Guillermo Del Toro is a confounding filmmaker for me. Starting back in 1997, he delivered three great horror films in a row, "Mimic", "Hellboy" and "Pan's Labrynth".
Based on that, I couldn't wait to see his films, but "Pacific Rim' was a mess, and I can't really say his latest, CRIMSON PEAK is much better.
You can't complain about his cast.
Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, In Treatment) is Edith Cushing, a young & innocent daughter of a wealthy construction man in the late 1800's/early 1900s America.
She is swept off her feet by a wealthy visiting industrialist from Europe, Thomas Sharpe (well played by "The Avengers" Tom Hiddleston.
After her father is mysteriously murdered, Edith leaves for Europe to live with Thomas in his massive but ill maintained mansion.
Unfortunately, Thomas also has his sister in tow.
She is Lucille, all dour expressions and spooky entrances embodied by Jessica Chastain.
As Edith settles into the creaky, massive house, ghosts and apparitions begin to warn her to escape.
del Toro knows how to scare a viewer, and there are some good scary moments, thanks to fantastic sounds and set design, but meh........
The story is slight, the path it takes is a bit predictable and save some fantastic sets and photography, it doesn't amount to much.
Hiddleston and Wasikowska have strong screen chemistry and Charlie Hunnan (Sons of Anarchy) has some nice moments as a Victorian doctor/amateur sleuth with Edith's best interest in mind, but the pace is too slow and the surprises too few and far between.
There's a scene near the end where Thomas bursts through the front doors and the sunlight, snow and wind create a perfectly composed shot that's been carefully composed to the last snowflake. It's beautiful, but carries no emotional weight, much like the rest of the film.
Between the graphic violence, tubs of blood and the red clay the estate is built on, I get the Crimson. But Peak? For me, this lesser del Toro effort never does.....
It gets a dark red C.
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