In 2024, Robert Egger’s Nosferatu sedimented the resurgence of gothic cinema. Starring Lily-Rose Depp alongside Nicholas Hoult and Bill Skarsgard, this gothic horror film is a remake of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). We get to see the story of Ellen, played by Lily-Rose Depp, and her ongoing journey with the occult. When she was young, she prayed for a companion to end her everlasting loneliness; in turn, she ended up summoning Nosferatu or Count Orlock, played by Bill Skarsgard. The film is set in a dark and gloomy 1838 Germany, paired with the amazing period costumes, artistic black and white scenes, sexual melodrama, and gory yet romantic scenes that captivated an audience and let the world know that goth is staying.
Then, with Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, released in 2025, we follow Victor, played by Oscar Isaac, and the Creature, played by Jacob Elordi. Victor is a man who, since his mother’s passing, has decided that he will play God and conquer death. His ego took him to create a new life that he, ultimately, could not bend to his will. A creation purer than the common man that will guide us throughout the film to witness the beauty and horror life can bring. The gothic genre explores the morbid, disgusting, and grotesque. It indirectly exposes our opposition to current events and our intolerance as a society. We see the figure of the Creature marginalized throughout the whole film because of something he couldn’t control. He says, “I am obscene to you, but to myself, I simply am.”
Lastly, we have a French rendition of a very famous vampire, Dracula: A Love Tale, a gothic, horror, romance released in 2025. In this movie, we follow the story of Prince Vladislav of Wallachia, played by Caleb Landry Jones, and his wife Elisabeta, played by Zoë Bleu. She dies during a fight against the Ottomans, and since the prince renounced God, after he prayed and asked the priest for their protection, his right to die is stripped away from him. He must eternally suffer the tragic passing of his wife alone. He waits patiently for 400 years for her reincarnation, creating other vampires like him to assist him in the search for Elisabeta. A priest has been on his trail for quite some time, so now it’s a war against time, religion, and love. Who will conquer first?
If we look back, we can see how the gothic and neo-gothic subgenres resurface in moments of political and social uproar. History is always repeating itself, like clockwork. In times where we scroll through our phones and see horror happening as far as another country or as close as our neighborhood, we as a society must pin the blame on someone — monsters. Monsters are said to be created to pin fears and anxiety onto an entity to not blame society itself; they are a representation of all that is wrong with the world. For example, in Nosferatu (2024) we see a plague, blood rituals, and alchemy as an alternate belief. The blood-sucking monster represents the consumption of the people, a symbol of patriarchal exploitation; they’re being actively contaminated by this character. Count Orlock exploits and represses Ellen, feeding on her vulnerability and desperation.
Society is currently fascinated with the darkness in cinema as an escape to the darkness we are currently living in. Modern gothic horror, such as these films, helps us reflect on those ongoing horrors in society, since most of them carry alongside their common tropes other newly resurfaced fears and anxieties. Consuming this media makes us think we have a sort of control over the ongoing troubles in society. This serves as a sort of refuge, convincing ourselves that things out of our control are in our hands. We are shown horrific scenes without any actual consequences; we get to experience these hidden anxieties dressed in 18th century attire.
Not only is the resurfacing happening in movies, but we must also understand that Hollywood is a business, and what’s seen on screen will be represented in everyday fashion, beauty, and literature. Pop culture is one of the first societal indicators of how we are moving in a social, political, and economic way. If we look back to 18th and 19th century England, there was a social change. The industrial revolution was in an uproar, rationalism was in, religious authority was being questioned, and there were new technological advancements. We hold onto this new wave of gothic with nostalgia, a sense of comfort during such tribulating times. During the COVID-19 quarantine we were stuck at home, watching classics such as The Craft, Edward Scissorhands, Coraline, and Nightmare Before Christmas. Throughout the years, scattered projects came out, but it wasn’t until recently that this gothic resurgence demonstrated that it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.