Crimson Peak Spoiler-Free Review

Guillermo Del Toro has been touting his gorgeously dark haunted period film for over a year now, and his fans are readying themselves to swoop down into theaters this weekend to finally see it from start to finish. We’ve seen costumes, environments, and a few creepy scenes, but is Crimson Peak going to be a new classic of the haunted house horror sub-genre?

As the posters will attest, Crimson Peak stars four of the prettiest people in Hollywood, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, and Charlie Hunnam. Wasikowska plays Edith Cushing, a strong-willed writer and daughter of a wealthy American industrialist. She has the love of lifelong admirer Dr. Alan McMichael, (Charlie Hunnam) and her open-hearted yet protective father, Carter Cushing. When she encounters Baronet Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston), she discovers she wants more. She wants passion and Thomas is the man to ignite it in her. It is an understatement to say that neither her pragmatic father, played by a scene-stealing Jim Beaver of Deadwood and Supernatural, nor Thomas’s dark, beautiful sourpuss of a sister Lucille, played by Jessica Chastain, approve. Even so, unfortunate circumstances bring Edith and Thomas together, and she moves with Thomas and his sister to their dilapidated yet massive mansion in England. There, secrets are slowly uncovered, as the ground oozes a clay that looks like fresh blood, and ghosts crawl up through the floors and out of the walls to alternately terrify and warn Edith of impending doom.

For the whole review, go HERE.

About this column: I am Leslie Combemale. You can see ALL my reviews at www.cinemasiren.com. I am a movie lover and aficionado who aspires to get more people back into the beautiful alternate worlds offered in the dark at movie houses across the country. I am the owner of ArtInsights Animation and Film Art Gallery. I interview actors, directors, and production artists from all over the world, and often I’m invited to present at conventions such as the San Diego Comic-Con, where I have been a panelist and host for The Art of the Hollywood Movie Poster, Classic Film History, Disney & Harry Potter Fandom discussions. Visit my film art gallery at www.artinsights.com and see interviews and video reviews on my YouTube channel.