Crimson Peak (2015)

Stunning scenery, lots of Victorian gothic elements and great acting made Crimson Peak a movie worth watching again. I'm definitely buying it! Everything in the movie was over the top except for the plot and predictable story line. Within the first twenty minutes or so, we know exactly what's going to happen and how it will end. The only thing that's a mystery is exactly what the Sharpe family history is and why do the Allerdale Hall heirs need Edith to attain their life goals.

Allerdale Hall, the once stately, now rundown gothic mansion is in worse shape than the Munster Mansion with its gaping circular hole in the roof. How did they let it get that big? Where were those leaves coming from? The many constantly blazing fireplaces in the mansion were no defense against that draft! However, the corridors, candelabras and the elevator that led to Thomas Sharp's toys-in-the-attic workshop above and Lucille Sharp's gruesome burial vats below were gothic genius.

Crimson Peak was just as much campy fun as gothic beauty. We see a ghost reclined in the tub with a cleaver lodged in her skull, Lucille points out a horrid unflattering portrait of her mother to Edith, then snow piles up in a circular shape on the floor in the foyer under the open roof. Towards the end, Edith wacks Lucille in the head with a shovel as she quips a la Ash from the Evil Dead movies. These are only a few of the many laughs.

The only thing this movie lacked was a little intensity and passion between the newlyweds when Thomas truly falls in love with the smitten Edith, as fantasy bad boys do after meeting that one special woman who draws out the respectable faithful inner man with their unique elixir of love. Never in real life, ladies. Speaking of real life, the ghosts would have been spookier if they were more of a gothic ethereal quality bearing resemblance to their living form instead of the modern grim-reaper-covered-in-slime variety.

If for no other reason, this movie is worth watching for the scenery, costumes and cast.