This is really one of my favorites I've seen throughout the year of 2013.

Cinematography 8/10: The cinematography is beautiful. Most of the shots and standpoints in this film were well done.

Characters 7/10: Throughout this film, the characters were well- developed, but not every character was interesting and had no real background.

Plot 9/10: This movie had a very good plot, there wasn't any plot holes from my perspective and it was an intriguing ride.

Cast 8/10: The cast was well-chosen and all had a very good performance. I've always been a fan of Vanessa Redgrave and this performance of hers as Vida Winter was incredibly well done.

Conclusion: This movie is great and I give it an 8.25/10.

I love Gothic. I have been steadily reading my way through the back-catalogue of greats from Le Fanu through Poe, M R James to Will Self. I like not just to read and enjoy, but to carry a story with me forever. For that to happen the story has to get inside of me; it has to creep in slowly under my skin, and then shake me up from the inside. The Thirteenth tale does just that. From the off, the makers employ all the best Gothic themes in order to summon feeling; the grand but degenerate house,wildly baroque gardens,sense-memory flashbacks, costume, unheimlich twins. It adds to the tension with filmic techniques- the pared down narrative,filters, uncanny usage of colour,slow close-ups and misty long-shots. The result is pure feeling. For me, the feeling begins as mystery and a slow sense of disorientation and unreality, but develops through anxiety, into something unnameable strange and completely absorbing. This film is pure Gothic. I feel alarmed, I feel shaky. This film will live with me for a while yet.

The film was pushed as a spooky, supernatural story when it is more of a thriller.

Vanessa Redgrave is the dying writer. Olivia Coleman is the biographer called in to write a story of her youth in a large house with a dysfunctional family.

A mother who went mad. A father on the verge of madness plus uncontrollable sisters who are a burden to the housekeepers.

The film takes a while to get going but the book has been adapted for the screen by Oscar winner Christopher Hampton.

As the film develops, secrets are revealed about the twin sisters and their effect of the people around them.

The film is well acted and the story gradually draws you in and surprises you as it does not go the way you think it will.

Of course I have never read the book so no comparison is made with the novel. It's a drama that stands in its own merits.