Crimson Peak (2015) Review

Crimson Peak is the newest film by acclaimed Spanish director Guillermo Del Toro, it stars Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston. While classes as a horror it is more of a Gothic Romance about an aspiring writer (Edith Cushing) who, after a family tragedy is swept away by a mysterious Thomas Sharpe to a mansion in England where she lives with Thomas and his sister Lucile. Soon a dark plot begins to emerge and Crimson Peak is revealed to be more than just a house, but a house that bleeds clay, breathes and remembers.

As a long time fan of horror and Guillermo Del Toro you could imagine my excitement when I heard that he would be directing a haunted house story, the emerging pictures from the project only made my excitement grew. I had no real expectations for the film, I was more so excited to see Del Toro’s version of this traditional idea (a gothic haunted house story that is). All I wanted was for it to be good and unique and it was.

Let’s start with the positives of which there are many, firstly the film nails its time period perfectly with superb costumes and great dialogue and performance that fit the time really well and of course I can’t forget to mention the astounding sets. They were convincing and beautiful, Crimson Peak itself has to be one of the best sets I’ve seen in quite a while with its grimy and creepy atmosphere resonating with the audience. When you walked into that house you felt the cold and the peeling wallpaper and dripping wax sent shivers up my spine. The exterior sets were also very good if not very obvious CGI.

That’s a major gripe I had with this film, the computer effects, they ranged from great to poor and when it was poor the scenes did not have the same impact it could’ve if the CG was improved or simply done practically. The ghosts in particular where mostly very blatant CGI, I know they were red flying skeletons which would have been extremely difficult to do practically but I still believe it could have half practical half computer to make more convincing and probably creepy creatures but instead we got very cartoonish ghosts which took a lot out of the film.

While we’re on the negatives I’ll get the rest of the problems this film had out the way since I really don’t like focusing on bad stuff and being negative. Some of the characters were very stereotypical and unimaginative; thankfully they all disappear when we get to Crimson Peak. There are plenty of clichés which to give Guillermo some credit, for such a topic that has been done as this he avoided a lot and what was in the film was probably unavoidable. On that note, by around half way through the film the scares became very predictable, so much so I was sitting going “Scare in 3... 2... 1...” and sure enough 90% of the time a CGI spook popped out along with a loud noise which caused everyone in the cinema to leap up while I just sat rolling my eyes. There was a repeated scene transition that felt very out of place, when the scene ended the screen would go black around a circle which zoomed into a certain object until that specific section was the only visible thing on the screen. You always saw it closing cartoons so to see a dark, gothic drama use this technique just made no sense. Something that was very annoying is something very common in horror movies and that was the stupidity of the characters, mainly the main character Edith, she was very stupidly curious and didn’t take many precautions at all. For example *MILD SPOILERS* there was a scene where she found some very important information in audio form, playing it loudly without even looking over her shoulder. Then she just left it there and passed out. When she wakes up there is no further mention of it at all.

Back to the positives, the music was great, for the most part is was your regular Hollywood music but that doesn’t make it bad, it was still well done and effective even if it would have been nice to have a bit more tense and unique.

While before I may have mentioned that the film was very cliché at parts and you could see the scares coming a mile off, the plot its self wasn’t predictable at all, I was surprised every time the plot twisted and turned without warning, most of them you had no idea was going to happen so I was glad the film kept me on the edge of my seat the way it did.

The Gothic tone and atmosphere was captured perfectly in pretty much every aspect, from the before mentioned costumes and sets to the very mannerisms and dialogue. Not only that but it was also very creepy too, you felt closed in and isolated, alone and helpless just like the characters whom you all liked and rooted for, so when things went wrong for them the film became very tense.

A great word to describe this film would be “beautiful” the lighting of the sets were superb and while most of the camerawork was pretty basic there were still a lot of expertly shot scenes throughout, a highlight would be the final scene in the storm. The thick mist and the red snow with the industrial machinery made for a great backdrop to a thrilling scene.

In the end while I would love to talk more about this film I don’t want to spoil much of the film, when it comes out on Blu-Ray I will probably do a in-depth look and review of the film but for now all I can say is that Crimson Peak is a beautifully crafted gothic masterpiece with chills and tension. I highly recommend it to any horror fan and Guillermo Del Toro fans will have an absolute blast.

7.5/10