Movie Review: Crimson Peak

So let's start with an admission. I'm a pretty big fan of Hammer Horror films from the 1950s and 60s; honestly, if I chose a favorite director based on number of their movies I like, Terrence Fischer (1904 - 1980) would easily be in my top ten. Classics like Horror of Dracula (1958), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), and The Mummy (1959) are still all incredible effective today, and the climax of Brides of Dracula (1960) may be my favourite defeat of a vampire in any movie I've seen to date... and don't even get me started on The Devil Rides Out (1968) - or you know, just read my post about it here.

Something about a lonesome mansion (or manor, or castle) a romance between an unsuspecting innocent and a suspiciously perfect partner with a dark past, and maybe a ghost or two just work perfectly. Also, looking at it, they also describe all the aspects of Gothic Romance fiction, of which I'm also a pretty big fan.

So earlier this year when it was announced that Guillermo Del Toro would be directing Crimson Peak, I knew I would have to check it out.

After seeing the film, the word I could best use to describe it is "lush", meaning "very rich and providing great sensory pleasure." In many ways the film is best looked at as an experience for the eyes and ears. Yes, there are a number of graphic depictions of violence - fans of Pan's Labyrinth will be familiar with the types of shocking violence that can appear in Del Toro's films. Yes, the movie clearly owes a lot to Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and the 1940 Alfred Hitchcock film adaption as well.

At it's heart, the film is a ghost story, and for the two hours it lasted I simply couldn't look away. An incredibly fun film that hit all the marks I look for in this type of story.