'Crimson Peak' is the sort of film I like to watch through sleepy eyes whilst curled up on the sofa on a miserable winter's day. I actually saw it in a recently refurbished cinema, seated just in front of a man who smelled like smoked mackerel....and I still liked it. In fact, I loved it.
Imagine a fairy tale done in the gothic horror style for Hammer studios and directed by Mario Bava. Imagine Edgar Allan Poe had been a steampunk comic book artist and imagine that Walt Disney had worked with Roger Corman on an adaptation. Imagine 'The Shining' as a romantic period piece directed by Dario Argento using technicolour film stock. It has that vibe about it.
'Crimson Peak' is the latest atmospheric outing for Guillermo del Toro and although it is indisputably an exercise in style over substance it doesn't really matter when it all looks so ravishing. It's languid at times, has poor dialogue, some clunky acting, fails to resolve a number of loose plot threads and you could argue that the supernatural element is entirely redundant. But for me that all added to the slightly woozy feeling of drifting in and out of watching an old film melodrama on the television whilst feeling snug under the blankets with a Lemsip, on a snow-day.
It has a crumbling mansion, murder, incest and stabbing; lots of stabbing. It's gorier than you might expect and has several jump moments that are more effective those found in more overtly "horror" films.
I loved the colour palette and the detail in dress and decor and basically succumbed to the sheer visual grandeur of it all. If you're expecting it to be horror you'll be disappointed. If you're expecting it to be 'Twilight' you'll be disappointed. If you're expecting 'Fifty Shades' you'll be disappointed. If you're expecting it to be Tim Burton fantasy you'll be disappointed. If you like slow-burn cinematic poetry and operatic excess than you'll love it
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