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Crimson Peak (2015)
Misleading advertising has ruined many a movie, and unfortunately, Crimson Peak is another victim of poor marketing. Trailers made the movie out to be similar to recent scare fests like The Conjuring when it is actually more Gothic and romantic like Sleepy Hollow or Bram Stoker's Dracula. With all that being said, Crimson Peak is a very engaging and creepy film. Crimson Peak is about a woman named Edith, whose heart is stolen by a stranger who leaders her to a mysterious mansion atop a hill of blood-red clay, but she quickly learns that the house and her lover hold dark secrets. What may disappoint horror fans is that this movie isn't very scary. Apart from a great deal of dread and a couple of nail-biting sequences, Crimson Peak is not a horror film. Edith describes this film perfectly when she is describing a manuscript she wrote: "It's not a ghost story; it's a story with ghosts in it." It's a beautifully filmed, sexual, violent Gothic romance. There are great performances from the entire cast, with Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain giving standout performances, but the best character in the film is the house itself. The mansion's elaborate and darkly beautiful design make it one of the most memorable haunted houses in film, and every single shot of it is like a piece of art. Del Toro paints such stunning imagery in Crimson Peak that you could pick any frame from the movie and hang it as an art piece. He directs each actor and shot with grace and elegance that it makes up for the film's rather predictable plot. Crimson Peak isn't Del Toro's horror masterpiece as some people were expecting, but it is a beautifully crafted work of Gothic fiction that should be a suitable diversion just in time for Halloween.
8/10
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