Crimson Peak movie review

Here's what you need to know; young and aspiring writer Edith Cushing has fallen in love with failing inventor and clay miner Thomas Sharpe, and the 2 get married and move into the Sharpe residence, known as Crimson Peak. But things aren't right in the house, at night things go bump, and Sharpe and his sister seem to be up to something shady, Edith starts to realise she's in a spider's web, and she is in mortal danger.

This film wasn't very well marketed, it was marketed as a horror movie, filled with ghosts and scares, but really this movie is something very different. We'll start with the characters, as ever. Edith, our young writer, is possibly the least interesting character in the film, she's a completely serviceable main character, but she really doesn't stand out in any major way. Alan McMichael is more interesting, even if he doesn't really do much until the end of the film. But who absolutely steals the show here is Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain as Thomas and Lucille Sharpe. These were both really interesting characters in my opinion. Thomas is a man who is clearly conflicted, and there's a subtle guilt to him, one that is part of the mystery that I felt was driving this film. Lucille is another really interesting character, she too has a secret, and as the film progresses she only gets more interesting as she slowly starts to unravel and she is revealed to possibly have a few screws loose. I won't spoil it here for obvious reasons, but the relationship and the secrecy with the Sharpes is really twisted and really interesting, and when it all comes to light is when both characters hit a bit of a peak for how interesting and how unhinged they both are. The story here is also very interesting, like del Toro's Spanish films, this is a much smaller, more personal film than what he's been doing lately. This is a good thing in my opinion, because as glorious as the action is in Pacific Rim, del Toro is at his best in films like Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone, and this film reminded me of those films in a lot of ways, which can't ever be a bad thing. I said this film was mismarketed, it was marketed as a scary horror story, when in reality it's a Romance, blended in with a little Murder Mystery, and as those 2 things this film is pretty fun in my opinion, the mystery is by far the strongest element. It's a very slow burning film, which is bound to put people off, but when everything comes out in the last 30 or so minutes is when the film finally kicks off and becomes really cool, and after that last section of the film was really when I decided that I liked this film, especially because of the tense final moments, the mystery of the Sharpes, which even after the plot twist, I still thought was the most interesting part of the film.

del Toro is known for his very artist style, but holy shit this film is stunning. The house takes on a character of it's own with pretty much everything about it, from it's beautiful design, to it's decaying and neglected state, to the way the walls and floors ooze deep red sludge from the mine beneath, the house breathes, creaks, bleeds, it's like a living thing, and it's really brought to life here. The costumes are also really cool, there isn't an uninteresting one, they all pop with colour and design, and I really don't give a shit about fashion, but the costumes here are awesome. del Toro's directing is also brilliant, the cinematography is a marvel sometimes in this film, and the lighting is something that stood out to me, there are a few times when I realised that the lighting in this film was actually genuinely creepy. Which finally brings me onto the ghosts, anyone familiar with The Devil's Backbone will be familiar with the design of the ghosts, because they're very similar, but these things make Santi look like something from a kids show, they are genuinely frightening, at least to me, and they definitely got under my skin. CG is utilized to create the ghosts here, and I don't think that's a bad thing, because they're so cool to look at and so fucking freaky, the one from the trailer that comes up through the floor and the first ghost you see in the film in particular, woof, they were scary. There's also a good bit of gore in this film, a good amount of blood, and, minor spoiler, someone gets their head repeatedly slammed into a bathroom sink, and their face is turned to pulp, yeah, there's violence and gore. This film also deals with some very mature themes, which I won't spoil, but once you get past the pretty awkward sex scenes, it's actually handled pretty well. So while the film will creep you out with it's spooky ghosts, this is a film that will haunt you in a much deeper, more frightening way, a way that will stay with you, which is something I love.

I really liked Crimson Peak, it's stunning to look at and has really cool design and costume, as well as some really creepy and very interesting and freaky looking ghosts. I personally didn't gravitate to the main character, but I was completely gripped by Thomas and Lucille Sharpe, who stole the show from beginning to end, and I had a lot of fun with the mystery of the film. This is a film that creeped me out, unsettled me, and completely hooked me, and it's definitely worth watching.