Directed and co-written by Guillermo Del Toro, 2015's Crimson Peak tells the story of Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), the beautiful daughter of wealthy industrialist Carter Cushing (Jim Beaver). They live together in their massive family home in Buffalo, New York where Edith hopes to one day get her novel published. The ghosts in her book, she's keen on telling anyone who reads it, are a metaphor.

Soon enough, Carter is approached by Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), an inventor from England who is hoping to secure funding for a machine he wants to use in his family's red clay mining operation back in his homeland. Thomas and Edith seem to fall for one another quite quickly but as Carter digs around in Thomas' past, he realizes that the man is broke and therefore not particularly suitable dating material for his daughter. He forces Thomas to break it off and both he and his sister, Lucille (Jessica Chastain), are quickly put in their place. Shortly after this happens, Carter is brutally murdered, his face smashed to pieces against the porcelain sink in the bathroom by an unseen assailant. With precious few alternatives, Edith marries Thomas and accompanies he and Lucille back to England to live with them in the massive rundown mansion built atop the family's red clay mine.

As Edith adjusts to her bizarre new surroundings, it becomes clear that something is not right. She begins to see ghosts, similar to those she has written about, and the behavior of her new husband and sister-in-law starts to become unusual. Meanwhile, back in America, Dr. Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam), who seems to have feelings for Edith, starts to put together the pieces of this strange puzzle.

Far less the horror movie that Universal's deceptive marketing campaign made it out to be, Crimson Peak may deal with ghosts but it is most assuredly a gothic romance. That's not to say that the movie isn't rich with atmosphere and some surprisingly dark overtones or that it doesn't earn its R-rating with some strong violence, but if you go into this one looking for scares you'll probably walk away disappointed. Having addressed that, Del Toro's love of the horror genre comes through in a big way throughout the movie primarily in terms of the visual style employed in the film. The opening scene has a warmth to it (enhanced by some subtle sepia toned colors) that, once we move to the titular mansion owned by what's left of the Sharpe family, gives way to some impressive production values and set design. Both the interior and exterior work down around the Crimson Peak location is steeped in the tradition of gothic horror films like Castle Of Blood in that everything is draped in shadows and darkness and that many of the rooms in the home seem to hold dark secrets. The use of color throughout the film, red in particular (the clay seems to ooze out of the ground and drip through the crevices of the crumbling estate creating an immediate contrast to the white of the perpetual snowfall), is gorgeous if occasionally in a macabre sort of way. When you consider red to be both the color most associated with romance and the color most associated with murder the reason for the director's emphasis on this particular hue becomes clear. The period costumes are also impressive. The attention to detail evident throughout the movie is a big part of what makes the film as interesting as it is. This is a remarkably stylish picture.

Also strong are the performances. Mia Wasikowska is a beautiful woman but so too is she a talented actress and as Edith, Del Toro gives her much to work with. Her character, influenced it would seem by Mary Shelly, goes through a pretty intense arc by the time that the movie is done with and she handles all aspects of this quite admirably. Jim Beaver is good as her father and Charlie Hunnam solid as the noble doctor. More memorable, however, are Hiddleston and Chastain as the Sharpe's. Though at first he seems charming and sweet, as the story shifts locations to England his troubles become more obvious and his sister's part in those troubles equally so. Hiddleston and Chastain do fine work here, both look appropriate to their characters but so too do they handle the range and emotional depth that the storyline calls for.

As to the story itself (Del Toro co-wrote with Matthew Robbins, they're clearly channeling Poe at times), it moves slowly. Again, this isn't a traditional horror movie and it doesn't necessarily need to be, but your expectations should be in check when approaching a picture like this. It deals not in cheap thrills or gory murder set pieces but instead in atmosphere, tone and, yes, some fairly heavy handed dramatic romance. The ghost s in the film are not scary (though they are interesting to look at) and some of the romance is stilted and, in the tradition of gothic soaps, overdone and somewhat predictable. Things fall apart a bit at the end (Edith's intelligence was such a strong point in the first half of the movie and it seems to fade once she moves to England) and the contrivances of her romance with Thomas crumble quickly, but despite these flaws Crimson Peak is well made and, if you're in the right frame of mind for it, reasonably engaging stuff, particularly in regard to the visuals.

Video:

Crimson Peak arrives on Blu-ray from Universal Studios in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. Shot digitally, obviously there isn't going to be any print damage, dirty, debris or grain to note. Detail is typically rock solid throughout, though some of the scenes that feature an abundance of digital effects do look a little flat when compared to those that do not. Black levels are reference quality and we get very strong shadow detail here (with only occasional scenes allowing the darkness to swallow things up a bit) while color reproduction, the reds in in particular, is beautiful. Skin tones look fine, never too hot or too cold in appearance, while the picture is free of any obvious compression artifacts.