Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim; The Shape of Water) calls Crimson Peak (2015) his most beautiful film, comparing this gothic romance to the works of Charles Dickens (Great Expectations; David Copperfield), Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice; Emma), Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Arrow delivers on that promise with their new 4K limited edition of this film that’s even more interesting getting to listen to ‘ol GDT talk about it. With all the extras on the disk, you’ll have a hard go of making time for all the monologues about his favorite gothic romances, gothic painters, and haunted house designs. It’s a wise, if obvious, move from the director, as he prepares to make his long-dreamt adaptation of Frankenstein, to shore up his most devoted fans’ knowledge of this oft mis-marketed genre, and a genre I participate in with enthusiasm.

NOTE: This review is based on a check disk and will not cover the 80-page booklet, posters, or packaging for this edition.

A scene from CRIMSON PEAK. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.

“My child. When the time comes, beware of Crimson Peak”

If the film has a crucial flaw that keeps it “pretty good” but not “top tier,” yet makes it an exceptional UHD release, it’s that GDT occasionally allows his philosophy of painting stories with all levels of design to overwhelm the frame. When this happens, it comes at the expense of emotional synergy between the performer and the framing and movement of the shot at some key moments. This distancing seems to be a limitation, not a feature, of this way of working, which GDT has a better handle on in his later works, such as his superior Nightmare Alley (2021). Still, they’re damn good paintings, these frames.

CRIMSON PEAK 4K UHD packshot. Photo courtesy of Arrow Video/MVD Entertainemtn Group.

In this Industrial Revolution Era ghost story, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland; Stoker)) is a woman of the new century. She wears machine-made clothes, she writes gothic romance novels, and she watches as men dismiss her work. Her best friends are her industrialist father Carter Cushing (Jim Beaver (Magnolia; Adaptation)) and totally-not-Sherlock-Holmes Dr. Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam (The Gentlemen; Pacific Rim)). But, as the film reminds us, “everybody falls in love,” and so, too, does this tumbler girl out of time fall for a Venus fly trap all too familiar to her descendants: Tom Hiddleston (Loki; I Saw the Light). As Sir Thomas Sharpe, he brings a promise of a restored fortune, a promising future full of true love, and a creepy sister named Lucille played by Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Tree of Life). When he invites Edith to return across the Atlantic to his historic English manor, the ghosts of her family and the ghosts of his collide like all couples do. But with more blood, horror, and gorgeous costume and set design.

Mia Wasikowska as Edith Cushing in CRIMSON PEAK. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.

As he discusses many times in the exhaustive special features provided by Arrow, Crimson Peak was Guillermo del Toro’s attempt to fight back against the idea of film as a medium of dialogue and plot, and instead celebrate it as a medium of moving paintings. He works with costume designer Kate Hawley (Edge of Tomorrow, Mortal Engines) to breathe to life visual refrains in the cast’s clothing. With legendary production designer Thomas E. Sanders (Saving Private Ryan, Braham Stoker’s Dracula), he constructs his meticulous haunted house in a set that should have been preserved for history, or at least a theme park tour. And he’ll take you through all of it in what has to be the best-documented Gothic romance film of all time. You’ll learn a lot on this box set, but maybe its most impressive moment is when GDT is out-monologued on Gothic romance by Jim Beaver in The House is Alive: Constructing Crimson Peak, which ends with Beaver rattling off films and reminding us why he’d one day become one of the best reads on Letterboxd. If that’s not what Blu-ray extras are for, I don’t what is.

Crimson Peak Limited Edition Arrow 4K UHD Special Features:

• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible), approved by director Guillermo del Toro
  
• Original DTS:X Master Audio sound
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Optional Descriptive Video Service (DVS) for the visually impaired
• Audio commentary by co-writer and director Guillermo del Toro
• “The House is Alive: Constructing Crimson Peak,” a feature-length documentary with cast and crew interviews and extensive behind the scenes footage
• Spanish language interview with Guillermo del Toro
• “The Gothic Corridor,” “The Scullery,” “The Red Clay Mines,” “The Limbo Fog Set,” four featurettes exploring different aspects of Allerdale Hall
• “A Primer on Gothic Romance,” the director and stars talk about the key traits of Gothic romance
• “The Light and Dark of Crimson Peak,” the cast and crew talk about the film’s use of color
• “Hand-Tailored Gothic,” a featurette on the film’s striking costumes
• “A Living Thing,” a look at the design, modelling and construction of the Allerdale Hall sets
• “Beware of Crimson Peak,” a walking tour around Allerdale Hall with Tom Hiddleston
• “Crimson Phantoms,” a featurette on the film’s amazing ghosts
• “Kim Newman on Crimson Peak and the Tradition of Gothic Romance,” an interview with author and critic
• “Violence and Beauty in Guillermo del Toro’s Gothic Fairy Tale Films,” a video essay by the writer Kat Ellinger
• Deleted scenes
• Image gallery (click through)
• Original trailers and TV spots
• Double-sided, foldout poster
• Four double-sided postcards
• Limited edition packaging designed by Crimson Peak concept artist Guy Davis
• Limited edition 80-page, hard-bound book featuring writing by David Jenkins and Simon Abrams, an archival interview with Guillermo del Toro, and original conceptual design illustrations by artists Guy Davis and Oscar Chichoni

Available on 4K UHD Blu-ray from Arrow Video May 21^st, 2024.

For more information, head to the official Arrow Video Crimson Peak webpage.
To purchase, head to the official MVD Entertainment Group Crimson Peak webpage.

Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation

Tags: 4K UHD, Arrow Video, Burn Gorman, Charlie Hunnam, Crimson Peak, Double Dare You Productions, Doug Jones, Guillermo del Toro, home release, home video, horror, Jessica Chastain, Jim Beaver, Jonathan Hyde, Legenday Pictures, Leslie Hope, Matthew Robbins, Mia Wasikowska, MVD Entertainment Group, romance, thriller, Tom Hiddleston, Universal Pictures