Crimson Peak: 10 Things To Look Forward To

For Crimson Peak, del Toro has chosen to work once again with Fernando Velázquez, him of Mama and The Orphanage fame.

Velázquez has perfected the sound of aural fear to an award-winning degree, composing soundtracks that give new meaning to the phrase ‘mounting dread’.

Some other composers might take a shortcut and go straight for the jugular, with an unending series of dramatic crescendos and discordant beats.

This is effective in the short term, but grows old very fast. There are only so many times the senses are willing to be shocked into submission before that annoying “dum dum dum dum dum dum” in the background is automatically blacked out.

Velázquez knows this, so he prefers to take the scenic route to planet terror, teasing the viewers gently before making their blood curdle in a cold puddle somewhere on the floor.

He achieves this by creating different moods that run the gamut of human emotions, with serene harmonies that lull into a happy sense of security before…BAM. The music turns schizo, turning the mood into one of sweaty, sour desperation.

Mission accomplished, as evidenced by the shivering wrecks that emerged out of cinemas as soon as the end credits of Mama started rolling.

If the trailers of Crimson Peak are anything to go by (so far a waltz and a super-creepy lullaby have been revealed), Velázquez once again uses music as timely punctuation to the dialogue, with an elegance that takes nothing away from the hair-standing-on-end factor.