empty and full.

#6: “Nosferatu” (2024)

Robert Eggers’s rendition of F. W. Murnau’s 1922 film of the same name is no love story. Sure, our heroine, Ellen, is in a hopeful marriage with Thomas, and her parasitic paramour, Count Orlok, offers repulsive, fatal seduction. However, “Nosferatu” is a gothic romance in a more traditional sense of the genre. It zooms in on the struggle between agency and oppression through the story of a woman crumbling under the patriarchy. Ellen is drowning in loneliness when she forms a link with Orlok, only to be swallowed by guilt and shame. She is constantly dismissed by those around her, her sexuality is repressed, and social acceptance comes at the price of self-destruction. Despite her grim end, Ellen alone makes this a gothic romance.

#5: “The Phantom of the Opera”

The world was first introduced to this masterpiece by Gaston Leroux in the form of a newspaper serial. It was later published as a novel, which has been adapted for the stage and screen . The most prominent among those adaptations is the musical, which has dominated the West End and Broadway for decades. The award-winning piece explores the complex, obsessive, and ultimately redemptive relationship between a tortured artist, known as the Phantom, and Christine, a prodigious singer. Despite what the 2004 film adaptation starring Gerard Butler will have you believe, the Phantom has a monstrous appearance. His dangerous liaison with Christine in his sepulchral lair is transformative, and that’s exactly why they must part ways, shedding their masks. This tale never gets old.

#4: “Rebecca” (1938)

If you like an age-gap romance with a morally grey male lead, check out this novel by Daphne du Maurier. Our heroine is a young woman who is swept up in a whirlwind romance with the powerful and much older Maxim de Winter and moves into his Cornish mansion, Manderley. However, her idyllic new life is haunted by her husband's late wife, Rebecca. She’s no wailing ghost, but the embodiment of insurmountable perfection, looming over Manderley and casting an inescapable shadow on our narrator. She’s so desperate to erase Rebecca that she hardly flinches when Maxim is revealed to be her murderer. Even Alfred Hitchcock must’ve found this too morbid, because in his 1940 film adaptation, Maxim doesn’t kill. Either way, “Rebecca” is timeless.

#3: “Dracula” (1931)

It all started with Bram Stoker. His 1897 novel, “Dracula”, was turned into a play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which was adapted into a namesake movie by Tod Browning in 1931. The source material was also picked up by Francis Ford Coppola for his 1992 film “Bram Stoker's Dracula”. However, the 1931 version, starring Bela Lugosi, has to be the most iconic. Lugosi’s seminal take on the vampire is equal parts monstrous and magnetizing. Mina can’t help but be drawn to his world, fascinated by his easy charm and lofty tales of Transylvania. Love isn’t a central theme in Browning’s “Dracula”, but the atmosphere he conjures exudes romance.

#2: “Wuthering Heights” (1847)

Emily Brontë wrote just one novel in her career, and it became such an extraordinary hit that the world still can’t get over it. “Wuthering Heights” is everything a romance should not be. That’s partly what makes it gothic! Set against the windswept West Yorkshire moors, the novel paints a bleak portrait of rotten love. Heathcliff and Catherine burn with passion for each other. Their mutual obsession is all-consuming, but inconsequential in the face of Victorian propriety. When Catherine abandons Heathcliff for a more socially advantageous marriage, it sends him down a spiral of destructive revenge, the effects of which echo across generations. There’s nothing to be glorified here; only death and decay prevail, but it will still leave you breathless.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Sleepy Hollow” (1999)

Johnny Depp & Christina Ricci Are Striking in This Otherworldly Romance

“Penny Dreadful” (2014-16)

From Dorian Gray to Dracula, This Series Has All Your Gothic Faves

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

Both the 1979 Musical and Its 2007 Film Adaptation Are Breathtaking

“Bride of Frankenstein” (1935)

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#1: “Jane Eyre” (1847)

Charlotte Brontë’s groundbreaking coming-of-age novel is a cornerstone of feminist literature. Our heroine, Jane, is a young governess at Thornfield Hall who falls for her moody employer, Mr Rochester. Despite their differences, the pair connect on a soul level. However, before they can walk down the aisle, Jane is unsettled by an eerie presence in the mansion. Turns out, it’s actually Rochester’s wife, Bertha, who lives in the attic, locked away from the world because of her mental illness. Fortunately, our girl clocks the glaring red flag and leaves. After Bertha tragically takes her own life, fate brings Jane back to the ruins of Thornfield Hall, reuniting her with Rochester. The novel is a must-read, but for non-readers, its 2011 film adaptation is stunning too.

Which gothic romance do you think is the most underrated? Tell us in the comments down below!