Crimson Peak (2015)

Crimson Peak (2015) Good old Guillermo Del Toro! Always very brutal, bloody, with his dose of perversity…

That said, this film is one of my favorites. Fans of gore and non-stop horror will be disappointed. But they always are, it seems! No matter how black, dark, unhealthy, and unbearable a film is.

The violence and horror are not gratuitous here, unlike in so many other films, but are always linked to the plot and the Machiavellian plan that we discover little by little, in this huge place crammed with little rooms that we will never discover…I hated Cronos (1992), Mimic (1997), Nightmare Alley (2021). I moderately liked Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013) and The Shape of Water (2017). And honestly, I have no desire to see his animated film Pinocchio (2022)!

On the other hand, I really love Blade II (2002), as well as the two Hellboy films (2004 and 2008). This film is interesting and gripping, but clearly not for the faint-hearted.

This director manages to come up with good scenarios and to create sets that are often very impressive and quite fabulous. Here, we enter the Victorian era.

The dialogue is nice, as is the plot. There are obviously some far-fetched things and inconsistencies, as well as things I would have liked to see (like someone falling into the red liquid in the basement of the mansion). This gigantic mansion is almost like an abyss or a disturbing living monster, just like the lift shaft!

The filmmaker creates a visual shock by mixing fascination with the anguish of a place ready to swallow everything!

The film is long, but I didn’t see too much time go by and the ending doesn’t drag on too long. What’s more, the last speech, just before the credits roll, is really beautiful.

The cast is very pleasant. It’s regularly a pleasure to see Mia Wasikowska, best known for her roles in Alice in Wonderland in (2010) and 2016), Jane Eyre in 2011 and Madame Bovary in (2014). It seems to me that she often has important leading roles. There are lots of her films that I haven’t seen yet, like Bergman Island (2021), Judy & Punch (2019), Blackbird (2019), Blueback (2022) and so on!

Strange as it may seem to some, Jessica Chastain is rarely in films that interest me or that are in my priorities. I can see how that would be a shame, and even dramatic for her fans. But I really enjoyed her here.

Tom Hiddleston is best known for his role as Thor’s brother Loki, who has now appeared in quite a few films and even a series dedicated to him. This is the second time he’s played opposite Wasikowska, since two years earlier they were both in Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). For more information, visit Tom Hiddleston’s Wikipedia page.

As for Charlie Hunnam (Children of Men, Harry Potter), he is a British actor who came to prominence with his role as Pete Dunham in the film Hooligans (2005) alongside Elijah Wood. Since then he has appeared in a number of major Hollywood productions, including Pacific Rim, directed by Del Toro.

The film is certainly grotesque at times. For example, the heroine is the victim of some pretty gruesome visions, but she’s obviously coping just fine, whereas anyone else would be terrified until the end of time! Then there’s the heroine who falls a good 10 metres, crashes into a staircase banister, escapes with just a broken leg and gallops off like a rabbit 10 minutes later (and that’s the kind of thing that annoys me about these films!), the hero who dies in the manner of Cotillard in Batman… well, I’m not being very nice by bringing that up again, as a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. And I really like Marion Cotillard!

If ever, the rare supernatural elements, supposedly the driving force behind the film, serve absolutely no purpose. If you remove them, the story remains the same. They don’t change anything, they don’t influence the course of events! For example, the ghost of the heroine’s mother warns her, but she doesn’t understand the message until it’s too late. The message is therefore useless and the ghost in the house does nothing but scare the heroine.

A gothic/horror/fantasy film, just like the book the heroine wanted to write: a film about love and ghosts. So you could say it’s very good in its genre, but it doesn’t revolutionise anything, which is almost a shame. Yes, it lacks a surprise, but otherwise it’s a quality film!