These resources and lesson ideas been created by teachers to accompany the BFI Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film season and are intended to enchant and enthral young people of all ages, but especially those aged 13.
Download the PDFs on each page to see how you can start using the films in the classroom. These lesson ideas are also available on our BFI Education profile page on TES Connect.
Lessons
Film 1: The Mistletoe Bough (1904)
This film, from over a hundred years ago, has been released from its vault by the experts at the BFI National Archive.
Find out moreFilm 2: Nosferatu (1922)
Max Schreck’s cadaverous count haunts F.W. Murnau’s poetic take on the Dracula myth.
Find out moreFilm 4: La Belle et la Bête (1946)
Jean Cocteau’s much-loved gothic fairytale, a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy.
Find out moreFilm 5: Hansel and Gretel (1955)
The classic Grimm fairytale about two lost children and an evil witch.
Find out moreFilm 6: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Part expressionist horror movie, part luminous fairytale, Charles Laughton’s only fim as director contains some of the most haunting images in cinema.
Find out moreFilm 7: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
The breakthrough Hammer horror that made stars of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
Find out moreFilm 8: Night of the Demon (1957)
Jacques Tourneur’s gripping tale of contemporary witchcraft.
Find out moreFilm 9: The Mummy (1959)
Terence Fisher’s direction brings atmosphere and excitement to this Hammer refresh of the mummy myth.
Find out moreFilm 10: The Innocents (1961)
Deborah Kerr stars in this chilling drama, regarded as one of the best psychological thrillers ever made.
Find out moreFilm 11: The Elephant Man (1980)
David Lynch’s deeply moving drama starring John Hurt as a grotesquely deformed man.
Find out moreFilm 12: The Sandman (1992)
An impressively dark fairytale rendered in puppet animation.
Find out moreFilm 13: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
The second full-length feature from Aardman Animation.
Find out more