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My general disdain for horror movies has been a running theme throughout my tenure as this publication’s movie critic. Clichéd, repetitive and boring are often adjectives I trot out when faced with yet another by-the-numbers effort that relies on cheap jump scares, grotesque special effects and doom-mongering organ music.
So it comes as no surprise that when a visionary director forgoes this nonsense and harks back to the days of old; focussing on tension, mystery and atmosphere, he churns out an absolute cracker.
Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak is a very deliberate return to old-school horror, that of Shelley, Poe and Stoker. But instead of sycophantic pandering to the genre of Gothic fiction and romance to evoke nostalgia, he uses it to serve the film and update the themes with the best of modern cinema.
It’s refreshing to see this classic style peppered with superb digital effects, the switching of gender roles and an age rating legitimately earned thanks to the exploration of mature and twisted themes rather than by the amount of claret spilled.
Events begin with lead character Edith Cushing (Wasikowska) as a small child who is visited by the spectre of her recently-deceased mother. After a warning to beware of something called Crimson Peak, Edith grows up to be an aspiring writer, struggling to attract publishers to her spooky stories as opposed to the popular romance novels they want.
When English aristocrat Sir Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston) visits New York to seek investors for his clay mining invention, Edith has her head turned and she falls in love with him, ultimately electing to marry him and accompany him back to England.
But Sharpe, along with his scary sister Lucille (Chastain), are actually residents of a creepy, mysterious and decaying English mansion set on top of a red clay mine. Unfortunately, Edith does not realise until the huge wooden doors have been barred shut that ‘Allerdale Hall’ is more commonly known by another name, one given to it due to the coloured hue of its grounds when snow falls on the clay.
As her mother warned all those years ago, ‘beware of Crimson Peak’. For there is something very, very wrong going on here.
The characters and their portrayals are fantastic. Wasikowska effortlessly switches between strong and vulnerable, and her pale skin and pure blonde hair gives her an air of being spectral herself.
Chastain plays the cold puppet master well, reeling off melodies on her piano with as much precision as her systematic rejections of friendship from Edith, while Hiddleston plays the sympathetic character. Torn between allegiance to his new bride and the flesh and blood of his sibling, his dance between the two becomes increasingly desperate and becomes the intriguing focal point of the narrative.
The only character played straight is a dashing doctor, represented by Charlie Hunnam, who tries to swoop in to rescue the damsel in distress. However, del Toro superbly plays with audience expectations regarding the characters’ ultimate paths, and this is a film where the women set events in motion and where women decide their fates and consequences.
The film’s ghosts are spooky rather than downright scary, and it’s a nice change of angle compared to usual horror tropes. The film questions throughout whether it is the humans or the ghosts who are more of a threat, and Edith tells us in the opening narration that this isn’t a ghost story anyway, but a story with ghosts in it.
Admittedly, Crimson Peak is a slow-burner and it takes a while to get going and start revealing answers to the central mystery. This might put off those who are fans of more modern horror where there are thrills and spills every minute, but it’s worth the wait.
My absolute favourite aspect is the visual design and cinematography. The costumes and props not only set the scene authentically, but every frame is like a painting unto itself, and the mansion is practically a living, breathing character on its own.
The effects of the clay mine deep below the property cause red liquid to ooze down some walls, for example, making the house appear to bleed. A hole in the ceiling means snow softly falls inside the hall, and the shots of the house perched precariously atop a bed of wet, red snow will stick in the mind long after you’ve left the cinema.
Featuring excellent performances, stunning visual design, and a desire to challenge expectations and common horror tropes, this is a horror film which focusses on the real evil, humans, while the ghosts exist simply as a reminder of the genre.
Showing at Cineco, Seef I, Saar, Al Jazira, Novo Cinemas, Dana Cineplex
KRISTIAN’S VERDICT 4/5
