Crimson Peak (2015)

Before I continue catching up with reviews; I feel I need to get this message across to every single one of you reading this review. I just want to let you guys know that my favourite movie of all-time is the 2007 movie "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", a movie directed by my favourite director of all-time "Tim Burton". Ever since I saw that film I always thought to myself that nothing is ever going to be on the same level as that movie; absolutely nothing... not even the movies directed by my other favourite directors. Sweeney Todd set the bar so high that I was certain nothing was ever going to reach that level; but now that I've seen Crimson Peak over this past weekend my thought of nothing ever reaching the level of Sweeney Todd has now disappeared. I think I might of thought too quickly when I saw Sweeney Todd because Crimson Peak is arguably the most AWESOME MOVIE I'VE SEEN EVER! It combines everything I love about cinema with everything I love seeing in movies: fantastic characters, a brilliant plot, a smart screenplay, graphic violence, blood & gore, masterfully crafted set pieces, brilliant editing, beautiful cinematography, and an enjoyably frenetic run time (because you really don't want to feel like you're sitting in the cinema for decades). In the director's eyes (Guillermo Del Toro) the movie is a Gothic romance and not a horror film; for those of you who don't know what a Gothic romance is, it is basically a romantic film with elements of horror in it. In my personal opinion this movie is a Gothic romance which turns into something else as the movie goes on, and not in a bad way. You see there is a point in Crimson Peak where the movie decides to jump into a topic which usually other filmmakers tend to avoid expressing their views about, or showing to their audience. I won't say what it is because I really don't want to spoil the film for you; but you will know what it is when you see it WHICH I SURE HOPE YOU DO GO AND SEE THIS MOVIE BECAUSE IT'S A MASTERPIECE! I really honour the filmmakers and the movie in general for just jumping into those specific themes without any fear what so ever; this is one of the things I really adore seeing in movies because it shows me that those filmmakers want to show other filmmakers that they shouldn't be afraid to express, or view difficult and challenging content/themes in movies. We live in a world in which currently filmmakers are afraid to upset, disturb, offend, disgust, startle, and distress their audience whom of which is watching their films; so they choose not to show certain content which may cause those things and I hate filmmakers who do this because it shows me that they're scared. Guillermo Del Toro on the other hand has decided to go the extra mile and show the content which has the potential to make the audience uncomfortable and shocked; so I have to congratulate Guillermo Del Toro for doing this... I really do honour your bravery and I'm proud that you've chosen to do this. The characters overall are relatable, lovable, understanding, and feel like they act like real people. I think Edith is an amazing character who has a big understanding of the fact that ghost are real, and she has her reasons for understanding that they exist. I really love the fact that Edith has fallen in love with the concept of ghosts and ghouls instead of fearing them; just like in the same way that Guillermo Del Toro has been heavily affected by monsters and the fear of the unknown, and has actually decided to love them instead of being frightened by them. Throughout the entire film Edith is heavily affected by ghosts in ways which would usually tend to make people fear them; but Edith went in the opposite route and decided to take them on board as things she adores to look deep into, because she writes stories about ghosts and likes to research about them. I really love this new take on ghosts and ghouls because usually in a cliched movie everyone is afraid of the ghosts haunting them; but Guillermo took the smart route and flipped that cliched character on it's head and made Edith: a character who is indulged with the concept of ghosts and ghouls, and I really love that. Another lovable character is Thomas as he is the person Edith falls in love with (this is where the romance element comes into it) and they begin to form what could be argued as the best relationship ever seen in a movie EVER! The great thing about this relationship is that it's not cheesy, over the top, and crass which is usually what they are in other movies; yes the characters do that thing where they're like "we're meant to be together forever" but they execute it in a way which doesn't make you want to curl up into a ball and cry your heart out in disgrace. I also like his sense of heart even when the going gets tough in the later sections of the film; he is basically a character I would love to hang around with if he existed in the real world (which sadly he doesn't) that's how lovable he is. I also really love Lucille (Thomas' sister) despite the fact that you can sense that something is off about her from the very moment you see her for the first time; she is a very interesting character and you love learning more about her as the movie goes on, she's suspicious, she's off-putting (in a good way), she's mysterious, and she's rather unique from all of the other characters in the movie. With you knowing all of those things about her you just let it all soak in and you go along with her character to find out more about her; the movie does a brilliant job at making you invest in the characters (including Lucille) and you instantly go along with them all. Every single character in this movie steal every scene they're in; Edith steals every scene she's in, Thomas steals every scene he's in, Lucille steals every scene she's in, and all of the other characters steal every scene they're in. That's right all of the characters in this movie (even when they're in the same scene together) steal every scene they're in; this could be complete overabundance or a stroke of genius, in the case of Crimson Peak it's absolute GENIUS! This is all thanks to the actors portraying these characters with perfection, and in a unique style which stands out from all of the other actors in other movies; Mia Wasikowska does a fantastic job at portraying her character "Edith" so good in fact that I don't think that any other actress could play Edith as well as Mia did. Tom Hiddleston also does a fantastic job at portraying his character "Thomas", I feel if a relationship is going to work in a film the male part of the relationship would have to be Tom Hiddleston playing the role; not only do I feel that Tom Hiddleston brought the relationship to life in Crimson Peak I feel that he could bring a relationship to life in any film which contained a relationship. Jessica Chastain does an amazing job at playing a really sour character (in the form of "Lucille") so much so that I want to see her play more sour characters in other movies; because she's an absolute ace at doing so. The rest of the actors in this movie also do a brilliant job at bringing their characters to life, and making them relatable, lovable, and making you invest in them; so good job to every actor who starred in this movie (including the extras you see in the background). Bringing the characters to life was not in total responsibility of the actors though; they need a director who is going to invest in the characters and work hard to make sure that the audience is going to follow the characters throughout the entire movie, and make the audience be interested in every character in this movie, and that guy is Guillermo Del Toro. To be honest with you I don't think any other director could have done such an outstanding job at bringing these characters to life than Guillermo Del Toro; he has such a good attention to detail including the characters... he likes to go into even the smallest bits of detail to make sure that they're at their finest form as possible. I really love directors who have that huge attention to detail because it shows me that they care about their movie; it also makes their movie look beautiful, feel unique, and make everything about the movie brilliant. So I must say thank you to Guillermo Del Toro because his attention to detail has made the movie such a wonderful experience. His attention to detail shows in the script he wrote for the movie; the script is screaming detail throughout the entire movie, and it's a really smart script at that. There is a point in Crimson Peak in which Edith quotes a particular line which Guillermo Del Toro used to describe Devil's backbone (one of Guillermo's previous movies) which is "It's not a story about a ghost, it's a story with a ghost in it" , and I think that's one of the greatest lines I've ever heard in a movie EVER! I really like it when a director puts words in a script that they've used to describe something themselves; it shows that the director himself wants to have some sort of relation to the characters, as well as the audience having a connection with the characters. To me that is the key to creating relatable characters: if you the filmmaker is invested with your own characters then the chances are your audience will relate to your characters; you do this by going into detail with all your characters and make them say things that you may have said yourself, or something someone close to your heart might have said. That is how you make sure the characters are used to their full potential and I really love it when filmmakers do this. Another thing that looks really detailed is the set pieces; they look amazing especially Allerdale Hall (which is the house Edith moves to with Thomas and Lucille). Everywhere you look in and around this house you can just see that time and care was put into this house: red clay is pouring down from the walls, the house feels like it's breathing, creatures are flying around everywhere, the snow makes the atmosphere look beautiful, and all of the colours in the house mesh together beautifully to make the house look haunting but magnificent at the same time. The most shocking thing is that this film only cost approximately $55 million to make and it's really shocking because you look around the house and you see that even the finest pieces of detail have been looked into, and covered up with magnificence & beauty. You just wonder how is it possible that a filmmaker with such a huge eye for detail managed to get every piece of detail look top notch with such a small budget; it's an absolute chore coming to a conclusion to this surprising fact. That's how much of a genius Guillermo Del Toro is. How graphic is the violence in this movie? VERY GRAPHIC! There is a scene in which a guy has his skull bashed in several times to the point of which a part of his forehead has completely caved in, and there is a scene in which a knife is stabbed in a guy's cheek causing his eye above him to bleed... he even pulls the knife out of his cheek (I won't say who these characters are because that will spoil the movie, and I don't want to do that). This is the kind of violence I love seeing in movies because it tests people's nerves and has the potential to shock & disgust audiences regardless of age; in the same way filmmakers are afraid to discuss/show certain themes in films filmmakers are afraid to show extreme scenes of violence in films because of the fact that they don't want to distress the audience. Guillermo Del Toro does the honour of going that extra mile to make the violence as graphic as possible, and I give Guillermo an around of applause for doing that. I would just like to point out that there are bone crunching sounds too; so that adds to the graphic violence and pushes it a bit further up the chain of extreme violence. Other examples of brilliant attention to detail include the costume designs; as they look like clothing you would find in the time period this movie is set in, as well as looking unique at the same time. The soundtrack which instantly pulls you into the movie from the very moment the opening logos start appearing; I must say that I really want the soundtrack... like, RIGHT NOW! Finally the transitions; they look amazing as they act like the film is a fairy tale movie but for grown ups, just like Pan's Labyrinth was described as a fairy tale for grown ups... so once again thumbs up to Guillermo Del Toro for using such an incredible attention to detail, because it has won me over on all of the aspects of this movie. In case you didn't get the message by now (which I'm sure you have) I'm trying to say that this movie is not only the best movie I've seen this year, not only the best movie I've seen this decade, but the best movie I've seen EVER! All of the other movies that have been released this year have been put to shame by this masterpiece; yes I'm including Mad Max: Fury Road in that statement... a daring move at that BUT I DON'T CARE! THIS MOVIE DESERVES TO BE ACCLAIMED AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE; EVEN IF IT MEANS SAYING THAT EVERY OTHER MOVIE THAT HAS COME OUT THIS YEAR IS NOT AS GOOD AS THIS MASTERPIECE! This movie is so good in fact that words can't be used to express how good this movie is; it truly has to be seen to be believed. I think this movie is so great that I think it's better than some of Tim Burton's movies... I'M SERIOUS, THAT'S HOW GOOD IT IS! IT'S JUST SO HARD TO CONTAIN MY JOY FOR THIS MOVIE BUT THIS MOVIE SURPASSED MY EXPECTATIONS, AND GAVE ME EVERYTHING THAT I EVER WANTED OUT OF A MOVIE LIKE THIS! This movie is so good that I've seen it twice this past weekend, and I only do that if I think a movie stands out above the rest... this one certainly does. THIS MOVIE DEFINITELY GETS A 10 OUT OF 10! This is the masterpiece you've been waiting for. SO STOP WHATEVER YOUR DOING RIGHT NOW; GO TO YOUR NEAREST CINEMA AND WATCH THIS MOVIE, BECAUSE IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT A GEM LIKE THIS COMES AROUND TO YOUR NEAREST CINEMA! SO DON'T MISS OUT ON IT!