Crimson Peak

[rogueslayer452]

Crimson Peak is a film by Guillermo del Toro, which while poised as a horror story from the previews it actually is more along the lines of a Gothic romance, more haunting than terrifying, and more about the human characters and the reasons and motives behind their actions than the ghosts that appear throughout the film. But despite it not being your typical horror movie, I do like how the mystery was unraveled and how the story was told overall. Another thing I liked was the subtle hints of foreshadowing of the story from the beginning, starting with our protagonist who mentions the meaning behind the idea of her first book. "It's not a ghost story, it's a story that has ghosts in it." Ghosts can be literal, but also metaphorical, and this film does a great job with handling both in terms of the supernatural along with the personal demons a character faces.

While I do wish we had gotten more information and background on the past incidents and the reasons behind these actions, as soon as the Flowers in the Attic-esque secret was revealed about the intimate relationship between Thomas and his sister, Lucille, I was immediately all in. I had a sneaking suspicion just based on Lucille's reaction towards Edith, and her behavior surrounding Thomas, and once we hear the truth about those affections she clearly had a strong hold on her brother. She loved him, he loved her, and they were using this twisted and horrible operation to steal money from unsuspecting women to help maintain their childhood home and not get found out. Of course, there is a lot of psychological aspects to this. Why were they remaining in that old house to begin with? When they could have simply just moved and hidden themselves away, not be found out about what they'd done? What Lucille had done to their mother at such a young age? But again, this story is about ghosts. Personal ghosts, they wanted to remain there for those ghosts along, looking into the past instead of moving on.

There is a lot of story there that is left untold and unanswered, something that I kind of wished was elaborated on in terms of Thomas and Lucille's childhood, their relationship, how they started their operations in the first place. I'm also curious about Thomas, he went along with everything for the longest time, but it makes me wonder if he had always believed in what they were doing only to have his mind changed because he fell in love with Edith, or if he always had second thoughts but was emotionally manipulated by Lucille. I'm overall fascinated by how fucked up their relationship was, and it's not the fact that it's incestuous. It's why I'm curious to know and understand their childhood, how Lucille became the way she did, how damaging and fucked up their unhealthy codependency was all these years. Lucille wanted her brother all to herself, and no one else. Her fear of loneliness, of being alone, was very apparent from her strong emotional reaction to the revelation that Thomas and Edith spent the night together alone away from the house. She didn't want to share her brother with anyone, she didn't want her brother to get attached to anyone else, and she certainly didn't want her brother to fuck anyone else but her. They're just so beautifully fucked up, it makes me want to learn more about them.

"The horror was for love, and love makes monsters of us all."

Oh, and how can I forget about Edith? She was quite lovely as a protagonist, I love her curiosity and bravery and ability to figure things out on her own. I also love the tie-in that at the very end, she wrote the book entitled Crimson Peak, meaning this was her retelling of the events that happened from her own experiences, mimicking the ghost story that she was writing in the beginning, but with a love story. A twisted, fucked up love story that made monsters of out people, and made ghosts from their pasts.

Overall, while not the horror movie most would expect, it was still a delightful treat. The cinematography was brilliant, the aesthetics was gorgeous, the clothing even more so in their rich details and colors. And yes, it was nice seeing a male character being mostly nude instead of women characters during a sex scene for once. All in all, it is an experience in itself to watch the story and mystery unfold.

Comments

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

I loooooved this movie, and am working on putting a blog together promoting some of the literary influences I picked up for the library.

But lookit, I gotta say something: WHAT is up with this, "So different than I was expecting" / "Not a horror movie, not really" / "Misleading previews misled me" song and dance I've been hearing all over the internet? I watched the same previews and promos that the rest of the world did, surely, and it was exactly what I expected. Maybe I just have a broader definition of "horror" than most people? It's dark, it's creepy, there are ghosts, and a couple jump scares, but it's focused on the characters and the mystery and the brain-crushingly gorgeous sets and costumes. It's a Del Toro movie--that's what he does.

So.

What gives? This is starting to bug me.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Same here. I mean, it was a gothic horror, but it was still a HORROR movie. Ghosts and creepy houses and murder and all. I feel like people are not realizing the importance of the word 'gothic' in 'gothic romantic.' And, like, if you don't shelf this movie with horror, where the hell else are you going to put it?

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

Exactly--to me, all things Gothic fall under the Horror umbrella. It's not the same audience base as something like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it's in the overall ballpark in the way that Pride and Prejudice is in the same overall ballpark as When Harry Met Sally. They're very different, but it's the same genre.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

WHAT is up with this, "So different than I was expecting" / "Not a horror movie, not really" / "Misleading previews misled me" song and dance I've been hearing all over the internet?

Honestly, I think for those people they probably thought that the ghosts would be the menacing forces rather than simply being there to help guide Edith to learning the truth. They probably didn't expect the real monsters behind everything to actually be human beings and not the ghosts themselves, which if that is their complaint I feel sorry for them, honestly. Because that is a twist that is very clever since people being the real monsters of the story, doing horrendous things for whatever reason they've convinced themselves is just, is the most terrifying thing of all. What Lucille and Thomas were doing to Edith, what they did to those other women and other people to get what they wanted, was such a brilliant way of turning the story around.

And you're right, this is exactly what Guillermo del Toro does with his work. This is right up his alley of storytelling (the Gothic setting and aesthetics, the plot, the fact that he said himself in interviews that this was a Gothic romance with added horror), and if anyone who wasn't familiar with his work, well, they certainly got a surprise.

In general, I think anytime someone mentions horror you get two types of people: those who have seen a variety of horrors and will be curious as to what something will be with the narrative, and the others who think horror is just blood and guts and monster jump scares in popcorn movies. The latter are those who felt misled by this film, instead of really reveling in how the story was told.

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

I guess that makes sense. I mean, I have seen SO many movies like that though, where the ghosts/demons/monsters/whatever are a source of creepiness, but not the main Big Bad. I've gotten used to not always expecting that. But then, I do watch a LOT of horror.