[Movie] Crimson Peak was Interesting.

So I have to be about the hundredth person who thinks they might have been a little cheated by Crimson Peak. Let's face it, the next major holiday is Halloween. This is prime time scary movie territory. With the crimson and black ghosts popping up in the trailers, one would definitely think of this as just the right kind of movie for the season. Unfortunately, the ghosts don't really seem to make it more than halfway through the movie before they're abandoned for more of a thriller/mystery vibe. Not that I'm complaining about the thriller vibe. It was very well done. I enjoyed sitting in the theater trying to get one step ahead of the story. (Normally this is not a problem for me.) However, I wanted more ghostly ghastliness.

The manor house served as the perfect setting for something very Edgar Allen Poe with its blood red clay tainted water and the massive hole in the ceiling causing it to snow indoors. Then there were the outdoor shots of the snow also dyed crimson by the clay. Made the entire front yard look like a massive field of battle. Exceptionally pretty in its dilapidated state like an old matron seeking her youth through make-up. Yet it wasn't used up to its full potential. I guess I was looking for something more The Haunting of Hill House from it, making the very house party to all the secrets.

All in all, I thought the acting was well-done. Tom Hiddleston (Thomas Sharpe) stole the show for me, of course, though I still have a hard time not thinking Loki when I see him. I guess there are just some roles that leave indelible marks on a watcher's consciousness. This is not to say that the women, Mia Wasikowska (Edith Cushing) and Jessica Chastain (Lucille Sharpe), weren't mesmerizing, just that my eyes gravitated toward him and the expressions he gave. The three of them together however made the movie. In the pivotal scene of confrontation with the pounding on the door, it is the interaction between the three of them that makes it work. Charlie Hunnam (Dr. Alan McMichael) isn't an afterthought, but he certainly isn't as captivating as the other three.

I suppose I should back up a second and discuss the actual plot of the movie: Down and out heirs with nothing to peddle but their name seek funding for a mining gadget. During their attempts to secure funding, the male heir falls for a wealthy heiress who could be the end of their financial woes. They marry. Come to find out, the man is already married and has been several times, killing each of his successive wives for their money. The ghosts of these murdered innocents still haunt the family manse and make several attempts to warn the young heiress of her oncoming fate.

Things I saw coming: The brother-sister relationship. After Lucille mentions they were often left in the nursery alone while their parents traveled, that part sort of wrote itself in my mind.
The revelation of Lucille as the killer of Edith's father. No offense to Thomas, but he just doesn't have the spine to actually kill someone.

Overall, Crimson Peak was a pretty drama with some horror elements, not a horror movie. Will I watch it again? Probably once it comes out on DVD.