Crimson Peak (2015)

 "Ghosts are real, that much I know.  I've seen them all my life..."

-Edith Cushing

After her father is murdered, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) marries Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and moves to his manor in England, where he lives with his sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain).  The mansion is in disrepair and the Sharpe's have precious little money.  Edith soon starts to see ghostly figures haunting the mansion and learns the dark secret of Crimson Peak.

What Works:

I love the look of this movie.  The mansion is classic del Toro and is a beautiful nightmare.  It's an excellent setting especially as we see more of the red clay seeping throughout the estate.

There aren't as many ghost scenes in this movie as I thought there would be, but the ones we do get are excellent.  The designs of the spirits are awesome and more than a little disturbing.  Del Toro is a master of creepy creatures and he does not disappoint here.

There are a few death scenes scattered throughout the film and two of them are really spectacular.  One has a head being bashed in and it's wonderfully gory.  The second is much more subdued, but it involves blood coming out of an eyeball, which is always a good way to make my skin crawl.

Finally, Jessica Chastain is excellent as the villain.  She's extremely unhinged, but does a good job of pretending not to be.  She gives by far the best performance of the film and gives us a legitimately terrifying 3rd act.

What Sucks:

Although I really enjoyed Jessica Chastain, none of the other performances were very interesting.  I don't really blame the actors, I think it's the characters.  Most of them are very one note and simply don't get enough to do or are not developed enough.  They all pale in comparison to Lucille, especially when they share a scene with her. 

I also found the story to be very predictable.  I called the entire plot of the movie by the 30 minute mark.  I was hoping for some more sick twists and turns.

Finally, the ghosts didn't factor into the story as much as I would have hoped.  Honestly, you could cut them from the movie and not really change anything.  I was hoping for more of them to make the story even weirder.

Verdict:

Crimson Peak is a creepy film with excellent visuals, an awesome setting, some gnarly death scenes, and a great performance from Jessica Chastain.  It doesn't get as weird as I would like and the characters are subpar, but I would say the film has still got it going on.

 7/10: Good