Crimson Peak Review

Crimson Peak

 "Ghosts are real. That much I know. I've seen them all my life..."  -Edith Cushing

  The horror/Gothic romance film Crimson Peak is directed by Guillermo del Toro and stars Mia Wasikowska as Edith Cushing, Tom Hiddleston as Thomas Sharpe, Jessica Chastain as Lucille Sharpe, and Charlie Hunnam as Dr. Alan McMichael.

  It was during the Victorian era when young Edith Cushing saw the ghost of her mother warning her to "beware of Crimson Peak". 11 years later, she is now an author of ghost stories. Through trying to publish one of her novels, she meets and falls in love with Thomas Sharpe, who came to America from England in order to get funding from Edith's father, an industrialist, for his invention that can dig up clay. Edith's father rejects him and one thing leads to another, Edith's father ends up mysteriously dead. The night she meets Thomas, Edith sees her mom's ghost after 11 years and tells her once again "beware of Crimson Peak". Edith eventually marries Thomas and moves in with him in his family mansion, Allerdale Hall. The mansion is where Thomas gets the red clay which would apparently be a viable replacement for bricks. Thomas's sister, Lucille Sharpe, also lives in the mansion. Lucille is a cold woman who treats Edith with animosity that she hides behind her stoic face. Throughout the first couple of nights at the mansion, Edith sees blood red ghosts haunting her. She knows there is a secret being hidden from her. The secret that Allerdale Hall is Crimson Peak, where many strange murders took place.

^AAAAHHH!!! It's OK. It's OK. It's just a long gross looking hand^

  Right off the bat, Crimson Peak looks beautiful. The set design and makeup is impeccable, but I kind of expected that from visionary director Guillermo del Toro. The first scene with young Edith left me shaken and I got a feel for what the rest of the film had in store. Too bad I was wrong.

  I felt very let down by Crimson Peak. The marketing for this film was very deceitful. I came in thinking it was a horror film, and left realizing it was a Gothic romance film. I don't have a problem with romance these kinds of films, it was just annoying that the trailers made it seem as a horror. To be honest, I didn't find it that scary. Sure, it left me with my jaw open at times, but there were no frightening moments where I wanted to close my eyes or anything.

 ^Well commitment is a scary thing, isn't it?^

  The ghosts were not nearly in here as much as I wanted them to be. They were pretty much extras. If they were not in the movie, it could have been played out exactly the same. It really could have. The ghosts didn't really play a significant role (at least from what I can remember). They did look great however and when they did pop out on screen, I enjoyed it.

^Yup. Bloody ghost crawling on the floor. Nothing suspicious about that^

  I liked Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain playing brother and sister. Their performances were good, but I thought everyone else fell a little flat. Mia Wasikowska's performance as the protagonist Edith was not really believable in my eyes. I understand that it's hard to act out a scene with a ghost when there's nothing to actually see. Still, there has to be some sort of emotional response for the audience to see.

  Edith saw a ghost crawl out of the floor when she was in Allerdale Hall and all she did was back up a couple of feet until the ghost got closer and closer, then she ran into her room. The next day, it was as if it hadn't really happened. I just had a hard time completely believing it.

 ^If I walked in a room and saw this, I would crap my pants and run the other way^

  The major reason I enjoyed Crimson Peak and can't fault it completely, was the hard R rating. There is a lot of blood and Guillermo del Toro makes good use of this. The last 20 minutes especially were intense. There was gore galore and I loved it. Another use of the R rating was that Thomas Sharpe and Lucille Sharpe's relationship is one that includes incest. That I didn't love. Nevertheless, a hard R rating gave it some points.

^Be careful with that thing, Edith. You can hurt some- Oh. Too late^

  Overall, I was disappointed with Crimson Peak. It was not what I wanted to watch when I first came in. I did enjoy it enough to recommend it to people, but only to those who like Gothic romance movies. If you're a horror fan, there might not be as many scares as you want there to be. If you're a romantic movie fan, there might not be as many romantic elements as you want there to be. But if you like beautiful set pieces, costumes, and make up, there is plenty in this movie that you will love.

Pro

• Aesthetically, it looks amazing
• Hard R rating
• The ghosts when they were on screen

Con

• It's a Gothic romance, not a horror
• Not enough ghosts
• Emotional involvement with ghosts

 

3.1/5

 

Watch the trailer for Crimson Peak here 

 

Crimson Peak is rated R for Bloody Violence, Some Sexual Content, and Brief Strong Language

 

Crimson Peak is in theaters everywhere now

 

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