Review of Crimson Peak (2015) by Odjento — 17 Oct 2015

Much hype has been built up over the past few months for ‘Crimson Peak’ due to it supposedly being Guillermo Del Toro’s “passion project”. This in addition with the saturation of good horror films in the film industries current form, there was plenty of reason to be excited for this feature.

As I wander down the aisle in my routinely fashion, picking my middle/back portion area of seating to sit in as tradition along with my large salted popcorn and vitamin water that have almost become synonymous with me and the cinema, I feel like I have foreshadowed what I could only presume would be a typical formulaic horror plot, sticking to the “contemporary” tradition. However I was wrong: and perhaps like others mislead.

First to understand, this is NOT a horror film: despite being labelled so. It is a Gothic Romance film. Secondly, it is not a ghost film, it is more of a romantic mystery with ghosts in it. Neither of these are specifically horror.

As the films sets off you can see a considerable amount of time has been put into set and costume design. Del Toro loves immersing his audience in the feeling of when his films are set like in 2006’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, and that is no different here in Crimson Peak. There is also a nice mention between which the film takes its inspiration from: Wuthering Heights and The House of Mirth being the two obvious ones which can all be seen not only due to Edith’s name but by the Emily Bronte conversation on the stairwell.

The Film has its scary moments sparsely spread out over the film and so you can feel safe for the majority of the run time. They are mainly atmospheric but a few cheap jump-scares, but also a few effective ones. The cinematography of the film is eye popping and looks gorgeous, and only add to the films scares. Chastain brings a lot of the creepiness to the set – in fact more than the ghosts – as she delivers an excellent performance here as Lucille.

The acting in the film is for the best part good, Chastain being brilliant, Wasikowska doing a good job but sparring well with Chastain, and Hiddleston surprisingly being the worst. He is good in the film, but he is a step down from what the two lead actresses bring.

The film also has some gruesome violence but they are very infrequent, making them seem even more disgusting than they are. They are visceral and brutal, and you can’t help but watch on at the savagery.

The twist however in the film was for too obvious and the plot for the most part was a bit too formulaic, you could constantly see where it was going. Some clunky exposition is also given over a tape recorder which was all too convenient. The fact though that the film was advertised as a horror and not a gothic romance could however make the plot seem more interesting as people wouldn’t expect it, which is both parts an admirable and cheap marketing tactic by Del Toro.

The last act of the film takes an unexpected turn however and turns in a Danny Boyle ‘Sunshine’ movie, with the tone changing completely into a slasher flick. It feels out of place but to be honest, it is executed well and can’t be complained about too much.

All in all the film had good performances, beautiful visuals, a mediocre plot but plenty of material to chew on. A decent effort but definitely not delivering what was expected.

And let’s not forget, this film isn’t a horror.

6.