Wuthering Heights: The House of the Damned (2026)

“Emily Bronte: Italian Gothic Horror Style!”

Yes indeed, while this new version of Emily Bronte’s novel is British (and boasts some fabulous location work), fans of classic horror cinema will most likely be reminded of some of the classic Italian gothics of the 1960s and early 1970s while watching this. And that’s meant as the highest of compliments.

Anyone who has read Wuthering Heights will know how easy it should have been to turn it into a horror movie. Yes despite AIP filming their own version in 1970 (with Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall) even that was light on the scary stuff. But never mind because here comes director Rebecca J Matthews (aka Becca Hirani) and writer Liana Failla’s operatic, blood soaked version that goes well over the top and probably isn’t the one to show your kids to introduce them to classic literature. Or then again, perhaps it is.

The story is told from the point of view of Mr Lockwood (Ross Townsend-Green), new tenant on the estate of Wuthering Heights, who calls on his landlord at ‘the big house’ to introduce himself, only to find the place populated by shifty servants and a very hairy and morbid Heathcliff indeed. Through a series of clever flashbacks and transition devices we are told the familiar tale, with more than a couple of variations in the plotting to keep things interesting.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS: HOUSE OF THE DAMNED is obviously low budget, but benefits immensely from the locations and the fact that everyone seems to be taking the endeavour exactly the right kind of seriously. Sky Cheema’s Heathcliff is closer in appearance to the novel that possibly any other version, while Townsend-Green gets the kind of role played by John Richardson or Mark Damon in any number of gothics of the 1960s. 

Matthews / Hirani piles on the atmosphere and sets out her table stylistically from almost the first scene. In the novel the first time we see Cathy (here played by Elle O’Hara) it’s her ghost tapping at the window. In WUTHERING HEIGHTS: THE HOUSE OF THE DAMNED Cathy’s ghost smashes the window, grabs Mr Lockwood and sprays blood everywhere. There. Now you know if you want to watch it. Rippingly good low budget modern gothic horror. 

WUTHERING HEIGHTS: THE HOUSE OF THE DAMNED is out from Signature Entertainment on Digital on Monday 19th October 2026