Wuthering Heights could never.
HBO has become the Jacob Elordi channel, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s Euphoria season for all those who celebrate, and for even those who don’t.
Elordi first gained recognition for his role as psychotic high schooler Nate Jacobs and has since pivoted to feature films with the wildly controversial but popular Wuthering Heights. All of this has reminded fans of the in-between time when Elordi starred in a thriller even more erotic than the Margot Robbie romance. Before Wuthering Heights, there was Saltburn.
A Gothic tale that Patricia Highsmith would be proud of, the Emerald Fennell film premiered in 2023 and starred indie’s most powerful performer, Barry Keoghan. Keoghan plays an intrusive student named Oliver in a film set in the mid-aughts. Characterized by bleach-damaged hair and eyebrow piercings that were very of the time, Saltburn is an even deadlier version of The Talented Mr. Ripley, and is climbing the charts on HBO Max.
‘Saltburn’ Is a Classic Tale of Obsession Emerald Fennell typically puts her spin on well-known tropes and stories. Her feature film debut, Promising Young Woman, was a story of revenge, while Wuthering Heights was an attempted adaptation of the beloved novel. In that same vein, Saltburn takes on a truly Gothic story about a young man who cons his way into the home of a rich family.
COLLIDER Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against.
Eight questions will figure out which one. 🏕️Jason 🔪Michael 💤Freddy 🎈Pennywise 🪆Chucky TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → QUESTION 1 / 8INSTINCT 01 Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do?
First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty. ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe.
If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again.
DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 8ENVIRONMENT 02 Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply. ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people.
BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things.
ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 8STRENGTH 03 What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?
APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me.
DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 8FEAR 04 What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it. AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see.
CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 8GROUP 05 You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't. AThe one who says"we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens.
BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 8MISTAKE 06 What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not. AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind.
BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy.
DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 8ADVANTAGE 07 What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it. AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it.
BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional.
Creativity over brute force. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 8FINAL SCENE 08 It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it?
The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours? AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me.
BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed.
EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it. REVEAL MY VILLAIN → Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against… Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th Jason Voorhees Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit. Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween Michael Myers Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Krueger Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised. Derry, Maine · It Pennywise Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
Chicago · Child's Play Chucky Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ Co-starring with Barry Keoghan is Jacob Elordi as Felix, the object of Oliver’s fascination. Oliver and Felix meet at Oxford, and their relationship quickly becomes tense and filled with sexual frustration.
Felix is everything that Oliver is not. A scholarship student, Oliver, wants to be accepted by any means, while Felix is popular, rich, and lights up the room. Oliver ingratiates himself with Felix, especially after he tells the more affluent student about his father’s death. Felix feels sorry for him and invites him to his homestead, the titular Saltburn, for the summer.
Saltburn effectively points out the hypocrisy of the rich, and despite their ridiculous and casual cruelty, Oliver still wants to be part of their world. The more obsessed Oliver becomes with Felix, the more Felix resists his friendship. Oliver’s lies quickly unravel and culminate on the night of his birthday party. Just like The Talented Mr. Ripley, Oliver’s desire to be like Felix and perhaps even be with him turns to murder.
Felix’s American cousin, Farleigh , is the only one who sees Oliver for who he truly is, but gets outplayed in the end, just like Ripley outplays Dickie Greenleaf’s girlfriend, Marge. As easy as it is to compare to Patricia Highsmith’s seminal work, there is also a reason why Saltburn is doing so well on HBO. Subscribe for deeper HBO and Saltburn coverage Want more context on HBO's Jacob Elordi moment and films like Saltburn?
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In addition to Elordi’s irresistible performance, Saltburn pushes the content of the film to the brink. The homoeroticism isn’t just subtextual — it is very much textual. The infamous bath drain scene is not one anyone is likely to forget anytime soon, and the story quite literally climaxes in a long scene involving a gravesite. Saltburn is the very embodiment of yearning, something that Wuthering Heights could have had more of in the classic tale of Cathy and Heathcliff.
The film certainly pushes the envelope, whether audiences like it or not, which makes it prime programming for HBO. 6 10 Saltburn Like Follow Followed R Comedy Thriller Release Date November 17, 2023 Runtime 131 Minutes Director Emerald Fennell Writers Emerald Fennell Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse
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