One could argue there are two sides to filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. The weird and wonderful drama-slanted genre pictures (“Devil’s Backbone,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”) and the more mainstream, big blockbuster-sized version of his phantasmagorical leanings (“Hellboy,” “Pacific Rim”). And apologies to the disciples, but it’s been a long time (“Pan’s Labyrinth” in 2006) since the Mexican filmmaker has made a uniformly great picture. So it’s with a mix of trepidation and gentle excitement that we look forward to “Crimson Peak,” del Toro’s supernatural mystery/ haunted house movie that looks like a return to genre with a dramatic bent. And the cast—Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska and Charlie Hunnam—is superb. Perhaps, and more importantly, its R-rating and recent quotes from the cast suggest something a little bit genuinely macabre and transgressive.
"It’s really kinky," Hiddleston said during a recent set visit."There is a sexuality in the film which is expressed. And you think you know what it is and then you realize you’re only scratching the surface. So I really can’t reveal more than that. Thomas Sharpe has – and he’s not the only character in the film — but he has a history. I suppose the interesting thing about the film, the story is it’s about the difference between expectations and reality. And each character is sort of projecting certain things."
Jessica Chastain looked to some twisted female characters for her role of the antagonist of the film. “I watched ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ –I shouldn’t say everything, because I don’t want you guys to think that I’ve stolen from that,” she told Collider. “But one I definitely took from, was, ‘Misery’–which I love– it was a very different character but I love the idea of someone being helpless, and also Kathy Bates in ‘Misery,’ I actually feel for that woman when I watch that movie because you think like, ‘God, she’s so pathetic’ and there’s something about her, she actually just wants love. So I tried to surround myself with films like that.” Here’s the official synopsis for "Crimson Peak":
When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger, a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson Peak.
“Crimson Peak” hits theaters and IMAX on October 16th. Check out new photos and an international trailer.