Crimson Peak opens in theaters this Friday. Still, it’s one of the best -looking films of the year and worth a watch, especially if you’re in the mood for a ghost story.
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It’s no surprise that del Toro’s sets are one of the highlights of the film – it’s the haunted house to end all haunted houses – but it’s the performances and character development that Crimson Peak will be remembered for.
However, the movie is so contrasting in many points. The film is an eerie tale of intrigue, secrets, and Gothic romance.
Edith meets Sir Thomas Sharpe, a British baronet, when he asks her father to finance a clay-mining operation in England. To be fair, maybe it just seemed predictable to me because I’m a fan of scary films and ghost stories.
Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) isn’t like the other young women in Buffalo, in the waning days of the Victorian Era. There is something different about him that draws Edith right to him.
However, with Sharpe’s charm and hot an cold persona, he succeeded in sweeping Edith off of her feet. The one thing everyone notices is that her latest work deals with ghosts.
Edith and Thomas move to Allerdale Hall with his sister Lady Lucille Sharpe( Jessica Chastain) which is a run down old mansion that has a huge clay mine underneath it. It is out in the middle of nowhere and it is pretty drafty.
Turns out the Sharpes’ home, the eponymous Crimson Peak, is the real star of the movie: Built of crumbling rock and rotting wood, it’s a ruin where dying leaves flutter through a ragged hole in the roof and tattered walls tremble with the softly beating wings of black moths.
For all its feeling of a throwaway penny terrible, Crimson Peak looks gorgeous; with help from Danish cinematographer Dan Laustsen, nobody does flamboyant, operatic gore quite like del Toro.
This would-be haunted house story stays surprisingly clear of that obvious choice, instead focusing strongly on its main characters and their existing and budding relationships – which are no doubt entirely twisted. Edith, in the process of writing her own ghost novel, is an American Elizabeth Bennett of sorts: quick-witted and outspoken.
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam.
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The sets and period costumes are sublime and all add to the sense of impending doom which the cinematography and lighting achieve while in sync with the great sound track.
