Crimson Peak: 10 Things To Look Forward To
2. A Subtle Nod To The Classics
If a lot of what is being revealed about Crimson Peak rings a distant bell, it’s because del Toro just loves referencing the literary classics.
The director grew up on a steady diet of gothic romance and horror. The genres, he says, can be mixed and matched – for which, read turned on their heads – in order to create something completely different.
Crimson Peak takes its cues from the likes of Sheridan Le Fanu’s ghosts, which possess the same realism that del Toro likes to imbue his own monsters with.
The intricacies of 19th century family relationships among American aristocrats are reminiscent of Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence – a fact that is also reflected in the choice of name for the film’s main character. Henry James and his Turn of the Screw also come in for an honourable mention, but only in so far as gothic setting and atmosphere is concerned. The ambiguities that the American writer is known for will not be making an appearance. The visuals that have already been revealed leave no doubt that Crimson Peak’s ghosts do not reside solely in the imagination of the humans.