Sorry For the late photo Darlings. I did want to surprise you but it was difficult due to time. But I’m happy I did it. And now as I promised, my review of Crimson Peak.
Crimson Peak is a film directed and mainly written by Guillermo del Toro, director of Pams Labyrinth, Chronos, Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, Blade, Pacific Rim, etc. I think you can tell I’m trying to emphasize his work on monsters and horror. But Crimson Peak is the only film on here which doesnt fit with the rest. This is because unlike the horror he generally portrays with the horrors of childhood and other types, Crimson Peak is Gothic Horror.
Gothic Horror is a genre of stories told in the Romantic style of fiction so it’s often called Gothic Romance. And many great authors also wrote in the general Gothic sense like Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, Bram Stoker, etc. But the Gothic Romance genre deals with the ghosts. And as explained in the film, ghosts are metaphors of the past. So I hope that goes into the idea of what Gothic Romance is so lets get on with this review.
In Crimson Peak, Edith Cushing is the daughter of an entrepreneurial magnate, Carter Cushing who has the ability to see ghosts most prominent after her mother's death. Upon meeting the charismatic Sir Thomas Sharpe, Baronet, Edith begins to fall in love with him and after her father's untimely death agrees to marry and go to Allerdale Hall, the ancestral home of the Sharpe family. Over time, Edith starts seeing ghosts in the house and they lead her down dark halls and dark secrets.
Ok, here are the spoilers.
To be honest, this film isn't scary per say. But it is a suspenseful thriller. I admit, I'll relay fault along the promotions of the film. But that doesn't mean Crimson Peak isn't enjoyable. I admit, I love this film. It's a beautifully made film too. Del Toro uses what he knows in the past and his love for Gothic Romance novels to synthesize this story for us and entertain the audience with a combination of also a fairy tale, a dark morality tale, and a ghost story. For the suspense lies in the secrets that Thomas and his sister Lucille have kept over the years. I admit the plot is predictable but it's still a solid experience and that comes primarily with the characters.
I always felt characters drive their story more than plot and that plot is to keep everyone's power in line and in check from overpowering the story and making sure that we have development in a story. For Edith, its discovering herself as a woman in a new time and also uncovering her personal fears with the prophecy her mother gave her. Thomas is motivated by his sister primarily with seducing the women he makes fall in love with him for their inheritances. But with Thomas falling in love, it ruins his sisters plans. Lucille is motivated by her incestuous love for Thomas and reclaiming their dead family's past as wealthy aristocrats instead of penniless land barons. However, it's her forbidden love that eventually leads down to her ruin. This haunting love triangle focuses upon each of their motivations and the problems that each leads down upon whether it being Edith not listening to the ghost of her mother, Lucille driven by lust and revenge, and Thomas motivated by his cowardice towards his older sister.
But lets get to the most important character of the movie, the house. Allerdale Hall was an actual built set and it's such a shame that it eventually had to be destroyed and both Johnny and I agreed we'd love to have lived in a home like that. (Of course with more modern renovations like gas heating, circulation, and such but preserving the main foundation and structure of the home as much as possible.) The symbolism in the house is not only its loneliness in the world but mainly the clay that Thomas hopes to use as a foundation part of his fortunes. The Clay is the foundation of the house and it ruins the house and gives an eerie bleeding effect on the place representing how the Sharpe siblings were bled dry of wealth, influence, and everything. And now the house is but its own ghost of what once was a former grand estate.
The movie is heavily dealing with symbolism with butterflies and moths, the ghosts, the house but also it melds so well into the set designs. Del Toro has an eye for these details and really wants to get us into a Gothic tale with all the aesthetics put in place especially in Allerdale Hall.
And my main praise goes to the main three actors, Mia Wasikowska as Edith Cushing, Tom Hiddleston as Sir Thomas, and Jessica Chastain as Lucille. All three of them breathe so much life into these characters and I just love seeing them act together as their scenes are priamrily focused on them and also are the main acting pillars and hold the film so well. I especially love Chastain's work as she goes from Sweet sister in law with questionable motives to raging psychopath with reclaiming her lost identity.
Also I wish to add that I do love the designs of the ghosts and Edith's mother with their red skeletal frames coming from being caked in all that clay and Edith's mother being all in black symbolizing her death with Black Chlorea.
Overall, I give Crimson Peak a 3.75/5. It's a predictable plot and not really a horror story but it's a very beautiful Gothic Romance.
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