“Crimson Peak” is a mansion where the snow glows red as blood, and the ghosts of gruesome deaths roam.
Between the beauty of the gothic-style mansions, the fancy costume design, and the lavish lifestyle of the early 1800s, the viewer is transported into the stunning scenery; immediately drawn into Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece from the very first vividly colored scene throughout the thrilling storyline.
This movie was marketed under the tagline of “a love story, with ghosts in it”, and the final film doesn’t disappoint. After marrying Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), Edith (Mia Wasikowska) finds herself the matron of an exquisite, yet run-down, haunted mansion. Watched at every turn by Sharpe’s elder sister, Edith begins to discover that the man she married has dark family secrets hidden within the walls of the mansion. After countless encounters with ghouls, decrepit bodies and ghost forms, Edith tries to solve the mysteries that haunt “Crimson Peak”.
The mysterious storyline captures the viewer’s attention immediately, and makes it nearly impossible to envision the conclusion; the shocking final turn of events near the end of the film left the entire theater gasping. The entire film was different than what I would have expected; partially due to the unique, dark, and disturbing setting. The movie took the late nineteenth century setting to portray blackness and gloom in a new level: “Crimson Peak” set the horror bar high by setting the film in the foreign past.
If you viewed the trailer before going to see this movie, you’ll already be prepared for many of the frights this film has. The hauntings were new, fresh, and terrifying. My only mind critique of the film was that on a few separate occasions, character deaths were mildly predictable, and not nearly as morbid as expected, but they were still macabre. The foresight of the deaths didn’t make them any less emotionally tolling, frightening, and interesting.
“Crimson Peak” expertly weaved horror, thrill, love and lust into the outer frame of a ghost story. Del Toro himself is responsible for envisioning a perfectly crafted storyline and intriguingly new plot twists. Viewers who are entranced by the horror genre and the perplexity that comes with portraying new love in this context, don’t miss “Crimson Peak”.