Movie Review: "Crimson Peak" (Guillermo del Toro, 2015)

HALLOWEEN’S PERFECT DATE MOVIE by Maxwell Meyers

Guillermo del Toro is an artist.  I know what you’re thinking: “Well duh.  Aren’t all directors artists?”  I will give you this: most of them are.  But what sets del Toro apart is the passion that he puts into every project.  Whether he is doing a film about the Spanish revolution, a comic book adaptation, or a sci-fi epic of robots and monsters, his zeal for moviemaking remains.  And that passion exudes from both the floor and the ceiling in his latest endeavor: “Crimson Peak.”

In “Crimson Peak,” Mr. del Toro tells the tale of Edith Cushing (the lovely Mia Wasikowska), who one day meets the mysterious and enigmatic stranger Sir Thomas Sharpe (who is played expertly by Tom Hiddleston).  When Edith’s father dies suddenly, she marries Thomas and is whisked away to his massive dilapidated property, which the locals call Crimson Peak, due to the red clay that seeps out of the surrounding soil when it snows.  The house, which is also home to Thomas’ sister Lucille (a spectacular Jessica Chastain) holds a dark secret that Edith sets out to discover.

            “Crimson Peak” isn’t your typical ghost movie; it’s more akin to a period drama (if more period dramas took place in a haunted house and featured copious amounts of murder).  It’s also visually arresting.  Say whatever you want about Mr. del Toro as a director, but he has a very specific visual style that is transfused through the spectacular filter of his eye.  From crimson clay mines to a roof that has caved in so that outside elements pool in a foyer, every image that Mr. del Toro creates is lush, beautiful, and horrific (not to mention that the whole affair is elevated by the trio of Wasikowska, Hiddleston, and Chastain). 

            I would have gladly watched “Crimson Peak” for another hour.  Why?  Because the movie is like everything else that Mr. del Toro creates—a story with something more going on below the surface.  The fact that sometimes the living can be far more terrifying than the dead that haunts the walls of Crimson Peak the house and “Crimson Peak” the movie, making it all the more powerful. 

I’m giving “Crimson Peak” a solid A, and come awards time, I hope to see some nods in the costuming and production design categories.  If you are in the market for a spooky Gothic romance, Mr. del Toro’s movie is the ticket.