Crimson Peak is the not the horror movie that it’s marketed to be. After watching the film I realize that very much like our main character Edith, who is trying to get a book published about a romance with a ghost in it, the film is much more a romance with a ghost in it appose to a ghost story. The film runs with this idea at a break neck speed giving us some classical gothic romance that we see very little of now a days. There seems to be a lot of clear influence from the old Italian film masters and Guillermo del Toro attacks the topic and genre with such gusto that Crimson Peak has turned out to be one of the most refreshing films I’ve seen all year and will probably end up being one of the top grossing films of 2015.
Crimson Peak follows Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), an aspiring author living in Buffalo with her father. When a young baronet, Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), comes to Buffalo seeking money from Edith’s father to help maintain clay minds underneath his family home, he is taken with Edith and after an unfortunate accident befalls her father, the two marry and return to his family home. As they arrive at the home, which has the nickname of Crimson Peak because of the clay that comes up from the ground and turns the snow on the hill red, Edith starts to realize that the house is not all as it seems and neither is Thomas Sharpe or his oppressive sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain). The story follows some very classic story beats if you know your gothic romance but the reveals come slow enough and with enough melodrama that the movie never get boring. The story of the different ghosts in the house, what exactly is going on in Lucille’s head and the house itself are all very melodramatic and allows the movie to revel in the genre it is so clearly loves. The cast does a fantastic job with Wasikowka and Hiddleston having great chemistry while Chastain gives life to the movie ever time she’s on screen with her icy cold, methodical but also vulnerable portrayal of Lucille. She really is the star of the show and there is one particular scene with Lucille feeding Edith porridge that is one of the best scenes I’ve seen all year.
Another thing that needs to be recognized is the art direction and set design. Everything from the outfits to the props and the design of the house itself is perfectly realized and brought to spectacular life. The house especially is so beautifully detailed in such a haunting why that the house feels more like a character then almost anyone else in the movie. The little touches in the family home highlight how significant the house really is and how much it plays as big a role as anyone in the film, specifically the fact that the house “bleeds” because the red clay comes up from the mines beneath it and seeps through the floors and walls. It is a vision fully realized and one of the greatest strengths the movie has.
If Crimson Peak is the return of gothic horror romance then I can’t wait to see what else is in store for the genre. The film is gorgeously designed, strongly acted and masterfully directed and is exactly what the mainstream movie going public needs, whether they know it or not.
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