Girls, You Gotta See This Mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    I had such high hopes for "Crimson Peak," the latest Guillermo del Toro film, that I thought it might be the Halloween classic of the season we were all hoping for.  To be sure, it is visually stunning, befitting del Toro; this film should garner at least Oscar nods for cinematogrpahy, set design and art direction.  But a beautifully packaged product does not a finished work make.

                                      Maybe the director intended this to be a homage, because this film abounds with references.  Let's see how many I can name.

                                        1. Henry James a) "The Turn Of The Screw"

                                         2.The Brontes a)" Jane Eyre"
                                                                 b) "Wuthering Heights"

                                         3. Daphne Du Maurier a) "Rebecca"

                                         4. The Hammer Horror Films Of The Sixties

                                          5. Mario Bava a) "Black Sunday"

                                     There may be others, but this is what I spotted; if you found any more, feel free to let me know.

                                       Jessica Chastain, as Lady Lucille Sharpe (what a name, considering the bloodletting she and her brother, Thomas, do) steals the show, because she is the film's biggest hoot. Without those compelling eyes, there is no way she can channel Barbara Steele as Asa, in "Black Sunday," so when she resorts to screaming, and running down the stairs, knife in hand, dress flowing in the breeze, I decided, as an actress, she had had enough to the director's insistence on restraint, and went for the gold, like the mad scene in 'Lucia.'  She might as well, but, let me tell you, it was such camp that when she morphed into this I laughed outright.

                                       There is supposed to be a Dickensian symmetry to  it all, but it never coalesces.  Lucille and Thomas exploit people by selling them this product, that nets them victims to kill, from which they live off the money.  Supposedly, their father was mentally ill, and Lucille inherited it.  Bet she and Daddy were having something on the side, before she took up with Brother. It might have been nice to made aware of this, as of the children killing their mother.  Lucille is ill; but Thomas is so pussy whipped by his sister, one is supposed to be sorry for him?  How can that be possible?  All he needed was to give Lucille a good smack and toss her out in the snow, but no, he is too weak willed. He gets what he asks for.

                                           How does Edith (Mia Wasikowska) survive a three story fall?  Why isn't the concept of this being the novel she eventually writes made clear before the end?

                                             I get the impression del Toro was so impressed by how much he crammed into one film that he did not realize things needed to be separated in components for the film to make any sense, dramatically!  It is a feast for the eye, but not the ear. And what kind of accent is Jessica using, or not?   And how about Lucille and Thomas having a baby?

                                              The title "Crimson Peak" is a misnomer. It should have been called
"Blood Offspring."

                                               Makes just as much sense.

                                 You just gotta love Jessica Chastain, as Lucille, darlings!  She is something else, but I am not sure that is what she was intended to be!