by Jen
It seems like I have been waiting forever for Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak to come out! I am an ardent admirer of del Toro's work - clearly I'm a sucker for atmospheric gothic horror films - and the cast of this film made me anticipate this film all the more. I even drove an extra twenty minutes to see the film in an IMAX theater, because any del Toro film is made better by a bigger screen!
I know some reviewers have been disappointed with the overall experience of Crimson Peak, but I enjoyed it tremendously. Yes, it is different than del Toro's earlier gothic romances (The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth), but different does not equal bad!
The characters immediately drew me into the story. Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, and Charlie Hunnam were intriguing as Thomas Sharpe, Edith Cushing, Lucille Sharpe, and Alan McMichael; but I also enjoyed the performances of Jim Beaver as Edith's father, Burn Gorman as the shady private investigator Holly, and Leslie Hope as Alan's mother. Hope had a fantastic one-liner - upon seeing Edith enter a party on the arm of Thomas (who she had intended as a potential suitor for her daughter), she says to the girl, "Don't worry, my dear; everyone has a place, and I'll make sure you find yours."
The characters immediately drew me into the story. Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, and Charlie Hunnam were intriguing as Thomas Sharpe, Edith Cushing, Lucille Sharpe, and Alan McMichael; but I also enjoyed the performances of Jim Beaver as Edith's father, Burn Gorman as the shady private investigator Holly, and Leslie Hope as Alan's mother. Hope had a fantastic one-liner - upon seeing Edith enter a party on the arm of Thomas (who she had intended as a potential suitor for her daughter), she says to the girl, "Don't worry, my dear; everyone has a place, and I'll make sure you find yours."
And of course the Sharpe's dilapidated manor house is a character all its own. Allerdale Hall, with its weird red mud and decrepit structure, would seem haunted even if its halls weren't host to actual ghosts.
And the ghosts are brutally visual, but we would expect nothing less of specters that materialized from the mind of del Toro! Poor Edith is haunted, not only by the tragedies in her life but by the literal phantoms in her new husband's family home.
And the ghosts are brutally visual, but we would expect nothing less of specters that materialized from the mind of del Toro! Poor Edith is haunted, not only by the tragedies in her life but by the literal phantoms in her new husband's family home.
There's not much more I can say without giving away essential elements of the plot, so I'll just leave you with this thought: Crimson Peak might not be the scariest film you see this October, but it's definitely worth the ticket price. (I'd pay that much just to see the scene at the depot on the big screen again!)