Most romance films are categorized by their comforting energy and raising the standards of everyday people’s expectations of finding love. While these types of romance films have their own appeal and I do like many classic rom-com movies, I think unconventional romance films deserve their own love and attention too.
Much of gothic literature, which often inspired these films and even respective film adaptations, explore these subjects as a response to the social norms and standards of the time. Gothic literature became popular during the Romanticism period in Europe when emotion and individual experience became essential values explored in art. Gothic media was originally in response to the societal norms of the time and a way to explore ideas of sexuality and humanity that were considered more shameful.
These films that I recommend here take a different look at the idea of romance stemming from these ideas that came from gothic literature. While not for everyone, I think these films are great if you want to try to get out of your comfort zone with ideas of romance, or if you love off-putting girl representation. They explore the darker and twisted side of romance with themes of obsession, toxicity, desire, devotion, and pure craving (literally).
1. Nosferatu (1979 and 2024)
While there are many other film adaptations of Nosferatu and its source of inspiration, Dracula, the film adaptations of Nosferatu from 1979 and 2024 are my personal favorites. They both have unique takes on the classic novel that helped establish the gothic literature genre. The 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre and the 2024 Nosferatu deliver enigmatic performances that capture ideas of female sexuality and a desire that is old and primal.
2. The Corpse Bride (2005)
A Tim Burton classic, The Corpse Bride follows a young bachelor who finds himself caught between the lands of the living and dead. He is engaged to one woman in the world of the living before he is taken to the underworld. There, he is wed to a corpse bride and learns more about the people of both worlds. He is soon torn as he gets closer to the corpse bride, Emily, and learns about her pure desire to be loved.
3. Bones and All (2022)
Starring Timothée Chalamet as Lee and Taylor Russell as Maren, this movie has quickly become one of my favorite romances with its horror and tragic aspects. Bone and All follows a young girl named Maren who is an outcast because of her strange habit: cannibalism. As she travels, she meets other “eaters,” including a young man named Lee. They discover their consuming love for each other and learn more about their identities. Content warnings for this film include gore.
4. Possession (1981)
Possession follows a woman named Anna who is leaving her husband and son and descends further into despair. Her husband is convinced she is having an affair, but after following her and hiring a private investigator, he begins to learn the depth and cause of her madness. We see that Anna is hiding something more sinister and that there is a twisted romance at play. Content warnings for this film include some gore and other disturbing imagery.
5. May (2002)
This film follows a young woman named May who is a social outcast because of her lazy eye. As she’s grown up, she has adjusted to living with her lazy eye, but she remains off-putting to many people. She becomes obsessive over a man named Adam while her coworker Polly becomes obsessed with May. As her strangeness continuously causes problems, May’s obsessions start to become more violent and emotional. Content warnings for this film include some gore.
6. Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
From the writer of Jennifer’s Body, this film, set in 1989, follows a teenage girl who feels misunderstood and lonely following her mother’s murder. She frequently hangs out in a cemetery and, following one of her visits, a man from a grave she had sat at is brought to life as an undead creature. They bond and find love as they go on a violent spree to find body parts to make him whole. This movie definitely has a more comedic tone in comparison to the other films but still has similar tropes of monstrous love, murder, and loss of body parts!
With a lot of these films in the gothic romance genre, they focus on the torment and horror love can bring. And although not your traditional romantic films or rom-coms, these movies are all still great to celebrate love—both the good and bad aspects of it.