'Gormenghast' UKer's opinions

[janet at cloudmap.com]

Well, I haven't worked up the nerve to read the novels but did
watch the miniseries last year on BBC America. Apparently a number of 
significant details were changed (certain characters' fates, 
appearances, natures, and so on), much to the chagrin of fans. There 
were some parts of the program that intrigued me but ultimately it 
was disappointing.

I guess it could be termed a gothic fantasy, but not
"fantasy" as in 
LOTR or HP. Gormenghast isn't a magical world but it is
imaginary. 
The castle and its citizens were a haunted lot, not by ghosts but by 
the past itself. Bewildering rituals governed the way of life 
although their meanings seemed to have long since been forgotten.

There are a few genuinely funny scenes in the miniseries as well as 
several nightmarishly horrific episodes. Much of it is quite bizarre. 
Every character appears to be suffering some degree of madness. The 
claustrophobic sense of decay and doom that hung over the castle 
definitely disturbed me. In short, even as a truncated and 
bastardized adaptation, its far stranger and more unnerving than 
typical American fantasy television.