Crimson Peak. 2015. USA. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Screenplay by Del Toro, Matthew Robbins. With Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam. 35mm. 119 min.
Billed as a supernatural horror film, Crimson Peak is, more than anything else, a Gothic romance. It could even be accurately described as a female Gothic film, à la Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca or William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights. The fear is located not just in the bloody, skeletal specters or the titular haunted mansion, but in the sheer terror of free-falling into a relationship with a mysterious man who may or may not be trustworthy. Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is the audience’s proxy, and with her we enter the twisted world of the Sharpe siblings (Jessica Chastain and Tom Hiddleston). It is chilling to feel ourselves swept into Edith’s burgeoning relationship with Thomas, even though we don’t really know him at all. Like Edith, the audience is utterly alone in the desolate, snow-dusted English manor—perfect viewing for a wan January afternoon.