So, does this movie live up to the bar set by its own creator? Let's find out.
CRIMSON PEAK (2015)
Blogtober Qualifications: Victorian England, ghosts, murder, unnecessary scare chords
Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is a wealthy but withdrawn young woman. Her life's work is a manuscript that she desperately wishes to see published, but no one seems to take it seriously.
She also sees ghosts.
At a young age, Edith loses her mother. However, her mother's spirit stays behind to give Edith a cryptic warning: "Beware of Crimson Peak."
Through a chance encounter she becomes acquainted with a baronet from England by the name of Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), and quicker than you can say "British accent," she begins to fall for him. Thomas reciprocates her feelings, though his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) seems to be less than happy with that fact. The two are clearly hiding something, but before Edith can notice, tragedy strikes and she loses her father.
With nothing holding her to America, Edith agrees to marry Thomas and live with him in his family's estate in England, known to the locals as Crimson Peak.
So let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. First of all, the movie is gorgeous. Like, absolutely beautiful. The sets are packed with detail and the costume design seems, to my untrained eye, to be exceptional as well. External shots, especially when they involve snow, are really a sight to behold. Strong colors abound and contrast nicely with the dark shadows and more muted tones.
But it's in the form of creature effects that the visuals really shine. Every ghost in the movie is terrifying and creative. And of course, they're all practical... mostly. The make-up and costumes are, indeed, practical, featuring an actor (usually Doug Jones, of Hellboy fame) in make-up and prosthetics. However, certain other effects, mainly the semi-transparency, are then applied to the ghosts digitally. The two approaches meld together perfectly, and it really shows how well things go when digital effects are used to enhance, rather than replace, practical ones.
But all of that is a given. This is a Guillermo del Toro movie, we know it's going to look good. But how is the movie itself?
The answer, in my opinion, is good. Not great, but definitely good.
Let's discuss the actors. Mia Wasikowska's Edith was weird for me. I like her, she looks nice, and I get the feeling that she's doing a good job. For some reason, though, I never quite connected with her. I don't know if it's her or me, but it was definitely there.
Tom Hiddleston, perhaps most famous as Loki in the Marvel movies, does a commendable job as the charming, but mysterious, Thomas Sharpe. It's just unfortunate that you can't not see him as Loki. It's not a fault of his acting or anything like that, it's just that I so strongly relate him to that character.
That leaves Lucille, played by Jessica Chastain. Hers is the standout performance, in my opinion, and it's extremely entertaining to watch the layers of her personality slowly get peeled back one by one.
The story is well-told, if fairly predictable. Ironically for a movie with ghosts walking around, the tensest moments occur between the human characters. But I'm still glad the ghosts are here. Unfortunately I can't really say that much about it without spoiling things, predictable though they may be. There are things I would have changed, but I enjoyed it.
There is one thing I want to take a moment to complain about, though. I don't know who's responsible for this, and I have a hard time believing it's Guillermo del Toro. But either way, there are at least two separate scenes in this movie where an otherwise subtle moment involving a ghost is ruined by a sudden scare chord. This is not a jump-scare kind of movie, and one of the moments in question, it could be argued, was meant to be a tender moment between ghost and human. But hey, this is Hollywood, we can't have subtlety LOOK AT THIS IT'S SCARY.
Like I said, I can't even fathom who is ultimately responsible for it, but I'd put money that they were wearing a suit.
That aside, though, I enjoyed my time with Crimson Peak. This was my second time seeing it, and I still got a good deal of enjoyment out of it. It isn't my favorite Guillermo del Toro movie by any stretch, and I don't see myself watching it again anytime soon. But it's definitely worth your time, even if it's only to see the ghosts.
Hell, that's what we're all here for anyway.
Tomorrow we'll be seeing Tom Hiddleston again. I didn't plan it that way, but it's a fun little coincidence. This time, though, he'll be hanging out in a jungle instead of a snow English mansion. There's also another important character, a pretty big one, if I recall. But for the life of me I can't remember his name.
Until next time!
Current Interests:
Listening - David Bowie: Scary Monsters (1980)
Playing - Bloodborne: NG+ (2015)
Reading - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (1987)
Watching - WWE Hell in a Cell (2017)
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