(Poseidon, $17.95) An outrageous, original and energetic first novel that incorporates murder mystery, satire, Gothic, black comedy and gargoyles.

With its small tables and chairs and rows of cushioned benches that look chic and feel easy, it continued to exhude a certain divine decadence for "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant," a high-design, high-fashion Gothic comedy that unfortunately closed last Sunday.

It is, as one of its producers, Nina Keneally, describes it, "a Twin Peaks-like American Gothic black comedy about a weird and wacky family that anyone who's been part of a family can relate to."

The other candidates are "Fargo," Joel and Ethan Coen's Gothic comedy; "Shine," directed by Scott Hicks, about the tormented piano prodigy David Helfgott, and Mike Leigh's family drama, "Secrets and Lies."

This is the heart and the horror of the novel, but it is nowhere to be understood in the movie, which, without it, is a rather chilly, plodding Gothic comedy of the 30's.

As played by Mr. Dafoe, Schreck is both sinister and oddly sympathetic, and his struggle with the megalomaniacal Murnau (Mr. Malkovich) gives the film a flavor of Gothic behind-the-scenes comedy.