Crimson Peak (2015)

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Guillermo De Toro comes an awful cropper with this movie. Just about every horror film cliche is doped out in a gorgeous-looking, appallingly-scripted film. and the thing is so silly it becomes unintentionally funny.Tom Hiddlestone is okay, Jessica Chastain gives the sort of performance she might want to leave off her CV. Mia Wasiowsaka's character is so dumb it's hilarious.The script writers obviously realised how bad it was, as they up the gore content to ridiculous levels. The last 30 minutes is pretty much just bodily injury time as everyone gets stabbed, sliced, hacked and bashed. Mia, who has been suffering from slow posioning throughout the movie's second half, becomes a shovel-wielding battler at the end. Tom, of course, reforms all of a sudden when he really does fall in love - ah bless. It's a plot twist you can spot coming a mile off. The women will be happy that he displays his arse Kirk Douglas style.Thanks for all the exposition from phonograph cylinders, handily filling in the gaps for all those audience members who are a bit dim, while at the same time ripping off Dracula. Sorry - in this post-modernist era it's a smart reference, of course for all the psueds. There are plenty of others. I'm just suprised Tom didn't have a monster bubbling in the vat, as they might as well as ripped off Frankenstein as well.I suspect this may become a great guilty pleasure in years to come. Makes me glad Del Torro's Lovecraft movie fell through.

This film is visually amazing. Anyone familiar with some of Del Toro's other work will see a lot of his signature visual touches, which is far from being a bad thing, and the design of the ghosts was refreshingly innovative and blended into the overall visual style. The plot is interesting once it gets going, however slightly predictable. Sadly, there are some noticeable downsides. The most obvious one is how slowly this film starts, with seemingly very little happening for the first twenty or so minutes. The focus is very heavily on the plot, and while some characters are developed more slowly because it ties in with the plot, others can feel underdeveloped. When this is combined with the slow start, it makes the first part of this film fairly boring. Some of the chronology of this film can seem slightly strange as well, when scrutinised. However, despite its faults, this is still a good film and worth watching. 7/10

Completely predictable plot, overripe visually, excessively bloody, and a waste of some good actors and a director who is capable of much more (Pan's Labyrinth, for example)

This movie reminded me of a Hammer film or a Vincent Price Edger Allen Poe film. It was well acted and the set designs and special effects were excellent. The red clay looked like blood coming from the earth. This is a very original movie. In fact I have never seen a movie on this subject matter before. The "crimson peak" looked eerie covered in snow. I would recommend this movie.