Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak

JP Liz V1

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/benedict-cumberbatch-joins-guillermo-del-toros-gothic-thriller-crimson-peak-20130404

Variety reports that Cumberbatch has joined Emma Stone and Charlie Hunnam in "Crimson Peak." Details are still being kept under guard, so we'll just have to recycle this quote from the writer/director himself. "It’s set at the turn of the century and it is a gothic romance with ghosts. When I use the GR [gothic romance] term I use it not in the Barbara Cartland model but rather in a Bronte fashion. Dark and stormy and wind-swept," he wrote on his official forums earlier this year. "This is my first foray into horror since Sci-Fi/Horror 'Mimic.' DBB was more of an essay on ghosts than a ghost story and, except as a producer, I have not returned to scary stuff in a long time.”

Sounds quite good and Cumberbatch continues his rise

Corholio

First Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zBlG8Lv01k

Poster:

MisterAnarchy

Visually it looks stunning but that trailer gives away alot of plot.

Right Turn Clyde

If you listen closely enough you can hear Mark Kermode ejaculating into his pants.

Outkast_IRE

Looks interesting enough, will follow it through but way to much revealed in the trailers. I am of the opinion that with this genre of movie "less is more" with regards to the trailers.

JP Liz V1

New trailer out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az3xUTpqV1k

johnny_ultimate

I don't think a Guillermo del Toro has ever really, truly got under my skin - at best, I'd say I admire them without being totally entranced. At worst, well, Pacific Rim (yes, I'm one of those assholes).

Crimson Peak does little to change my mind about a director in whom I have struggled to see exactly what others see. It's without question a lavish, impressive production, most obviously visible in the grand, decaying mansion that serves as the film's focal point. del Toro is at this point unlikely to ever be guilty of skimping on an operatic stage to host his dramas. But in a way it's a triumph of art direction over merely direction - as intoxicating as the film's design is (also evident in the ghosts who make relatively irregular cameos), at times I felt the camera didn't take as much advantage of it as it could have. Most of the film's visual pleasures are expended relatively early, and while it is never less than lavish the sights do inevitably become familiar. Also thought it was a real shame the inevitable long, sweeping tracking shot through the mansion was reserved until the very end, long after we'd been introduced to its gothic quirks.

The story is unapologetically old-fashioned and melodramatic, so one can't really pick on it for that. But IMO its biggest problem was it simply didn't go far enough in any direction. The melodrama was too rote, the love story too flimsy, the ghost story too tangential, the mystery too obvious. The film itself makes it very clear that the supernatural elements are not its core focus despite the marketing's indications to the contrary, yet even taken as a slice of swooning romanticism it doesn't have the visceral force of its inspirations. del Toro will always be a director proud to work within the confines of his favourite genres, but this is merely too reminiscent of other works without developing a strong identity of its own (outside of the aforementioned art design).

Also: it wastes Mia Wasikowska in a flavourless lead role and Jessica Chastain with a character too transparently nasty. Hiddleston has more to work with, as a more conflicted and dynamic character.

This is a del Toro film all over, for better or worse depending on your own fondness for the man's work. But I have to admit this is another of his lovingly crafted offerings that has left me... I guess 'unmoved' is the word I'd use, despite the genuinely evocative setting here.

Fysh

I think I'll always take a punt on Del Toro's films, because I really liked The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth an awful lot (I'm sure in part because I grew up in Spain). I liked Pacific Rim despite its faults (and have seen a fanedit version called the Jaegerbomb Edition which fixes those faults) and enjoyed Crimson Peak in a similar fashion.

I couldn't disagree with johnny ultimate's critique of Crimson Peak, but I enjoyed the film despite its lack of depth. I suspect when it gets released on home media we'll see an improved famedited version that trims the flab and tightens the core mystery.

pixelburp

A very underwhelming film by all accounts, and that's speaking as someone who can usually forgive DelToro's typically weak scripts; it's not where his strength lies, so I'm generally willing to go along with things, simply on the basis of the man's fantastic visual imagination. But even then, Crimson Peak was too much of a mess to properly enjoy the sights: it didn't know whether it wanted to be a full-on gothic horror, ghost story, romance, drama, or psychosexual thriller. In the end it didn't really commit to any of those elements, puttering along at an uneven pace, before completely losing steam (bad enough it took forever just to get to the titular mansion in the first place). The main prickling I couldn't shake was whether the film got slashed in the budget / editing room, as it felt a little incomplete in places, with a particularly flat finale being part of my suspicion about a reduced purse.

Still, this was a Guillermo DelToro film after all, and by all means was a handsome, gothically beautiful production, set in a mansion so brilliantly ostentatious & melodramatic it could have only ever existed as a soundstage via someone's fevered imagination. Even if the script fell flat throughout, the sprawling haunted house slumped with a kind of tragic majesty; the muddy red clay making the house itself appear bleeding was a particularly inspired, macabre touch. Definitely worth seeing on the big screen. Who needs good scripts when you have good set design?

The only truly bum note in it all was just how dreadful Charlie Hunnam was; while he was saddled with the thankless role of the bland & honourable man, his performance was completely without charm or charisma - so much like the last time he appeared in a Guillermo DelToro film I guess :rolleyes:

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

An awful movie, I didn't even have to pay to see it and I still feel ripped off.
Horrible plot. Didn't appeal to me at all.
And what was with her mothers ghost being all grim as ****? As if her moms ghost is going to come back to terrorise her? And can I point out if her mother didn't terrify her with her second warning she'd never have went to the ball with sharpe thus not needing to be aware of Crimson peak.

Amalgam

LexieOnRale wrote: »

An awful movie, I didn't even have to pay to see it and I still feel ripped off.

Lucky you, I payed full price. Lovely set, but entirely hollow. Toro's name enticed me in, there just isn't any substance to the 'plot'. The hasty timeline after the death of a certain character is laughable.

The actors did the best with what they had. Jessica Chastain was a surprise, she does unsettling+gaga very well, with that gothic hair!

Mizu_Ger

Watched this on blu-ray last night. Thought it was good, but nothing spectacular. I had watched a lot of old ghost films over Christmas (The Haunting, The Uninvited, The Innocents etc), which may have dampened my enthusiasm for this. Del Toro doesn't stray far from any of these. I liked the old fashioned nature of it, it looked great and the effects obviously had the benefit of CG, but they still looked anchored in the sets.

As others have said, the storyline was easy to work out early on. I wasn't too perturbed by that as atmosphere is most important here. One thing I wasn't too sure about was the

incest

angle. I'm not sure what the point of that was.

Jayisplay

Not a bad film , but not really scary at all , I like the setting and the time frame.