Crimson Peak

Year of release : 2015

 

Run time : 1h59min

 

Genre : Horror / Gothic Romance / Thriller / Mystery

 

Cast : Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam

 

 

The movie was co-written and directed by Guillermo del Toro.

 

Edith can see ghosts ever since her mother died when she was a kid,and her ghost came back to warn her about Crimson Peak.

14 years later,in Buffalo,N.Y., Edith writes ghost stories as she wants to become a writer. In a fight with the mother of the man who seems to like her,she says she wants to be like Mary Shelly,to die a widow. Little does she know this wish might come true.

 

Although,when she hears about the baronet, Edith is not impressed,when she sees him,she changes her mind. The feeling seems to be mutual,as he courts her.

Her father is suspicious of him,and asks a private eye to look into his history. What the man finds makes her father pay the baronet and his sister to leave Buffalo,and him to break Edith's heart.

The baronet does so,but the very next day Edith's father is murdered in the bathroom,and the baronet writes her a letter in which he tells her he did what he did because her father told him to stay away from her.

 

After her father's burial, Edith marries the baronet,and moves to Cumberland, England,with him and his sister.

His sister is the lady of the house,and she refuses to make her a set of keys.

The house is decrepit,falling apart,with a large hole in the rooftop through which the snow comes in,the red sand of the land seeping through the floors.

 

Once in the house, the sister insists Edith drinks a lot of tea,to keep her warm,and whenever she wakes up at night,in stomach pains,as it seems,the baronet is never in bed next to her.

A ghost is haunting her,and she starts finding out the dark secrets of the place.

 

I personally enjoyed the movie, it's so rich in colors, and everything! I loved the world they created, the era the movie takes place in,1901, the houses, even the Crimson Peak house, although decrepit, it's so beautiful; the costumes, especially those of Edith,are beautiful.

I loved how it was directed, the transition from scene to scene.

As a writer, I liked what Edith said about characters, about how they talk to you, they transform, and make choices about who they become! It's so true!

One thing I didn't like about it, was towards the end, SPOILERS in the fight between Lucille and Edith, Lucille pushes Edith off the 2nd floor railing, and Edith falls on her back into the 1st floor railing, then to the ground. That should have k1lled her or at least broke her back, but she only had a twisted ankle!

Crimson Peak is the name of the Cumberland house, given by the red clay which comes through the snow,making it look bright red.

 

The acting was perfect.

 

The visual effects were great,one can recognize Guillermo del Toro's unique take on ghosts' appearance,as he loves to pen them with blood flowing upwards from their wounds. Although,that made sense in 'The devil's backbone' in this one,the ghosts didn't die in water.

 

The soundtrack was good.

 

The movie received positive reviews, and received many nominations at the Empire Awards and Saturn Awards, winning 3 at the Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Chastain), Best Horror, and Best Production Design.

The movie only grossed 74.7 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 55 million.

Cinema Score audiences gave the movie a B- on an A+ to F scale.

The movie was in the works since 2006! Before Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska were cast, Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Stone were to play the leads.

Rating : It's so money!