"Crimson Peak"

To me, "Crimson Peak" was nothing more than a disappointment. I love del Toro. And the promise of him doing a period horror movie starring Tom Hiddleston as the villain was everything I could ask for. Unfortunately for me, "Crimson Peaks" was much less "period horror" and much more "period romance with an occasional ghost". While I can see why some might consider this a good movie, it is not what was sold to me, and I find much of it to be completely unnecessary.

While taking a look though IMDB trying to oganize thoughts, I stumbled on a user review that almost perfectly describes how I feel about this movie. The review was by a user known as rabbitmoon, and their post is as follows:

What a disappointing movie. It starts promising - a few motives, characters, conflicts, sumptuous period detail (if all a little "clean" and theatrical if you know what I mean - everyone with perfect teeth and makeup and speaking like a thoughtful scriptwriter). Then gradually you realise that everything that is glaringly obvious and predictable IS actually what is happening - and its a long, painful process watching it play out just as you expect it to. There's nothing to make you go "ah! That's interesting!" whatsoever. The ghosts look incredibly CGI and therefore not scary at all, but more to the point they had absolutely no point or function - clearly just shoehorned in (perhaps after the original draft?) as a way to make it "horror" and more marketable to the teenage market. Jessica Chastain is always watchable, and the film looks pretty colourful, but that's about it.

Unfortunately, the two biggest truths here is the "glaringly obvious and predictable" part, and the "[the ghosts] had absolutely no point or function" bit. I'm OK with the ghosts appearing very CGI, because with the old and bland setting they were going to stand out no matter what when you make them bright red most of the time. My issue lies in them not doing anything for the movie. They show up sparingly during the first two acts to give her warnings, but don't do anything else. Even when they do show up, they're completely expected and not very good scares. I could have even dealt with Hiddleston being a ghost the whole time or some crazy Shyamalan crap. In fact, the advertising campaign made me believe he was some supernatural beast (werewolf, vampire, Mr Hyde). That would have made for a far more entertaining movie for sure.

So we're done looking at this as a horror movie, because it lacks so many elements of horror. Let's look at it from a romance angle. Tom Hiddleston woos the daughter of a rich old man (Mia Wasikowska), him and his sister (Jessica Chastain) kill the man, and then he immediately marries her for the money (completely unbeknownst to this woman who we never feel a connection for). Meanwhile, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain are an incestuous couple behind Mia Wasikowska's back. Her childhood love (Charlie Hunnam) who never gave up on her figures everything out himself and shows up to save her in act three. I mean, that sounds like four dozen different Lifetime movies to me. Not really romantic because her husband is a sleaze, but enough for someone to draw the lines for it being a romantic movie. 

The visuals are gorgeous.You get the wondrous gotchic clothing and mansion, and the ample use of red in an otherwise-dark movie. The music accompanying the scenes sets up a great ambiance. This is a period movie through-and-through. Unfortunately apart from that, the only thing the movie has going for it is the tremendous acting from Hiddleston and Chastain who play two characters that you feel no love for at all. Wasikowska's acting is nearly as pale as her own skin, and her character is so boring you never feel that connection that the main character deserves. Plus, Hunnam's character shows up at the end to save Wasikowska's, and instead of being smart he just points out almost everything we have already discovered, and is then "killed" (but anyone can see from a mile away that he isn't).

As a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro, I don't understand what he did with this movie. And I find it very difficult to get behind him on it. Skip this. Go watch "Pan's Labyrinth" or "The Devil's Backbone" if you want your del Toro horror fix. We have the former, not the latter, but make sure you watch it. It's a tremendous movie.