Did del Toro make another winner?

What do you do when you’re in college in 2015 and don’t want to stay at home while your roommates get trashed? You go to the movies of course! It was around Halloween and the people I lived with at the time were planning on getting really drunk. I was definitely underage and didn’t have a desire for alcohol yet and so me and my then-boyfriend dressed up and saw Crimson Peak at the local movie theater. With this having happened 6 years ago, it’s been a while since I’ve watched it so I decided to give it another go.

Our setting is 19-century New York. Thomas Sharpe, played by Tom Hiddleston, has arrived in town to pitch his idea for a clay mining machine to Carter Cushing and his men. He is quickly captivated by Cushing’s daughter, Edith (an author), who seems to notice the supernatural.

I do believe this film had some great potential, but Edith (played by Mia Wasikowska) is portrayed as a naive, silly little girl who doesn’t know anything. Possibly it was the general perception of women at that time, but it slightly irks me how the protagonist of the story is initially pointed out as weak and innocent. It was made obvious from the start that Thomas and Edith were going to fall in love and that Thomas was up to no good.

Thomas makes his proposal to Carter’s team where he is rejected immediately. Carter warns Edith of Thomas, saying there’s just something about him that he doesn’t like. In order to keep their dark family history hush-hush, Carter offers Thomas and his sister Lucille a check in exchange for them leaving on a train first thing tomorrow morning. They accept this, and then Thomas also insults Edith and her writing in order to make the separation easier.

We are taken to what is a bathroom, with Mr. Cushing tending to his beard. After the phonograph nearby is started, the dead silence and ominous figure clearly alludes to the fact that Carter is about to get his ass killed. A shadowy outline enters the room and brutally murders Mr. Cushing by grabbing his head and repeatedly slamming it into the sink, until there is a fist-sized crater in his head and blood is covering the entire floor. If you look at the outline of the figure, you can tell the murderer is Lucille. God, I really didn’t like that woman from the get-go. She seemed cold and distant and certainly didn’t treat Edith well at all!

After mourning her father, Edith and Thomas wed and move back to the grand mansion at Allerdale Hall. Edith keeps being visited by the ghost of her mother, who has kept warning her beware of crimson peak. The grounds have earned the title because they sit atop red clay that leaks through the walls and snow.

I’m not sure why Edith wanted to stay, even after Thomas and Lucille kept telling her that she had nowhere else to go. That girl was clearly being taken advantage of. She freaks out after another ghost sighting and attempts to leave but the siblings insist she has nothing else. A perfect example of emotional abuse and manipulation. Then, Thomas decides to take Edith to the post office so she can get some fresh air.

Due to the snow, Edith and Thomas have to shelter for the night and they finally take the opportunity to make love. After arriving back the next morning, Lucille is upset that the two had slept together.

Edith notices one of the keys Lucille carries bears the name “Enola”. When Lucille is distracted, Edith steals the key and unlocks a trunk in the cellar which contains a gramophone. Playing wax cylinders she found earlier, she discovers the truth that Thomas and Lucille are involved in a marriage and murder scheme in order to finance Thomas’s inventions. It’s at this point that Edith realizes she is being poisoned.

Edith goes to confront Thomas and catches him and Lucille in an incestuous embrace. Lucille pushes Edith from the balcony, hoping to kill her but only breaking her leg. Meanwhile, back in New York, Alan, (who is basically Edith’s childhood best friend) comes to rescue Edith after learning the truth about the Sharpes.

Lucille stabs Alan in the underarm before asking Thomas to finish the job. Because Alan is a doctor, he instructs Thomas to stab him in the stomach where it won’t be fatal. Thomas then hides Alan downstairs while he goes to try and save Edith. She learns that Thomas and Lucille had a baby together while Lucille forces her to sign over the Cushing estate.

Thomas then burns the transfer papers while Edith attempts to flee. In a jealous rage, Lucille stabs Thomas and then goes after Edith. Aided by Thomas’s ghost, Edith finally kills Lucille with a shovel. She bids farewell to Thomas before he vanishes.

Alan and Edith are then rescued by the villagers whereas Lucille becomes a ghost of Allerdale Hall. The plot ends with Edith having written a novel titled Crimson Peak, which is based on her experiences.

The movie isn’t terrible, but not exactly portrayed that well. Not only was it painfully obvious what was going to happen to each character, both Lucille and Edith were pretty emotionless from the start. It makes the film not very believable. I feel like the film’s saving grace was Tom Hiddleston, but even his personality was diminished in most ways. And I have a pretty strong stomach, but I did squirm a bit at Edith’s father getting murdered. Overall? I’m giving this movie a 6 out of 10.

Next time you want to watch a Guillermo del Toro film, try watching Hellboy instead.