When I think of Guillermo Del Toro, I think of horror in the most beautiful of forms, so grotesque at times but yet so beautiful. His eye for cinematography is just perfection, the way he shoots certain scenes. This is more than just a haunted film, more than a romance, more than a timepiece, more than a horror, it is all of those things and more. This film is breathtaking and the performances in this are just impeccable. I love me a good haunted film....
Edith Cushing is played by Mia Wasikowska, who plays Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, one of my absolute favorite book adaptations. Edith is an aspiring writer, stuck in a man's world, trying to be independent but at that time, it is looked down upon. She tries to break biases being a female, but even a human being falls in love and so does our Miss Edith. She falls for the new stranger who comes into town with mysterious airs about him. Edith's father suspects ill intentions from the stranger, Sir Thomas Sharpe but Edith is awestruck by him. The Childhood friend, Alan McMichael has a crush on Edith but she is distracted by the handsome stranger, Thomas.
There is a mystery behind Sir Thomas and Lady Lucille, a reason that they chose Edith, far darker as the outcome is unveiled by the end. Edith is haunted by her own mother whose ghost warns her not to go to Crimson Peak. Not knowing what that is until the very end, I am afraid. There are also other ghosts and the way they are shown in this is quite unique which makes me adore the imagery even more. The colors used are so vivid, so striking, it keeps my intrigue with every scene.
When you watch this movie once, you feel one way but when you watch this movie again, those feelings change because you look at everything differently. You watch Lucille's mannerisms more closely when you watch it again. What appeared to be romantic and beautiful, is realistically deceitful and macabre, it manipulates your perceptions throughout. On the outside, the mansion is gorgeous, but on the inside, it's falling apart, it's sinking, it's rotting, an ongoing theme for the movie itself. Shadows move, floorboards creak, water turns red, walls whisper and groans echo through the halls.
The longer Edith is in that house, the more is unveiled to her and the more the ghosts show themselves to her to warn her of her treacherous fate. Fear overwhelms her, unaware of the warning signs, knowing of her previous haunts by her own mother. Blinded by her own heart and forced to be alone, due to her father's death which was not an accident, but devised to get Edith to leave with Thomas. She is being poisoned and also being terrorized by the ghosts...or so she thinks.
Yes the ghosts look very much CGI, I do wish they would have used makeup on actual actors like they did in Thirteen Ghosts, but still the ghosts are rather effective. I do like the unique portrayal of the ghosts, they are in pain, they are in despair, they are crying out to give warning. I can't help but feel for Edith, she is only looking for her way in a difficult world, believing she found a true love that would protect her from the cruelty but only to be in the center of it. To be in the center of a scandal that has gone on for years just so they can live their lush lives.
So Edith, slowly dying, finds out what they are up to and tries to escape but they are snowed in so she is trapped. Alan, the childhood friend, pieces together the mystery behind the Sharpe's and tries to get to Edith before it's too late. There's a disturbing twist to this gothic ghost story. Thomas and Lucille share more than just their last name, deceiving woman after woman, taking every penny they own just so they can keep their mansion.
This film teaches us of toxic love, disturbing, disgusting, imprisons you and feeds off of you like a venomous leach, sucking you dry until there's nothing left. Also.....that stab to Thomas's face......GAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! I've never cringed so hard when he takes out the knife. Should definitely give this one a watch just for the beauty of it alone. Now I will leave you with a quote from the vile Lady Lucille:
"It's a Monstrous Love and it makes Monsters of us all".....
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