would represent better the character’s subversive and immoral intentions instead of the “elephant in the china store” approach. But I guess that del Toro was too busy checking his monitor for the perfect image composition. If Chastain's sudden bursts of anger were meant to scare or be a clue, it didn’t work.
In conclusion, del Toro is the master of weird, surrealism and freaky, and of monsters in all genres. Pan's Labyrinth was, then, a glimpse of his tremendous talent. He can come up with movies as weird as entertaining as HellBoy (2004) and HellBoy II: The Golden Army (2008) (based on the superhero by writer-artist Mike Mignola, and which movies I enjoyed very much) or with monster-filled, action-packed Pacific Rim (2013)—though I found the two scientists REALLY absurd—why do some directors have to depict scientists as mad as cows?! Coming back to Crimson Peak, I liked the movie with all its flaws, and I would recommend it, even if it’s just for the photography. Period!
Wikipedia cites: “Crimson Peak has received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 70%, based on 209 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ‘Crimson Peak offers an engaging – albeit somewhat slight – diversion driven by a delightfully creepy atmosphere and director Guillermo del Toro's brilliant knack for unforgettable visuals.’ On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating ‘generally favorable reviews’. On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of ‘B–‘ on an A+ to F scale.’”
For those visually oriented, painters, photographers, designers and so on, the careful choice of color combination and composition, the color grading, the ambience, the décor, and even the style: gothic (one of my favorite), it is well worth the time. One of the best in its genre I have seen in a while. It reminds me of an old ornate jewelry-box. Story-wise, don’t bother, you won’t get a thrill, no matter what the master of horror himself, Stephen King, says about Crimson Peak. Still, it is a good movie, and therefore I will give it 3 ½ stars. Just let yourself be immersed in the fantasy!
Promotional Movie Poster.
46 | Ceres Magazine | Spring 2016