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| Source: Legendary |
Warning! Spoilers Ahead!
Before I go into a psychiatric and social analysis, I want to review Crimson Peak the classic way. Crimson Peak is a two hour long mystery-horror movie set in Buffalo, New York and England around 1900. The title derives from the nickname given to the property owned by Sir Thomas Sharpe, one of the protagonists, who roams the world for financial support to reopen the family's mining pits. In Buffalo he meets a business man, seemingly falls in love with his daughter Edith, who is able to see ghosts. Actually only the ghost of her mother so far, who warned her many years ago: Beware of Crimson Peak. Short story: Father dies, Edith marries Thomas, they go back to England, live on the fantastically desolate estate of his family, but only Thomas and his odd sister Lucille are left, everyone else obviously died. The mystery begins. Sharpe Mansion has a high creep factor (which is a good thing), dozens of rooms to be discovered (which never happens), the forbidden pits and so on. So after about 45 minutes here we are. Edith finds herself lost in a desolate area only with her beloved new husband and his strange sister, who wants to poison her with nasty tea.
At this point the movie starts to send us tiny sparks of information. We start thinking about what is going on in that mansion, who died there, what plans do the Sharpes pursue? Because it is clear, they are up to something. So many little hints, they gave Edith the big red ring, they had to do the fancy Waltz without letting the candle go out, it's almost like she is being prepared for something. What might it possibly be?
The suspense is there, the mystery as well. They even put a couple of jump-scares in, plus the wonderful costumes and the setting. Alright, there had to be something wrong with the house or what they were doing there. I mean come on: Are they really just digging up red sand? .....
Yes, they were simply digging up red sand.
I want to jump to the point when the whole ship started sinking, because after 90 minutes the movie fell apart. Up until then it was a big mystery with so many possibilites. But the last 30 minutes made sure eveything that came before was pretty much void. Because we could have had a crazed blood hunt with a huge butcher knife at the very start of the move. For example at the dinner party. That would have been lovely, same results, more blood (increases viewers, but were getting there). After 90 minutes G. del Toro decides to bring on the explanations. Money and Sex. Someone was watching Game of Thrones when he wrote the final chapters of the script I bet. The solution of the whole 'mystery' turned it into a joke. If it had been a psychological mysterythriller from the begining that would have been fine. But the premise was paranormal mystery. Alright, Edith still sees ghosts and gets the aid of Thomas' ghost. But there is one more thing that leads to complete incredibility. How come people do not at least raise their arms to defend themselves when being attacked? Thomas as well as Alan are facing a psychopath and they seem to be completely relaxed. At that point I was just throwing up my arms and surrendering to the endless foolishness of Crimson Peak.
At the end Crimson Peak turned into a sensationalistic movie. It showed lots of blood, mutilation (starting already early on with the shot of Edith's father) and essentially copied from standard splatter movies. Not in any extreme but (socially) tolerable ways. Violence partially killed the movie (See what I did there?). I am not one to be overly opposed towards the display of violence, but it saddens me if it downgrades a movie. Mystery doesn't require violence, but instead thrives on the absence of knowledge and suprise on the side of the audience. They tried so hard and succeeded to do this within the first 90 minutes. Take for example the relationship between Thomas and Lucille. Brother and sister, right? Or is she actually his first wife? That was my thought when she first threw a tantrum after Edith and Thomas had sex. Again, that story had so much potential, so why not waste it? Choosing the easy way, it was resolved as an incestuous relation obviously building on mental abuse. Instead of going deeper and offering a complex solution, the movie went the way of breaking a taboo and therefore 'shocking'.
The thing is: Incest and money as horror themes are simply not working. We find those topics represented in mainstream media all the time. Going back to the example Game of Thrones. What doesn't happen in Westeros for money (and therefore power as well as the other way around)? The scandalous relations of siblings are so overused that nobody cringes anymore when two Lannister crawl under the same blanket. It is not horror movie material, it's quite the opposite.
Media reflects a lot of social developments. Movies can show what a generation of people likes, desires or lacks. By watching older horror movies, we can analyse what scared viewers back then. A prime example would be robots. The 20th century showed a fear of mechanic but selfconscious beings. This lead to them being represented in almost every genre as antagonists. Take for example Terminator. The machines rise and try to wipe out humanity. Terminator 2 grew a bit more complex. There was now a machine fighting on 'our' side. At the same time it is an expression of a generations lack of fatherly figures. (Laurence R. Simon has some great studies on that topic).
So what does Crimson Peak say about us as society? Lack of violence and unsatisfied sexuality maybe? The answer won't be as simple as the resolution to the mystery of the movie. But media in general is seeing a rise in violence and breaking of taboos. While the removal of taboos is not necessarily a bad thing, since those rules are only constituted by tradition and practice, we have to ask why it happens and where it leads to. It may, for example, drastically alter the boundaries to what is regarded normal. Such effects can be severe, because increased toleration of violence knows only victims.
This has been my review of Crimson Peak. It was of course a bit more. I tried a short analysis of the ongoing social process that is the reason for the movie's last 30 minutes. But essentially, as a fan of great movies, I am disappointed, because of the lost opportunity. Crimson Peak is 90 minutes of a great build up and mystery. At this point it has so much potential. So when you watch it: Set your timer and leave after 90 minutes. Write a better ending in your note book. This way you get the best experience. Just like the trailer warned us: Beware of Crimson Peak!
