Wednesday Review: Crimson Peak

Some critics have been saying that Crimson Peak was mis-marketed. I was a bit wary from Chris Stuckman's review, which seemed to imply that the movie was more of a romance than a horror movie. Jeremy Jahns went as far as saying that the ghosts could have been edited out of the film entirely without affecting the plot.

I don't disagree with this assessment, but I can't really imagine a better trailer for the film. The film seems to be a mixture of a mystery, a ghost story, and a romance. The most intense, trailer-worthy scenes of the mystery would be major spoilers, and marketing the film as a ghost story, or a romance would both result in calls of mis-marketing. I suppose they decided to at least make it clear that what they were selling was a ghost story, which really isn't under dispute.

The movie deals with an American heiress and aspiring writer marrying a poverty-stricken English aristocrat, and moving in with him and his sister in their run-down manor. Our main character, Edith, seems to be at least a bit psychic, seeing ghosts from time to time throughout her life, and far more prominently once she moves into the house. She knows that bad things have happened there, and spends much of the movie trying to piece together the house's bloody history.

It's true that the ghosts don't do a lot to influence the plot of the film, but that doesn't mean that they're not significant. They serve to create a real sense of dread, and the visuals are absolutely fabulous. Anyone familiar with Del Toro's views of the afterlife, as displayed in both this film and The Devil's Backbone, is likely to be even more disturbed by the implications of ghosts.

I will note that the movie is slow to get started, but I never really minded. The actors are just fun to watch, and they have a good rapport. The plot is fairly predictable, but it plays out naturally enough. The twists are logical, and there are a few times when my guesses were partially right, but the twists turned out to be more complicated.

At this point I suspect that Tom Hiddleston is just biding his time until he hits his 50s, and the Academy is ready to give him his Oscar. There's absolutely no question that he's one of the finest actors alive, and that shines through here. In lesser hands many of his scenes would be downright dull, but he turns on the charm and keeps us interested.

I think this movie is proof that Guillermo del Toro is incapable of directing a bad film. The visual are beautiful, the cast ideal, and the story intense. I don't know if this movie will be a big hit on it's initial release, but I suspect it's a film that will have a following for many years to come, and may grow on people over time. But, if you think it sounds interesting, I would certainly recommend catching it in theatres.