Synopsis:
Ghosts! Ghosts everywhere!
At the turn of the 20th century, Edith Cushing (CUSHING!) is wooed by an English baronet, gets married and moves to his not-at-all ominous mansion, nicknamed “Crimson Peak”. There is a nefarious plot between the baronet and his insane sister in regards to Edith. And then, of course, there are the aforementioned ghosts.
My thoughts:
First things first: with this being a passion project of Guillermo Del Toro, you knew the set design was going to be top-notch. Like, next-level, blow-your-mind stuff. It did not disappoint. With all the big names attached, somehow the house was the star of the show. It was created as such a living being that it actually breathed. The hole in the roof led to some great visuals of various leaves/precipitation floating through the massive house. Footsteps in the snow outside looked like blood footsteps, as the red clay the land was situation on was brought to the surface with each footstep. The walls of the house oozed with red clay. I was in love with all of it.
If we’re listing things I loved about the movie in order (and we are, because it’s my review and I’m a grown up and I do what I want), the next in line was the performance of Jessica Chastain as Lucille Sharpe, crazed sister of Tom Hiddleston’s Sir Thomas Sharpe. She was a ball of barely contained crazy in the early going, then she really let loose as the movie progressed. Her eyes were wild and her face was cold steel and she was amazing and I’m scared of her and I love her and I’m very confused.
I could talk plot and the rest of the cast, but what’s the point? Mia Wasikowska was fine. Tom Hiddleston was fine. Charlie Hunnam was fine. Everyone was fine and performed their jobs admirably. The plot was also fine. Even if everything besides the set design and Jessica Chastain was terrible, it would still be worth watching for those two reasons.
My point is, if you haven’t seen this yet, please do so, if only for how amazing it all looks and for Jessica Chastain releasing her inner crazy.
Rating: 4.5/5