At the end of 2015, one of the most unusual and discussed paintings was the gothic mystical horror film “Crimson Peak”. Reviews and reviews on it flooded the media. The fact is that a picture with such an amazing visual range and perfectly precisely selected cast has not appeared on the screen for a long time. So, "Crimson Peak." Reviews, content, the history of the creation of an outstanding tape are the focus of our article.
Film director
If you do not know in advance the name of the author of the Gothic horror film, it is almost impossible to guess who worked on its creation. The director of the film “Crimson Peak”, critics' reviews of which were overwhelmingly supportive, is famous for his unusual works in the cinema of Guillermo del Toro. His paintings are distinguished by a special visual style. Maybe this is due to the fact that at the dawn of his career in cinema, he worked for 10 years as a make-up artist. Del Toro is a controversial director. In Hollywood, he has a big credit of trust, although his work causes mixed reviews from critics. He is considered one of the most inventive directors in America - he creates large-scale films filled with impressive effects, but blames the weak disclosure of the characters' characters and the plots of his outstanding works that are too complicated for the audience to perceive.
The long road to the movie
The script for the upcoming film “Crimson Peak”, the reviews of which were positive, appeared in 2006. Why did the director’s intentions come true only 9 years later? Guillermo del Toro himself explains this by the fact that the picture for him has become something very personal, since he is a big fan of Gothic romance. Therefore, he did not want to rush to start filming and how to prepare everything. During this time, the director filmed the legendary Labyrinth of the Fauna, the second part of Hellboy’s adventures, The Pacific Frontier, and co-authored a trilogy of novels based on which the series Strain was shot. But all these years he continued the preparatory work for the Gothic horror film "Crimson Peak", the first reviews of which were enthusiastic. He could only start creating the tape when he received firm guarantees that he could fully realize his plan.
Filming
In April 2014, Guillermo del Toro began work on the painting “Crimson Peak”. Actors (reviews of critics by the composition of the performers were more than supportive) for the main roles by that time were already selected.
The main filming location is the Canadian city of Kingston. The film was shot in record time, even for del Toro, in 2 months. Given that the director worked on his idea for 9 years and wrote 12 versions of the script, he was shot simply swiftly.
An interesting fact: to help actors enter their roles and feel the atmosphere of the era of the XIX century, del Toro suggested reading Gothic novels of those times.
Entourage paintings
Enthusiastic reviews about "Crimson Peak" are associated primarily with the stunning design of the picture: magnificent scenery and costumes of heroes. Visually, the film looks amazing. The director chose the style of the 19th century not by chance - this is precisely the era when many houses were built according to the Gothic canons dear to his heart. Everything is symbolic in the picture, and even the costumes of the heroes emphasize this. So, for the actresses Jessica and Mia, who played the main roles in the picture, the shoulders of the outfits are decorated with details that resemble a moth and a butterfly. We will tell you more about why these elements of costumes of heroines are needed in the picture.
Actors and roles
The performers for the film "Crimson Peak", the reviews in the world about which were positive, were carefully selected. But the original cast had to be changed fundamentally. Perhaps this only benefited. For the role of the main male character, Benedict Cumberbatch was originally chosen, and Emma Stone was supposed to embody one of the heroines on the screen. But the actors soon dropped out of the project due to their busy schedule. Del Toro had to urgently engage in the selection of another team of performers. He specially reworked the script for actor Tom Hiddleston, and he could not abandon the promising role. The problem was different - Cumberbatch and Hiddleston were friends for many years, and the latter was embarrassed to "take" the role of an old friend. He asked Benedict for permission to shoot, and he replied that he did not see another actor in this role.
Edith Cushing - Mia Wasikowska
This actress is familiar to many by the magnificent adaptation of Carroll's fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland." She is 26 years old, originally from Australia. Although she intended to devote her life to ballet, at the age of 15, Mia received an invitation to shoot a movie. So began her career in cinema. The films in the filming of which she took part did not have much success, and the actress for a long time remained in the shadow of her more successful colleagues. Good luck smiled at her in 2010 when she was invited to the role of Alice in Tim Burton's film. The film "Crimson Peak" (the plot, reviews and critical opinions will be further in the article) was another lucky ticket to the big cinema world, which the actress got.
Critics spoke well of Vasikovsky’s play in the film, particularly appreciating the fact that she performed most of the dangerous stunts herself. In one scene (when she was pushed from a staircase) she fell from a 12-meter height. According to the actress, she was very scared to perform the trick, but then even liked to fly down from the height of a 4-storey building.
Thomas Sharp - Tom Hiddleston
The 34-year-old British actor became incredibly popular after the release of the fantastic action movie "Thor", where he brilliantly acted as an antagonist of positive characters - the god Loki. Before this role, the actor had about 15 films, but they did not bring him much fame. After the resounding success of the Torah, the offers fell like a cornucopia. From this moment, the paintings with the participation of Hiddleston do not go unnoticed. He played in three more films on the Marvel comic book universe, in the fantasy drama about vampires "Only lovers will survive" and the historical film "Henry V".
Those who watched "Crimson Peak" (reviews of the picture are presented below) will confirm that Guillermo del Toro was not mistaken, choosing Thomas Sharpe Hiddleston for the role. The main character of the picture is insanely attractive, but at the same time a dark hero, mysterious and dangerous. He is not at all innocent, and the director wanted to show by his example whether a person who has transgressed the laws of morality is worthy of true love. According to del Toro, Tom Hiddleston is ideally suited for the role of the protagonist of "Crimson Peak" - it simultaneously combines danger and vulnerability. That is exactly what director Thomas Sharp represented.
Now the actor is involved in several interesting projects at once. He starred in one of the most anticipated films of 2017 - the third part about the Torah. He can also be seen in the movie about King Kong, where Hiddleston will play the main role.
Lucille Sharp - Jessica Chastain
For her 38 years, the actress starred in more than 30 films, but success did not come to her right away. For the first time on the screen, she appeared in the series "Dark Shadows." In 2008, she finally took part in the filming of a full-length picture. Success to the actress came in 2011, after the release of two films at once, which received high marks from critics - “The Tree of Life” and “Payback”. For Chastain, The Crimson Peak, which critics had positive reviews, was not the first horror film in the filmography. In 2013, she starred in a dramatic film with horror elements “Mom”, where she played a guitarist who, by chance, had to take custody of two young nieces of her boyfriend, who lived alone for several years in the forest.
Of the latest most successful works of the actress, it is necessary to note such tapes as Interstellar and Martian.
Guillermo del Toro was delighted when he found out that Jessica Chastain agreed to participate in his film. In his understanding, Lucille is not unambiguously a villain, she is characterized by ambivalence (duality). He believes that it was in the character of the heroine that attracted Jessica.
Critics' reviews of The Crimson Peak were largely positive due to her brilliant performance. She looked amazing in the role of stylish graceful Lucille, hiding a terrible secret. Jessica Chastain's work is always highly regarded. She is called a gifted actress who is able to breathe life into any role, and the game of a gifted performer is sometimes compared to a “live wire”.
Alan McMichael - Charlie Hunnam
The actor got a relatively small but important role of the friend of the heroine Vasikowski, in love with her. Hannam is known to the viewer for another del Toro painting - the fantastic action movie “The Pacific Frontier”, in which he played the main role. There are not many films in the arsenal of the actor. Hannam explains this because he does not want to take on any of the roles offered to him. He takes his acting reputation seriously and understands that the choice made by him will determine the course of his career in cinema in the future.
Mansion - a separate participant in what is happening on the screen
The director paid special attention to the generic nest of his brother and sister Sharpov. Do not look on the map of Canada for the Allerdale mansion - the house was completely rebuilt on the set. Actually, the director needed 9 long years to prepare everything thoroughly and to make sure that the budget of the picture will allow the construction of the whole house. He did not want to make a film just in some abandoned building, he needed a place that would also be an active participant in the events. Del Toro achieved the effect he needed - according to his idea, the viewer should have understood that the house had its own face, pitted with ulcers. He, like its inhabitants, was left to its own devices and slowly dies.
The mansion lives its own strange and frightening life. It flows red clay, like blood, through a huge gap in the roof, snow and fallen leaves fall inside. The house slowly languishes and dies, as does the aristocratic family of its owners.
The interior decoration of the rooms of the mansion was also thought out to the smallest detail. The central oak staircase, portraits on the walls, long corridors, an old bathtub - everything was real. Even the floorboards creaked under the feet of the actors, as it would be in a real existing abandoned house.
Unfortunately, the magnificent mansion was demolished after the shooting.
Crimson Peak - reviews and reviews from critics
The film received mostly positive ratings - more than 70% of reviewers liked it. First of all, critics noted the magnificent visual beauty of the film. The scenery, the costumes of the characters - everything was thought out to the smallest detail, and this played a role in the positive perception of the picture. Separately, critics noted the brilliant camera work.
Positive reviews about the film “Crimson Peak” by critics are the result of a long and painstaking work of both the director and the entire crew. Del Toro managed to create a beautiful scary fairy tale in which ghosts turn out to be messengers foreshadowing misfortune and warning that people should not be afraid of otherworldly forces.
The film "Crimson Peak": viewers reviews
Gothic horror del Toro was widely covered in the press before the show. As always, the abundance of advertising has led to expectations that the film was somewhat overstated. But the picture received a generally positive response from the audience.
Especially interesting is the opinion about the picture of those who have an art education. One of the viewers compared the film with the paintings of Rembrandt, where there is the same play of light and shadow and subtle drawing of details. He received aesthetic pleasure from each frame thanks to the thoughtful composition, costumes of heroes and scenery.
You need to understand that in the painting del Toro several genres are mixed, but in general it is a Gothic drama about love. Ghosts play a minor role here, they are victims of human actions. Those viewers who went to the premiere in the hope of seeing a classic horror movie with lots of blood were disappointed. The film is to some extent more focused on the female audience. It shows the story of the tragic love of two characters created for each other, but who did not have a common future.
Fans of the gothic and various fantasy worlds will also like the film. As for a wide audience, she will first of all appreciate the insane, albeit somewhat theatrical beauty of the picture.
The plot of the picture
Guillermo del Toro made a film about brutal anti-romantic love. He showed the viewer two categories of lovers: moths and butterflies. The Moth (Lucile Sharp became its personification) is a predator eating its own kind. Butterfly (Edith Cushing) is a gentle and vulnerable creature. To emphasize what type the heroines belong to, their dresses were decorated with elements reminiscent of the wings of a butterfly and a moth.
The action in the picture takes place at the beginning of the XIX century. Edith Cushing is the daughter of a famous industrialist from Buffalo. She dreams of becoming a writer and has written a novel that she is trying to publish. But publishers advise her not to waste energy on a book in a mystical genre, but to switch to writing romance novels. The girl twice in her life faced the ghost of her mother, who died when Edith was a child. Otherworldly forces warn the heroine, advising her to fear the Crimson Peak.
Once, having come to her father, she meets a visiting baronet Thomas Sharpe, who is looking for finances to create his invention - a device for the extraction of red clay, from which excellent bricks are made in England. Clay deposits are located on the territory of the family estate of the baronet and his sister. But Sharpe arouses vague suspicion among the industrialist, and he hires a private investigator. The next morning, Carter Cushing is killed. Baronet supports the girl in her grief. Soon she marries him, and the couple goes to the Allerdale estate.
The old house makes a frightening impression on Edith. It is dilapidated and literally falling apart, snow falls from the broken roof directly into the hall, and red water flows from the taps due to the deposits of red clay, which are located directly under the house. But the greatest shock awaits the heroine in front - she learns that because of the red clay that stains all around, the locals call the estate “Crimson Peak”.
At this time, in the homeland of Edith, her friend Alan, a doctor by training, begins her own investigation into the death of her father. The circumstances of the death make him highly suspicious, and he does not believe that it was an accident. He goes to the detective, who received the task from the murdered industrialist to find out details about the Sharp family. The young man learns the secret of the baronet and his sister and hurries poisoned in England to Edith.
The newly minted baroness at this time undergoes another test - as if the horrors of childhood are returning to her. Edith again begins to see ghosts who no longer warn her of danger, but pursue her. Suspicions of the girl begin to cause and the older sister of her husband, who finds many excuses in order not to give the keys to all the rooms of the mansion. Edith decides to find out what secret Lucille is hiding from her, and why her sister and brother insistently guard her from going down to the basement of the mansion, where the red clay mine is located.
Disadvantages of the picture
Part of the audience did not like the leisurely narration of the film. They were waiting for the action and were disappointed with some tightness of the tape. It is worth recalling again that “Crimson Peak” is a film designed for the same fans of Gothic novels as del Toro is. In his picture, the influence of the work of Edgar Allan Poe, "Sleepy Hollow" and another film by the director, "Ridges of Madness." For all these works, action is not characteristic. It is present only at the very end, before the denouement.
The predictability of the plot is another of the shortcomings of the picture, according to some viewers. But the plot is far from the main thing that del Toro was interested in. He wanted to show love in its two manifestations - destructive and healing, and to trace the development of the feelings of heroes. Therefore, there was no need for a famously twisted plot line with an unexpected denouement. Everything is predictable from the very beginning, and from this even more sadness is caused by the inability to be together of two people who have just found each other.
Conclusion
“Crimson Peak” del Toro is an incredibly atmospheric picture with a magnificent visual range and excellent cast. She may not frighten the viewer to death, but she will definitely be remembered for a long time.