SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
publisher-695-461880
My judgement is purely based on the screenplay I read not the movie itself. But what I have read from the movie synopsis it seems they somewhat deviated from the story while making it. The story starts beautifully - interesting female protagonist, Edith, her father - self-made businessman, Boston society. Then it gets confusing with each turn as Edith who is a clever, educated and aspiring, suddenly becomes somewhat dumb and starry eyed and falls for the antagonist too easily - Mr. Sharp. Then her father turns into an antagonist too... Being a woman several scenes stood out as not quite true or believable - one is when Mr. Sharp comes to Edith at night asking her to join him to the Ball, when couple of hours before she refused to go there with her father. From being in her pyjamas and writing away her book she suddenly transported to the Ball, all beautifully dressed and stuns everyone with her dance... In real life try to get a woman out of her pyjamas and into the Ball... Good luck, I would say, as women need lots of time to prepare. I also found it not very believable when her father would not show her the papers that he discovered about Mr. Sharp but instead keeps it secret and pays Sharp to leave and also break her heart too. Not quite the character that was portrayed in the beginning of the story. Personally, I think there was no need for any ghosts at all, as Edith discovers the truth by finding clothes and albums of previous women who stayed at the castle and were murdered, so she is able to understand what has happened and will happen to her. Doctor suddenly becoming alive in the basement also is unrealistic and does not serve any purpose... The end is also very confusing - Edith gets out saying she decided to live but she never gave an impression of a person who did not want to live... I believe it could have been such a wonderful story but somehow it was lost to maybe 'too many cooks' and a wish to make a horror movie out of it. What a pity.
benjaminweber
This film is visually amazing. Anyone familiar with some of Del Toro's other work will see a lot of his signature visual touches, which is far from being a bad thing, and the design of the ghosts was refreshingly innovative and blended into the overall visual style. The plot is interesting once it gets going, however slightly predictable. Sadly, there are some noticeable downsides. The most obvious one is how slowly this film starts, with seemingly very little happening for the first twenty or so minutes. The focus is very heavily on the plot, and while some characters are developed more slowly because it ties in with the plot, others can feel underdeveloped. When this is combined with the slow start, it makes the first part of this film fairly boring. Some of the chronology of this film can seem slightly strange as well, when scrutinised. However, despite its faults, this is still a good film and worth watching. 7/10
rzemph
The current rating for this film is totally unjustified. It should, of course, be zero. Where to begin? The catastrophic script, which sounds like it was written by a creatively-challenged eleven-year-old glue-sniffer trying to cram in every cliché ever regurgitated by Hollywood onto our screens over the last ten decades or so? The utterly ridiculous plot, so badly cobbled together from a handful of implausible premises that it actually makes your eyes water to follow it onscreen? The cringe-makingly horrendous acting, complete with terrible accents from at least two of the main protagonists? The lurid sets that look like they came straight from some cheesy 90s computer game? The bubble-gum-coloured CGI ghosts that would look at home in even cheesier computer games than those of the sets? The hackneyed score that punctuates every move of every leaf, doorknob and eyebrow and that we seem to have heard thousands upon thousands of times before? Yes, folks, it's all here. A true compendium of all the don'ts of filmmaking. And then one asks: how oh how does such unadulterated garbage make it to the big screen? Fudge knows. This is the cinematic equivalent of a very cheap, very rusty 1950s ghost-train ride in a very rundown fairground managed by illiterate crooks, only it comes disguised under a thick veneer of glossy technicolor paint to fool the one or two under-sixes who might just be able to watch this plastic cheeseburger of a film to the end without throwing their arms up in total disgust.
oksanasinner
This what I like to call 'your mom's horror movie'. It's a love story set in a previous century, there's some mystery but zero intrigue and occasionally you get some spooky (don't mistake for scary) scenes. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I don't think this movie deserves any less than a 6. It is a stylish little peace that leaves you with a slight feeling of melancholy as Del Toro's films tend to do.The story follows the Gothic novel formula: an old mansion, a family secret, some ghosts and romance. Apart from the hustle, it doesn't bring anything new to the table. In fact I think the story would've been much more entertaining if it focused more on the villains and their scheme instead of showing it to us from the victims point of view(because each step that the heroine takes is predictable). Ironically the antagonists turned out to be more interesting and developed characters compared to her.The design of the ghosts is actually pretty interesting. Sadly, they appear just for scares. The ghosts are merely metaphors just like it was stated in the begging of the movie. It would've been more interesting if they played some role story-wise like persuade the heroine to avenge their death by killing off the Sharpe siblings.Which leads me to the final problem I had with 'Crimson Peak'. It builds up as this stylish and refined horror but in the end Lucille gets killed off with a shovel to head like it's 'Evil Dead' or something and Edith even delivers a one-liner after wards. The part where she gets Lucille to turn around is silly. The whole scene is just comedic and out of place. So was the sex scene but I don't even wanna get into it. It would've been smarter if Edith fixed Lucille's tea and gave her a taste of her own medicine if you know what I mean.Despite it's flaws I liked the movie's appreciation of classic horror. The acting was good. I'm not really fond of Mia Wasikowska but the others were great and Mia looks good in vintage gowns. The use of color and texture keeps you focused on the screen from beginning to end. Most modern horror movies just make it as dark as possible and put a teal color filter on it. Some people compare its style to 'Suspiria' but I would say that it's much closer to Mario Bava's 'Blood and Black Lace' and the third episode of 'Black Sabbath'. You'll see not only the similarities in style but even where inspiration for the ghosts came from.
