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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) (2015)

Crimson Peak (Blu-ray) (2015)

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Released 25-Feb-2016

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Audio Commentary-Co-writer/director Guillermo del Toro
Deleted Scenes-x 5
Featurette-I Remember Crimson Peak
Featurette-A Primer on Gothic Romance (5:36)
Featurette-The Light and Dark of Crimson Peak(7:53)
Featurette-Hand Tailored Gothic (8:58)
Featurette-A Living Thing (12:11)
Featurette-Beware of Crimson Peak (7:51)
Featurette-Crimson Phantoms (7:02)
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2015
Running Time 118:43
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Guillermo Del Toro
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring Mia Wasikowska
Tom Hiddleston
Jessica Chastain
Charlie Hunnam
Jim Beaver



Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI ? Music Fernando Velazquez


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 7.1
English dts 2.0
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish dts 5.1
French dts 5.1
German dts 5.1
Italian dts 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
English Audio Commentary
Spanish
Spanish Audio Commentary
German Audio Commentary
Italian
Italian Audio Commentary
French
French Audio Commentary
Portuguese
Arabic
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
Hindi
Icelandic
Norwegian
Swedish
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is a modern young woman in Buffalo, N.Y. in 1901. Edith has aspirations to become a novelist which are encouraged by her father Carter Cushing (Jim Beaver), a wealthy industrialist. Edith certainly does have a lively imagination and she believes she has been visited by the ghost of her mother, who had died 14 years previously, a claim which interests her friend and potential suitor Dr Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam). But when penniless British aristocrat Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and his sister Lady Lucille Sharpe (Jessica Chastain) come to Buffalo hoping to interest Mr Cushing in investing in a machine Thomas has invented to mine the red clay under the Sharpe family estate in Cumberland, England, Edith is swept off her feet by Thomas’ charm and good looks and falls in love. Mr Cushing suspects, correctly, that Thomas is wooing Edith for the money and hires a private detective, Mr Holly, (Burn Gorman), to investigate the Sharpes’ past. Holly finds a secret which forces Mr Cushing to confront Thomas and Lucille and demand that they leave Buffalo. But the next morning Mr Cushing is killed by an unknown assailant.

     Edith and Thomas marry and we next see them arriving at Allerdale Hall, the Sharpe family home in Cumberland in a flat, barren and bleak landscape. Allerdale Hall is a large and imposing Gothic mansion which has fallen into decay because of a lack of money for upkeep; there are holes in the roof which allow leaves and snow to fall into the interior, the walls are damp and cracked and the house is sinking into the red clay beneath it. It is a dark and gloomy house which clearly holds some terrible secrets as Edith almost immediately starts seeing the red, skeletal phantoms of women. Edith also finds possessions belonging to other Mrs Sharpes in the red clay basement of the house; the question is from whom is Edith in more danger, the dead, or the living?

     Guillermo del Toro is an interesting and flexible director. He is equally at home with big, noisy blockbusters, such as Hellboy (2004 / 2008) or Pacific Rim (2013), as he is with supernatural / horror stories such as Cronos (1993) or Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). In either mode, however, del Toro has always been an intensively visual director and Crimson Peak is no exception as it has some of the most lustrous and dazzling images on screen you are likely to see. For example, the extras on this Blu-ray show how the Allerdale Hall sets were designed and built for real, the attention to detail inside the gloomy house intended to reflect the psyche of the Sharpes. The result is a film that is beautifully shot by Dan Laustsen, with a depth of frame that is exquisite, especially when the white snowflakes float down into the gloomy interior. Colour is also central to del Toro’s vision; the red of the ghosts and the clay vats, the dark colours of Lucille’s dresses which blend into the house as opposed to the white or vibrant yellow / gold dresses of Edith which stand out stunningly against the dark house interiors are intended to visually show the differences between the minds of Edith and Lucille. Del Toro has mentioned that he was influenced by the colour schemes of Italian giallo master Mario Bava and his use of deep, saturated greens, oranges and reds suggests this is very much so.

     The acting by the three principal characters is also compelling. Tom Hiddleston is very Heathcliffian with his black clothing, pale, intense, mysterious and charming, Mia Wasikowska makes Edith’s journey of discovery and self-revelation believable while Jessica Chastain adds to her resume a very controlled character with an incredible intensity which is lurking just below the surface which can, and does, explode abruptly.

     Crimson Peak is a horror story and a ghost story which includes its share of tension, scares and frights. It is also a mystery and a thriller but it is primarily a beautifully shot love story, where everything done, even the blackest deeds, is because of love, not greed or hate.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Crimson Peak is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     In a word, stunning. The minute detail of the costumes and sets is clear, the blacks are deep and shadow detail wonderful allowing every dark corner of the house to be seen. While the Buffalo scenes have a bright, yellowish hue, the Allendale house interiors are very dark, with dark wood, dark greens and steely blues and blacks, so that the bright colours of Edith’s yellow or white dresses, the red / yellow of the fire or the red clay stand out without any colour bleed. The exteriors of the snow are also a dazzling white. There are no marks, noise reduction or other artefacts on show.

     Subtitles are available in a wide range of European languages, plus Arabic and Hindi. There are also English, Spanish, German, French and Italian subtitles for the audio commentary.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Feature audio options are English DTS:X 7.1 which defaults to a DTS-HD MA 7.1 plus Spanish, German, French, Italian DTS 5.1 and English DTS 2.0 Headphone. The commentary track is English Dolby Digital 2.0 while there is also an English and French audio track for the vision impaired (Dolby Digital 2.0).

     I am not yet set up for 7.1 but even with my 5.1 the audio is impressive. Dialogue was clean and centred while the rears and surrounds provided the loud noises such as rain, thunder, automobile engines and phantoms but also added the more subtle creaks and groans of the house, as well as the ticking of clocks or the drip of water. The sub-woofer was utilised very effectively for the beat of industrial machinery, the thunder and the rumble of phantoms.

     The orchestral score by Fernando Velazquez is lush and romantic, beautifully augmenting the visuals.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     The majority of the individual featurettes start with a text quote by del Toro that is relevant to the featurette, for example “In horror, the haunted mansion is Sentient and Evil. In Gothic, it is a manifestation of the characters’ psyche and decay”. You then click on a key to continue to the featurette.

Deleted Scenes (4:26)

     There are five deleted scenes; a “Play All” option is available. They are short linking scenes and it is easy to see where they fit into the film. None are essential but most are interesting enough. The scenes are:

I Remember Crimson Peak

     Four individual sections about parts of the set, each with film and on-set footage and del Toro having conversations with the principal cast members. Matters covered included the design and the purpose of the set in the overall scheme of the film. These are interesting and informative. The sections are:

A Primer on Gothic Romance (5:36)

     Guillermo del Toro and different cast members discuss the differences and connections between horror, Gothic romance, the supernatural and fairy tales. Includes line drawings and film footage.

The Light and Dark of Crimson Peak(7:53)

     The use of colours to distinguish the two different locations in which the film is set. On-set footage and comments by the director, costume designer, set decorator, production designer and cast members.

Hand Tailored Gothic (8:58)

     How the colours, design and texture of the costumes reflect the characters’ journey, emphasise the differences between Edith and Lucille and how the costumes mirror the architecture. Drawings, on-set footage and comments by costumer designer Kate Hawley, a producer, the director and various cast members.

A Living Thing (12:11)

     An interesting look at the designing and the building of the house as a practical set, including drawings, scale models and construction. With comments by the director, cast, two producers, set decorator and production designer Tom Saunders.

Beware of Crimson Peak (7:51)

     Tom Hiddleston takes us on a tour of the various rooms of the house set, with additional on-set footage shot during the filming of scenes.

Crimson Phantoms (7:02)

     A decent look at the designing, modelling, making-up and shooting of the phantoms, mixing physical effects and CGI. Additional comments by the director, cast and the make-up supervisors.

Feature Commentary with Guillermo del Toro

     Co-writer/director Guillermo del Toro is an engaging, open speaker who talks about his intentions, his inspirations, the film’s motifs, its genre, visual style, the importance of colours, strong female characters, the music, costumes and the sound mix, the production design. Crimson Peak is a very personal film for director del Toro and this is a detailed and informative commentary track that adds to our understanding of this complex film.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region Free US Blu-ray of Crimson Peak has the same extras but less subtitle and audio options.

Summary

     Crimson Peak is Guillermo del Toro insisting that the film is a Gothic romance, not horror. Whatever the genre, it is an exquisitely made, stunningly beautiful film and del Toro proves, once again, that he is a master storyteller and visual stylist. One can only speculate what he might have done with The Hobbit!

     The video is superb, the audio almost as good. The extras are extensive and genuine, resulting in an excellent Blu-ray package.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE