This film is currently unavailable
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_480x270/public/hero-images/0fbe5108ab589ae6abc13b2615e0e18a.jpg?itok=NFvu5UET)
The Castle of Otranto
Czech animator Jan Švankmajer's adaptation of Horace Walpole's Gothic novel.
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Overview
When a television reporter interviews an archaeologist about the latter's lifelong obsession to prove that Walpole's The Castle of Otranto is set in Bohemia rather than Italy, the black and white film explodes into colourful animated collages resembling period illustrations and interrupted with extracted texts from the novel.
Published anonymously in 1764, The Castle of Otranto remains one of the greatest achievements of the English polymath, Horace Walpole (1717-1797). It is regarded as the first gothic novel, initiating a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th century and early 19th century. Walpole is arguably the forerunner to such authors as Charles Maturin, Ann Radcliffe, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and Daphne du Maurier. Walpole's lasting architectural creation is Strawberry Hill, the home he built in Twickenham, south west of London, in which he revived the Gothic style decades before his Victorian successors.
See also Jan Švankmajer's other short films, The Ossuary, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Pendulum, The Pit and Hope.
Related
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Robot-Dreams-01.jpg?itok=W9QH_7U3)
Robot Dreams Robot Dreams
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 103 mins Director: Pablo Berger
Spanish director Pablo Berger delivers a rich and emotionally engaging dialogue-free animation about friendship, set in a bustling 1980s New York City.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Blind-Willow-Sleeping-Woman_1920-3.jpg?itok=-FGL2AGh)
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2022 108 mins Director: Pierre Földes
Impressive and captivating animated adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s short stories.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/times-for-1970-veil-woman.jpeg?itok=3cJvcV__)
Times For Times For
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1970 80 mins Silent Director: Stephen Dwoskin
Four characters go through a series of deeply emotional, psychedelic, sensual, sexual encounters, evoking the times and textures of the 1960s underground.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Estuary%252C%2520cropped.jpg?itok=1wl4neEL)
Estuary Estuary
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1980 49 mins Director: Chris Welsby
Tides rise and fall and the landscape twists around the camera.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/belle0.jpg?itok=Ql3Idumh)
Belle Belle
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2021 122 mins Director: Mamoru Hosoda
High-school student Suzu finds her voice in an incredible virtual world that allows everyday people to become extraordinary.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/flee-2021-1920x1080-brighter.jpg?itok=0LHFCQEU)
Flee Flee
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2021 83 mins Director: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance Film Festival, Flee is a testament to friendship, family and acceptance.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/072d8110fd56df82a0863dbc94bfccef.jpg?itok=I4ks6VDp)
The Arbor The Arbor
Biopic 2010 90 mins Director: Clio Barnard
Clio Barnard's film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar mixes reconstruction, interviews (performed by actors) and scenes from the plays.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/30bd8b9997fe292c18f7e46cd42f3fec.jpg?itok=ijqNiHX2)
By Our Selves By Our Selves
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2015 80 mins Director: Andrew Kötting
The latest psycho-geographical excursion from Andrew Kötting and Iain Sinclair
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/7144d9d800681fe97f52c22d03bc54db.jpg?itok=Q6-b2O6R)
Central Bazaar Central Bazaar
Drama 1976 142 mins Director: Stephen Dwoskin
Five strangers explore their fantasies over a period of five days in Stephen Dwoskin's remarkable experimental film.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/promo219335006_2.jpg?itok=A4bGYPC_)
Un Chien Andalou Un Chien Andalou
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1928 16 mins Silent Director: Luis Buñuel
A scabrous study of desire, the subconscious and anti-clericalism - Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative first film is a classic of Surrealist cinema.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/promo222684141_2.jpg?itok=DcnVF5wK)
Decasia Decasia
Documentary 2002 67 mins Director: Bill Morrison
Decasia is an artful collage of found archival footage, shot pre-1950 on a cellulose nitrate base and most of it in advanced stages of decay.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/129e2f2471f7bbdeb43066f45c6a2d2b_0.jpg?itok=4uYqULTp)
Edith Walks Edith Walks
Documentary 2017 61 mins Director: Andrew Kötting
Andrew Kötting undertakes a pilgrimage in honour of Edith Swan Neck, first wife of King Harold, in this eccentric odyssey in search of English identity.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/5d9612d6bd4d72491f2c5ad196293d96.jpg?itok=coaSgT0T)
The Pendulum, The Pit and Hope The Pendulum, The Pit and Hope
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1983 15 mins Director: Jan Svankmajer
Švankmajer's second adaptation of the work of Edgar Allan Poe, in which a prisoner is forced to undergo trials of torture.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/d1d073042777f7385a95919d6f183ed8.jpg?itok=7v7H1m15)
The Fall of the House of Usher The Fall of the House of Usher
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 16 mins Director: Jan Svankmajer
The first of Švankmajer's 'tactile experiments', chosen partly because the title was on an official list of 'approved' texts. In this version there are no humans, just a glimpse of a live raven as the camera roams around an eerie derelict house.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Green-Border-01.jpg?itok=-YVcr1Za)
Green Border Green Border
Drama 2023 152 mins
Three-time Oscar-nominee Agnieszka Holland returns with a powerful, timely and unflinching exploration of the current migrant crisis.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/Our-River-our-sky-01.jpg?itok=p9xO8tL8)
Our River... Our Sky Our River... Our Sky
War 2021 118 mins Director: Maysoon Pachachi
A small Baghdad community searches for hope in the face of unpredictable violence, turmoil, and loss.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/LoveLiesBleeding-01_brighter.jpg?itok=Ji_gwS-r)
Love Lies Bleeding Love Lies Bleeding
Romance 2023 104 mins Director: Rose Glass
Rose Glass’s gripping and gory follow-up to Saint Maud finds a lesbian couple drawn into a web of violence in 1980s small-town New Mexico.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/sick-of-myself-01.jpeg?itok=6WYKe_5g)
Sick of Myself Sick of Myself
Comedy 2022 97 mins Director: Kristoffer Borgli
She just did what! Attention-seeking Signe will do anything to keep the focus on herself, in this wildly demented comedy.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/wilding-02.jpg?itok=AmImzKtl)
Wilding Wilding
Documentary 2023 75 mins Director: David Allen
A dying landscape is healed against all odds, going on to thrive in astonishing ways, in this hopeful story of ecological regeneration.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_32x18/public/hero-images/AHouseInJerusalem-01.jpg?itok=9SyTSTlz)
A House in Jerusalem A House in Jerusalem
Drama 2022 104 mins Director: Muayad Alayan
After moving from the UK to Jerusalem, young Rebecca strikes up a mysterious and an unlikely friendship, in this poignant tale of loss and longing.