Wuthering Heights' raunchy trailer leaves fans divided over 'disgusting' changes to classic book

The first trailer for director Emerald Fennell’s take on Emily Brontë’s classic novel Wuthering Heights has left fans divided.

Known for her controversial erotic thrillers Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, Fennell’s next film releasing Valentine’s Day 2026 already raised eyebrows with the casting of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as young lovers Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff.

Now the first trailer has been released, readers and film fans alike aren’t sure what to make of some raunchy and gruesome changes to Brontë’s classic tale of toxic romance.

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Dropping this Wednesday (3rd September), the first footage promises to turn the beloved 1847 novel into a modern bodice-ripper packed with forbidden romance and boundary-pushing sex scenes.

Two moments in particular have stood out to fans in the trailer - a steamy exchange in which Robbie’s fingers are in Elordi’s mouth, and a grisly parallel in which someone’s finger slides into the mouth of a dead fish.

One Redditor said in a discussion thread: “Guess I’m the only one who thinks having fingers stuck in your mouth isn’t particularly sexy.”

To which another user responded: “But what about in a dead fish's mouth?”

And another demanded: “Why is someone fingering the fish mouth?! What is this movie???”

“WTH???!!!” someone else exclaimed. “This is 50 Shades of Bridgerton style distortion of a Bronte novel.

“The costumes are historically everywhere, and the colors looked gaudy, garish, ghastly, gross, and other things beginning with G.”

Someone else slammed the new take: “Could be a good movie who knows. But it’s clearly an absolutely dog s***, intentionally unfaithful adaptation of a brilliant book. Which is just annoying.”

“I'm looking forward to how terrible this is going to be,” another wrote. “Bring on the horny fish fondling.”

And a final fan admitted Wuthering Heights 2026 is guaranteed to be an enjoyable guilty pleasure, commenting: “I am here for this trash.

“You know it's gonna be good when you see a corset being tightened without a chemise underneath. And a fish in gelatin meal? disgusting. Delightful.”

Will Wuthering Heights deliver box office gold with a fresh and provocative take on a classic or flop like a dead fish? Find out next February.

Wuthering Heights hits UK cinemas on 14th February 2026.