Review - Crimson Peak

Crimson Peak with its detailed production and novel vision, delivers just enough thrills and chills.

The mansion of Crimson Peak reminds you of Hammer Horror films - like the one in The Woman in Black (2012).

Guillermo Del Toro is a master of wild imagination and visual flair. His movies, full of practical effects and outlandish prosthetics, have brought some of the most zany characters.  However, his masterpiece Pan's Labyrinth had a profound story along which his trademark style, something which he hasn't quite managed to attain in his recent movies. Fortunately enough, Crimson Peak doesn't disappoints (in extreme manner) in any department.

Starring the trio of Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleson and Jessica Chastain, Crimson Peak is more about ghastly humans than ghosts. Set in late 19th Century, the film is about young American writer, Edith Cushing, who has a certain interest in ghost stories. She weds off to a mysterious but passionate baronet, Thomas Sharpen; moving from America to an isolated mansion called Allerdale Hall, somewhere in far-off Northern England. Thomas lives alone with his sister, Lucille, who is surprisingly cold towards Edith. The Aberdale Hall is your typical Hammer Horror mansion - creaking doors and flooring, whooshing winds echoing through wide desolated hall, century old furniture and equally dated cobwebs. From the day one, Edith starts to experience arcane happenings. The Sharpe siblings are certainly not what they seem and Edith is apparently our Jonathan stuck in Count Dracula's castle.

Flirting with ideas of forbidden love, isolation and of course, the supernatural, Del Toro's script however never rises above its mediocre, genre-bound tricks. The film is largely devoid of deliberate plot twists (which is a good thing), but again, you will guess the major secret miles away. There are some plot holes lying here and there, and the questionable benevolence of some elements (avoiding spoilers here), is irksome. The film's plot is largely reminiscent of many other Gothic-horrors of Hollywood's Golden Era and has a little new to offer in terms of story-line.

But what novel here is the vision and treatment. With a production design so intricate and detailed that it deserves an Oscar, Del Toro along with his allies behind the screen have constructed each and every scene in so painstaking manner, that the film engulfs you entirely. The mood and atmosphere of the film is well realized and Fernando Velázquez's haunting, piano-based score leaves a mark of impression. The staple "booh" moments in this film feel like spine-chilling horror, even though the script itself doesn't allows much more to it. Shot with shades of gold in the beginning and gradually shifting the color palette to grey and white as the film progresses, cinematographer Dan Lausten has complemented Del Toro's vision handsomely. Apart from obvious technical brilliance, none of the actors spoil the fun - Wasikowska, Hiddleson and Chastain have done some great work here. Chastain, particularly shines above the rest, perhaps because its the first time the great actress has done a twisted and dark character.

Crimson Peak is a prime example of an above-average script turned to a memorable film with mere vision and clean execution. It is certainly not Del Toro's best (not even close to the cinematic gem Pan's Labyrinth), but definitely a very fine Gothic romance, akin to Dracula (1992).
3.5/5