So I'm still sitting here typing, it doesn't take much for me to compose these, they're not even solely my ideas, and a majority of the writing is just spoilers, so I take the info right out of the movie itself. I suppose technically you're supposed to avoid spoilers and just talk about your own opinions, to which I say- scary movie time!
TITLE: Crimson Peak
DETAILS:
DIRECTOR: Guillermo Del Toro
LEAD ANTAGONIST: Jessica Chastain
SUMMARY:
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.
PERSONAL CRITIQUE:
Need I point out again how easily I scare? No? Awesome, but see, this movie didn't scare me as much as some others, and not for the reasons that you're thinking. It's not like The Visit, where the movie was just a total disappointment, and it wasn't just some terrible gore-fest that served no purpose, it was...a Del Toro film, and unlike Shyamalan, Guillermo seems to do things right all the time.
Now in fairness, this does not touch the scare factor of some of Guillermo's previous films, it has basically nothing on the Orphanage, but it makes up for it with what I think I enjoy most about his movies, a compelling story and some fantastic film-work. The characters each have their own little charms and the setting is unique in its own right. Sure, it's a classic scary movie setting, a house in the hills with nobody around for miles, but it's different. I watched some video about how the colors in the film help to set the mood and how there's this close attention to detail, and while I'm sure that's true, I didn't actually notice it, so I'll just say the movie had a very good ambience that really put me on the right path.
Are you ready to hear about it? No? Skip the...
Sorry, real quick, I was going to put an actual image of the super spooky ghost of her mother, but then I saw this, and I was like "Why the heck does that exist?!"
SPOILERS!!! ...then.
Okay, so Victorian England, a man with a plan, a man who had a plan and succeeded, and the latter's daughter. Sound good enough? The latter man gets killed by presumably the former man, and the daughter runs away with the dashing heir to a dying family. Stereotypical enough to set the story, but you're wrong. First of all, the former man did not make the kill, it was his crazy sister. Alright, let's move forward:
The heir to the dying family who has exhausted all of his riches on a supposedly good idea, marries a rich woman after offing her dad, we all see where this is going, she's going to be killed. Big surprise when she starts finding mementos of his previous wives. Oh, and his crazy sister is force-feeding our heroine porridge. Good enough to get the drift? It's poison.
The former gentleman resists his sister's urgings, blah blah blah, knife fight, death. Running, running running, more death. It's all very predictable and every time I see it I get a little more upset that these women don't recognize what's going on! Blinded by love or whatever. But clearly, first of all, this lady is not getting EVERY detail like we are, and just as important, she's never watched a major motion picture (I think, I'm pretty sure those weren't around until the 1900s and this movie was set pre-20th century). Now Guillermo did nail one scary thing, the little girl's ghostly mother coming back and haunting her, and then the handsome lover's ex-wives' ghosts haunting her. But these things are much less scary when it's relatively clear they mean only good. I mean, the spooky ghost mommy out right tells her to "beware the Crimson Peak," even in the trailer! We know before we even watch the movie that one of the two siblings are up to no good, and the ghosts aren't actually evil. Well, I mean, we can make that assumption. We can also assume I guess that she was warned against the Crimson Peak because of the other ghosts haunting it, but, unlike other ghost movies where there's some ridiculous story about ghosts having to feed off your fear or whatever, or them just not being strong enough, these ghosts have been living in this house with two people for an extended period of time, they clearly aren't out for blood or they would have drawn it already.
Also, there's a semi-romantic ploy at the beginning, and then much later, that implies she should be with the doctor who comes to save her life instead of with the villain's brother, but...I felt like he was almost glossed over. I nearly forgot he existed until he came back into the movie. In fact, I typed this part up as an afterthought because I forgot he was in the movie.
All of that aside though, good movie. Not the scariest, and not the absolute best plot, but I'll give Guillermo that he definitely did his job.
RATING:
Nine out of Ten Doctors who should have been loved, would give this movie Three dogs that disappear in the snow, out of Five.
No comments:
Post a Comment