Crimson Peak

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2015  ·  Film

Guillermo del Toro made a gothic romance and dressed it for a ghost story, and he never once lets the costume slip, not for a single frame.

Crimson Peak is Guillermo del Toro’s 2015 film with Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain, and the most useful thing to know before you press play is that it is a gothic romance, not a horror film in the usual sense. There are ghosts. They are not the point. The point is a great decaying house, a marriage made too quickly, and the slow discovery of what the walls have been keeping quiet.

What stays with you is how it looks. Every frame is built like a set piece, all rich colour and deep shadow, with red bleeding through the design the way the title promises. Wasikowska carries the film with a steady, watchful stillness, Hiddleston plays charm with a crack running through it, and Chastain is the one you cannot stop watching. It moves at the pace of an old novel and asks you to lean in, to notice the details in the corners and the way the house itself seems to breathe. Watch it late, with the lights low, and let it take its time.

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VERDICT  ·  A gothic romance in full costume, gorgeous and patient, best watched late with someone close.

POUR  ·  Mulled red wine, served in glass not mugs.

Pairs with: The Gothic Double Feature