Crimson Peak
by Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins
Redheadedgirl and Amanda saw Crimson Peak, as did I (but on the other side of the country). For RHG and I, Crimson Peak is pure crack. It has gothic romance. It has stunning costumes. It has my imaginary movie star boyfriend, Tom Hiddelston, making puppy eyes at everything that moves, and Jessica Chastain looking daggers at everyone and it’s basically everything we love in life.
It’s hard to describe the plot without getting into spoilers, so here’s a super short synopsis from Fandango:
In this gothic romance set at the turn of the 20th century, a mysterious stranger named Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) woos young author Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) and brings her as his bride to his mansion atop a clay mountain in Cumbria, England. There, Edith meets Sharpe’s strange and secretive sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain), and learns that her new home holds many disturbing secrets that will force her to fight for her sanity and her very life. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro. – Erin Demers, Rovi
Here is our non-spoilery review: “That was just about the most gothic thing ever, which of course means we loved it.”
Everything else on here is a spoiler. BEWARE.
SPOILER ALL THE SPOILERS. THIS MOVIE HAS VARIOUS TWISTS AND WE REVEAL ALL. ENTER AT OWN RISK.
SERIOUSLY. We can’t talk about it without giving away the particulars.
NOT KIDDING HERE.
OK, here we go!
RHG: That was very, very red. I have some questions.
First: Edith as a small child – why did you not cower under a blanket? It is known that blankets keep you safe from ghosts. IT IS KNOWN.
Second, Edith as an adult: YOU’VE BEEN LIVING WITH GHOSTS FOR A LONG TIME. SHUT THE FUCKING DOORS. That doesn’t keep them out, obviously, but at least you don’t have to look at them. Also a loud firm “KNOCK IT OFF” at ghosts will make them stop their histrionics. Not that I’ve done that. Why are you looking at me like that?
CarrieS: I noticed that if you look at other reviews of this movie, they are very love it or hate it, which I think it totally legit. Did it make any sense? No, none at all. Was it very well written? Some of it was, though the first third in particular was super clunky. Yet I adored it.
I compare this movie to Pacific Rim and contrast it to Pan’s Labyrinth (both of which, like Crimson Peak, are Guillermo Del Toro products). Pan’s Labyrinth appealed to a broad audience – it had all these fantasy elements, but also these gritty realistic elements, so a lot of people liked it even if they weren’t into fantasy. Pacific Rim rested it’s attraction on one thing – it was a movie in which giant mecha fight kaiju. Del Toro took his passion for that idea and cranked it up to 11, so if you liked the idea of seeing mecha fight alien monsters, then Pacific Rim was the BEST THING EVER and if you weren’t into Mecha vs Godzilla, well then fine, that just leaves more popcorn for me.
Crimson Peak is the Gothic Pacific Rim. It’s all the trappings of Victorian Gothic cranked up as far as it can go. So I’d tell people that either they love Gothic Victorian or they don’t, and therein the success of failure of the movie rests for them as a viewer.
RHG: I never look at other reviews until I’ve written my own.
It totally made sense. The Sharpes needed money, and the only thing they had to sell was…well, Tom’s dick. Well, his hand really, because his dick wasn’t supposed to come into it (man, this sentence just gets filthier and filthier the further I delve into it, so… ah, fuck it), but implied dick that is attached to a guy who looks like Tom Hiddleston is part of the package, so the previous wives take it. His hand, I mean. So they sell hands and implied dick and move on to the next. It makes as much sense as Jane fucking Eyre.
Maybe that proves your point. IT MADE MORE SENSE THAN WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
We go to Del Toro movies for the visuals and love of the genre he’s working in. He never makes the same movie twice, and when he goes in, he goes ALL IN. It’s why we love him. If you’re not already interested in the genre, you’re probably not going to be all in on the movie. He doesn’t fuck around.
CarrieS: I have things to say about the end. Also, another day we must throw down regarding Jane Eyre. Another day.
But speaking of Jane Eyre, did you notice that Thomas Sharpe’s declaration of love to Edith is almost an exact quote from Jane Eyre? That rascal.
Before we discuss the end, you are not the only one with questions. I realize ghosts are usually constrained in what they can say and how much time they have to say it in, but if I were going to haunt my daughter with a warning I’d squeeze in, “It’s me, your mom, don’t freak out and don’t marry Thomas Sharpe!” “For that matter, “Thomas Sharpe” has the same number of syllables as “Crimson Peak” so she could have said “Beware Thomas Sharpe” which would have saved much more trouble than “Beware Crimson Peak.” Why are the ghosts so fucking unhelpful, even when they can talk?
RHG: Yeah, Mom’s message was unnecessarily vague. Like, be more specific and that might have been ACTUALLY USEFUL.
CarrieS: OK, the end – I loved that they played with the gothic damsel in distress thing right up until near the end and then Edith was like, “Well, fuck it, I’m just going to have to save myself and also I guess I have to save this dude who came to save me but now is bleeding all over the place.” It was deeply satisfying to have tiny Edith who spent most of the movie weeping suddenly start dragging Alan around and stashing him in gross places and being all, “You stay here and try not to bleed out while I go hit this pyscho chick with a shovel, ‘K? I have things to do.” LOVED THAT. You go, Edith.
Also re: end BIG TRIGGER WARNING:
RHG: Having the big beat down between Mia and Jessica in their flowing white nightgowns was gorgeous and lovely. And even while Edith was weeping, she was still being an active heroine looking for information and digging for clues and figuring shit out (WITH CREEPY WAXY FACES IN THE CLOSET AUGH WTF) (She had glasses, just in case we missed it. They were cute glasses, but come on, we get it).
I really hope we start seeing Crimson Peak ghost cosplay. I want to know what people are going to do with that.
CarrieS: OMG it would be so amazing to see someone pull off the hallway ghost (it’s missing a lot of its lower body, but someone will come up with something that can work) pulling itself along the hallway floor at San Diego Comic-Con, shrieking at everyone in line for Ballroom 20. YES, PLEASE.
I agree about Edith. She always had agency, and she had room to grow as a character. I also liked it that she wasn’t shamed for having sexual desire. I wasn’t crazy about Mia Wasikowska’s acting early on but I thought it got stronger as the movie progressed. She played Jane Eyre in an awful adaptation of Jane Eyre, and she can carry a lot in a gothic movie just because she looks so perfect for it – she’s got those delicate bones and long neck and clear eyes that convey a certain essential “I am a good person” quality.
I thought Tom Hiddleston did great with his puppy eyes thing, and my love and respect and mad uncontrollable lust for Tom continue unabated, but obviously the really heavy hitter here was Jessica Chastain, or as she should ever be known, “Our Almighty Queen Jessica.”
RHG: I have seen the first half of that Jane Eyre twice and fell asleep at the same point both times. (It doesn’t help that I don’t like Fassbender.) (Someday, like at RT, we should play “give Carrie a wine cooler with 1% alcohol and then ask her about that godawful adaptation of Jane Eyre. I bet we could make BANK if we sold tickets.)
(CarrieS: Oh, honey, like we need the wine cooler. I have FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.)
Chastain is the heir apparent to Meryl Streep. Calling it now. Her resting bitch face is GLORIOUS. Tom is Tom and can say more with a jaw clench than certain other people can say with a Scorsese monologue (Yes, that was a Leo slam. HEYOOOOOOOO).
Can we talk about the set decoration and how like, “of course the Victorians came up with Gothic lit, THEY HAD TO SLEEP IN THOSE BIG DARK OVER FURNISHED HOUSES AND NEVER HAD ORGASMS.”
CarrieS: Oh, I’m pretty sure the characters in this movie had some pretty serious orgasms. Also, thanks, Del Toro, for gifting the female gaze with Tom Hiddleston’s perfect butt (fans self).
Regarding the set design – yes, and also the costumes GOOD LORD. When Thomas and Lucille are in the US and he’s all in black and she’s got this Victorian Vampirella thing on I seriously expected them to just randomly start sucking the blood of their fellow partiers right there at the dinner table. They wouldn’t try to hide it, but they would try not to soil their clothes. Standards.
The look of the movie was AMAZING.
RHG: The costumes are whole separate thing. There’s a delightful interview with Kate Hawley on Jezebel about the costumes and how she used the different silhouettes for Edith and Lucille (Lucille was, like her brother, about a decade or so out of date – the narrow bustle thing? That’s super 1890, while Edith was in the first stage of 1901 fashion….for the US). And I’m certain that Edith’s clothes were mostly inspired by items from The House of Worth . Her dressing gown when she comes down in one of the first mornings at Allendale Hall, with the brocade leaves and everything? VERY Worth-y.
Here are some links:
A dress from House of Worth, Metropolitan Museum
A day dress by designer Jacques Doucet
Dress by Charles Fredrick Worth
House of Worth, from the Metropolitan Museum
And Tom can wear himself a cravat. UNF. (Although when we see Charlie Hunnam in his evening clothes, I did mutter an audible “Well played, Charlie.”)
CarrieS: Slight tangent – I loved how Edith’s book kept coming in and out of the story – it’s how Thomas woos her, it’s how he breaks her heart, and it represents one of Lucille’s first open, visible acts of violence. It also tells us right away that this will be a movie primarily about women (it name drops Austen and Shelley in the first five minutes) and Edith’s crack about wanting to end up like Mary Shelley (“She died a widow”) not only foreshadows the plot but tells us that Edith is a little tougher and meaner than she usually appears to be.
RHG: OH, yeah! When he goes in on her writing as the method of dumping her, that was the right thing to do to totally break her heart- that’s what she cares about most. A most palpable hit, sir.
CarrieS: I was afraid I’d be too scared to watch this movie, but most of the jump scares were in the trailer. I found it suspenseful, and exciting, and I totally closed my eyes a bunch of times, but I didn’t actually have to hide under the seat, and I’m a softy.
I thought overall the movie, in addition to being so gorgeous to look at, was not so much scary as it was a combination of empowering and tragic. It’s really a tribute to Jessica and Tom that I could both loathe the actions of their characters and want them to pay, and still feel compassion for their terrible lives. And if there’s anything more thrilling than the actresses Mia and Jessica chasing each other through a haunted house in bloody white nighties while screaming, well, I just don’t know what it is.
I loved both the male actors, but I loved it even more that it came down to two women, who are both fighting for agency in the only ways they know how to do so (in Lucille’s case it involves serial killing, so that’s maybe not the best life choice, but her actions are motivated by trying to find a way to have the life she wants – trying to have agency). Jessica spit out some line readings that…well…like I said, she’s our Almighty Queen. Amazing.
RHG: Amanda cracked that this house would make a HELL of an episode of Love It or List It. She is not wrong (but can you imagine the conniption Hillary would have over the foundation work that house needs? Like, WHO THE FUCK BUILDS A HUGE HEAVY HOUSE OVER A MINE WHERE WHAT YOU’RE DIGGING UP IS SQUISHY? WHAT FUCKING ARCHITECT DID THAT?)
Edith, as the daughter of a builder should have said “Wait, this house is built over the mine and it’s SINKING? We’re moving. Now. Today. Yesterday. What the actual fuck, Thomas. You don’t even have a tarp to go over the roof, Thomas.”
Deep breath
CarrieS: I know you’re gonna roll your eyes and say, “Whatever, Carrie, it’s pretty” but I did not for one single second believe that Lucille and Thomas lived in the house. I don’t even think they could – I think they’d freeze to death. They would have sold all the art and furniture and silver and jewelry and gone to live someplace else under assumed names. The thing where they can’t leave the house was, I’m sorry, stupid. When I said earlier that the movie didn’t make sense, I didn’t mean the marriage plot – that made perfect sense. I meant all this drama so they could stay in the house, which would clearly kill any inhabitant within a week. And yet I did not care, because it was also soooo pretty.
RHG: I am honestly surprised that the house hadn’t killed them. Not like, because the house was evil or angry, but just…. falling through the floor and shit. Oooooooh, a fixer upper the Property Brothers would love!
What grade would you give this?
CarrieS: I’d give it an A with a “mileage will vary” caveat. If you like Gothic, if any of the pics in this review make you go, “Ooooohhhhh,” then you will love the shit out of this movie, and you should see it on the big screen because SO PRETTY. If the pics and the gothic thing make you say, “Eh, I dunno,” then you’ll find this more of a B or B- experience.
Amanda, who is less of a gothic and/or Victorian fanatic than RHG and I, found it to be around a B- experience with “Jessica Chastain’s side eye and resting bitch face” being the best part of the movie.
RHG: Yeah, I’m with Carrie. That’s about right.
CarrieS: Also your experience will vary based on expectations. This is gothic romantic ghost story, not hardcore horror with some romance. It has scares, and it has gore, but it relies more on an atmosphere of dread and a mystery to be solved and tortured psychology than it relies on the ghosts or the jumps. For me that’s a huge, huge plus, but anyone looking for hard core horror might be disappointed.
Vox.com has a great article on the difference between a ghost story and a horror movie and how that applies to Crimson Peak.
RHG: Del Toro said, “This isn’t horror,” and he’s mostly right (I did watch certain scenes between my fingers and kind of wishing I had my ghost-proof blankie, but I’m a wimp). It is totally a gothic romance where the heroine runs around in a fluffy white nightgown with ridiculous sleeves and flowing hair and a candelabra. If you see that image and you’re like “oh, TELL ME MORE” than this is your movie.
Crimson Peak is in theatres now, and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.
YES TO ALL OF THIS.
Look, if you’re going into this expecting the kind of horror you get from the Paranormal Activity movies (which I cannot see and will never see and had to hide from the preview of the latest one in the trailer part of this movie), you’re going to be seriously disappointed. The scariest part of Crimson Peak is what lurks inside the human heart…and also, Jessica Chastain.
But if you go in expecting a glorious and beautiful gothic romance with all the cheesy dialogue and impractical creepy houses that come with it, you’ll have a great time.
Also, Tom Hiddleston. In period clothing (and out of it).
Does spoiler happen onscreen? The movie really sounds like My Thing, but even though I’m not a fan of (spoiler creatures), it doesn’t mean I want (spoiler event) happening all over the place, especially in front of my eyes. I *want* to see CP, so, I guess, I’d like to know wnen to close my eyes and turn off the sound and how long to keep it that way…
It happens off screen while a lot of other things are happening – in fact I missed it entirely and my fellow Bitches had to break my heart after the fact but NOT REALLY BECAUSE I FIXED IT ALL IN MY HEAD AND EVERYTHING IS FINE *ahem*
Thanks. Maybe I’ll be able to deal with that, then.
I saw this with my 18 year old son. Who I then explained Gothic Thriller versus Gothic Horror, and why this movie was so fantastic. I felt the ghost of Wilkie Collins screaming Yes! Oh God! Yes! My son mentioned the impractical outfits and I told him I wanted to yell to Edith “Cut the damn train off! Your femininity is constraining you!” (this lead for us into a conversation about the Brontes, and my dearest Wilkie, and why he should read The Moonstone.)
I really felt the only beat missing was that the house should have sunk when Mia dragged Charlie away. And the dog lives in my version too. (And I thought Charlie Hunnam was AWFUL.Son agreed)
This made me want to read the book, which does not exist, alas.
It’s off screen and in the background of OTHER MAJOR EVENTS so I didn’t even notice it until we were talking later and went “Oh…yeah, that did happen.”
I saw it last night with my 12 yr old daughter(she only closed her eyes for the sexy bit). We loved it, but then i love gothic, awesome costumes and the Tom.Definitely love or hate though. I felt a strong Cold Comfort Farm, Gothic style vibe for a some reason. Great review.
I really, really wanted to like it. It’s gorgeous, and creepy, and I adore every single actor’s performance and every single piece of clothing in the film. Unfortunately for me, it just didn’t work. I felt like it fell too far into the violence/gore scale for my preferences, and although I loved that Edith was the one who ultimately had the most agency in the entire film, I felt like the plot itself had holes big enough to drive the whole creepy house through. Plus there were a couple of moments that made the entire theater I was in just crack up – like the portrait of their mother? Yeah, I hope that was supposed to be funny. And when Edith puts the key back on the key ring, I couldn’t help it – I kept muttering to the screen that “it’s a trap, don’t do it, it’s a fucking trap.”
Though as you and Stephen Colbert both said, it’s definitely a good example of the female gaze, and we get to take a peek at Tom’s “English countryside.”
I just got back from seeing this. The theater, pretty much, was only showing it in IMAX and bus fares have gone up. It was totally worth it.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who loved the “break her heart” bit. I loved the reveal of the roof problem. I also loved all the “look we both know you’re lying, but we aren’t going to say anything” moments.
I really loved that for all the jump scares, not a one was a “it’s just the cat” moment. Every last one had something scary attached to it. I also really loved that *Spoiler!*:the ultimate ending wasn’t the reveal that she’d married the doctor guy, but was her name as the author of a published book.
*MAJOR SPOILER!!!*:I think the house, and their unwillingness to leave it, represented how messed up they were. Near the end, Tom becomes both reluctant to kill Edith and willing to leave the house. (Admittedly, I doubt Edith would have thought much of that arrangement either, but it was a step in the right direction.)
I completely missed what happened to the dog.
RIDICULOUS SLEEVES FTW! Immediately after seeing this, I was disappointed, mostly because I was expecting HORROR and this is not horror. It’s creepy but not really scary. Like a thriller!
But better, because Mr. Hiddleston. And Ms. Chastain.
I’ll go see it again, though, because I agree with most everything in this review. I need to pay more attention to the story than to my expectations, which is pretty true-to-life really.
I can’t tell you ladies how happy I am that you reviewed this movie. I was just telling a friend the other day that “Crimson Peak” looks like everything I want in a movie, except I am the biggest wimp, which leaves me emotionally conflicted. Now I feel like I’ll be able to brave it!
Okay, so like most of you lovely ladies, I adored it. One teeny nitpick though – every “wander around the house at night” scene had her hair in tight waves like they had been in braids all night/day, but NEVER was her hair in braids!! And I also wanted the house to sink at the end…
THAT HOUSE!!!
It makes Wuthering Heights look like a nice place to live. It makes Thornfield sound like a nice vacation home. Go live in Dracula’s castle- at least the roof is intact.
My friend and I joked that this movie is like the opposite of Pride and Prejudice. Instead of wanting to marry the guy after seeing his estate and what he’s worth, Edith marries him and then sees the Ushers’ (err, Sharpes’s) house as crumbling ruin. She should’ve asked for an annulment right then and there.
I don’t think I will see this film but this review is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Well done, ladies 😉
Not much to say here, I simply loved everything about it. It was a great movie that gave me exactly what I wanted and expected from it.
I ADORED “Crimson Peak.” I sat there with a big goofy grin on my face the whole time because every single aspect of the movie was PERFECTION. It was exactly what I was hoping for it to be. Jessica Chastain was the standout for me. She was a delight! And, of course, Hiddleston was perfection. I read an article where he said that he made sure that his bare ass was in the movie … for feminism. I think many feminists salute him for that.
My husband saw it with me, and he enjoyed it for what it was, but he’s not huge into gothic romance. However, he appreciated the movie for what it was, and Guillermo del Toro for really committing to the movie. He brought up “Pacific Rim” when we were talking about it, how del Toro obviously likes to pick a style and commit to it 1,000 percent.
In conclusion, Guillermo del Toro is my hero. “Pacific Rim” is one of my favorite movies, and now “Crimson Peak” … it’s like he’s making movies for me!!!!
I am so excited about this, and here’s why: Gothic Thriller and Gothic Horror are all about hinting at the deepest, darkest, creepiest shit, but never outright stating it. Crimson Peaks deepest secret isn’t the ghosts. Its the madness and twisted love of Hiddleston and Chastain, and I can’t waaaaiiiitttt.
Also, House of Worth!!!!
***VERY SPECIFIC SPOILER ALERT!***
I thought this movie was gorgeous, emphasis on the GORE. It was visual perfection. HOWEVER, the second time she drinks the tea then wakes up in bed, I leaned over to my boyfriend and said “I can spoil this movie in one word: Notorious.” I feel like I would have liked it more had I not seen the Hitchcock movie, despite the actual ending subverting it a bit.
Ok, this sounds like something I would really enjoy but I loathe theaters. I may end up biting the bullet anyway though in order to see it on the big screen.
I originally came across this site from Jenny Lawson’s The Bloggess and can’t recommend it enough. It has the funniest breakdown/send up of Jane Eyre I’ve ever read. Hope you ladies like it. Though TBH, it’s hard not to like something titled “Jane Eyre, Or The Bride of Edward ‘Crazypants’ Rochester”. Don’t drink while reading…
http://sarahtales.livejournal.com/193457.html
“a clay mountain in Cumbria, England.”
Ummm, no, just no. Now if he’d set it in Dartmoor I could have gone for it, but Cumbria? No. Funny what chucks you out of stories, but I guess if I can take the ‘dog is alive’ option (because of coure it is) I can resite it to Dartmoor.
Oh please please please let gothic novels come back into fashion. I’ve missed you soo much.
Oh man, it was super good. Del Toro clearly knows his stuff. From the direction to the cinematography to the costume to the themes and the tropes and EVERYTHING. I kind of wished I didn’t see it in a theater full of other people. I want to watch it at home, with my friends, where I could comment on all the little things! There was just so much! I thought one of the “spoilers” was very Flowers in the Attic.
My BF pointed out (earlyish on) that the dog was a symbol of Tom Hiddleston’s “innocence”. Like, he’s not innocent of being in on his sister’s plan, or anything, but his hands are still *technically* clean.
I love, love, LOVED this movie! It was just what I wanted, and subverted the genre’s usual gender roles so well. There’s a pretty famous article on women in horror called “When a Woman Looks” by Linda Williams that talks about the gaze as agency, and points out that women in horror are usually punished for having “the investigative gaze.” Edith stays alive because of it!
I felt like Sharpe was the only character without agency. He did what his sister told him to do. He lives in the house because she insists on it, and only near the end begins to realize that it’s possible to defy her. I read another review that I can’t find now that said that Lucille had been molesting him since childhood, and controlled his every move. He’s in the position women usually were at the time (I think this is what bothered Edith’s dad, and why he couldn’t really define it well…Sharpe is too feminine *in his lack of agency*) The house is a metaphor for that (yay, gothic metaphors!)
The nitpicky thing I found? The car. The car seems like it belongs to maybe 1910-1915? Ford Motor Co didn’t exist in 1901. My dad had a 1920, a ’28, and a ’32, and Hunam’s car looked wrong for the setting. Of course I can’t find a picture to see what hear it really was!
I’m too obsessed with Jane Eyre for my own good so this may have stuck in my craw more than it did anyone else, but when Tom started badly paraphrasing the proposal scene from Jane Eyre I was rolling my eyes. Poorly lifting romantic lines from popular fiction to lure a young girl? That’s bad form even for Thomas Sharpe! (It would have been fun to see a married Edith reading Jane Eyre later and angrily throwing it against the wall)
Many thanks for the review. I would have missed it at the movies without it. And I didn’t even read it first 🙂
Quite tempted to go watch it again.
Have you ladies thought about reviewing the book as well?
Wonderful review of this wonderful film, but you got on detail wrong: Edith didn’t meet Lucille at Allerdale Hall, she met her in NYC along with Thomas.