12 gothic horror movies to check out before (or after) you see Crimson Peak
The gothic novel dates back to the mid-1700s, but acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pacific Rim) has just reimagined the genre for 21st century sensibilities in his new film Crimson Peak, which opens today.
The story of the film has all the tropes of a typical gothic romance: A young woman (Mia Wasikowska) is whisked away by a mysterious handsome gentleman (Tom Hiddleston) to his foreboding mansion where a strange older woman -in this case the man’s sister (Jessica Chastain)- holds dominion over the home and its secrets. Although the advertising emphasizes the supernatural apparitions, audiences may be surprised in how foregrounded the love story is over the ghosts. As they say in the film, it’s not a ghost story, but rather a story with ghosts in it.
As a subgenre gothic subject matter has pervaded throughout film (Interview With the Vampire, The Shining, The Woman in Black), television (“Dark Shadows,” “Penny Dreadful,” “Hellsing”), comics (The Secrets of Sinister House, Tomb of Dracula, Creepy), music (Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, The Cure) and gaming (Castlevania, Ravenloft, Bloodborne). With Crimson Peak del Toro has breathed new life into it, and those who want a crash course in the subgenre can check out the above mentioned or dig deep into the prime cuts which we explore in detail within the gallery below! Included is a quote from the star Mia Wasikowska herself where she reveals which film she thinks has the most DNA in common with del Toro’s.
12 Gothic Horrors to Watch Before You See Crimson Peak
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Rebecca (1940)
Author Daphne du Murier's work was a direct influence on Crimson Peak, and add in master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock and you have the recipe for one of the most enduring haunted love stories of all-time. Now, when we say "haunted" we mean more in a psychological sense than a literal one, yet the metaphorical ghost of the first Mrs. De Winter definitely weighs heavily on the mind of the second, as played by Joan Fontaine. Her brooding new husband Maximilian (Laurence Olivier), his sprawling Manderley estate and a severe housekeeper named Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) all hold a terrible secret that will not go away.
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Dragonwyck (1946)
Along with Wuthering Heights this old Hollywood production is one of the major films del Toro has name-dropped as having influenced his new picture. Like Crimson Peak, Dragonwyck was not a B-picture but a classy affair produced by the legendary Daryl Zanuck and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve). It marked one of the first leading roles for Vincent Price, playing a wealthy land baron who falls in love with his cousin (Gene Tierney), a lowly farmer's daughter. He whisks her away from her religious parents to a life of luxury in a foreboding mansion, shortly after which Price's wife conveniently dies, making way for a new bride. There is only the slightest hint of a ghostly element to the film, although that presence is felt throughout with only a painting and an overarching sense of foreboding to inspire the dread
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The Innocents (1961)
In my interview with Mia Wasikowska for Crimson Peak she specifically referenced this film as the one she would most recommend for film fans to watch to get them in the right groove.
"I absolutely love the book it's based on, 'The Turn of the Screw,' and at the end of it you're not sure which perspective is the right one… You've lost your sense of reality," Wasikowska said.
Jack Clayton's film itself is truly terrifying, with Deborah Kerr as a governess in charge of two children who seem to have a preternatural connection with spirits who dwell within their large country estate. The cinematography by Freddie Francis creates a truly eerie atmosphere that grips you from frame one and does not let go until the final shocking scenes.
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Curse of the Crying Woman (1961)
Our list dedicated to one of the great Mexican directors' new film wouldn't be complete without an actual movie from Mexico! This B-picture has everything: An eyeless phantom witch woman, ookie spooky fog-drenched atmosphere, a pack of demon dogs, as well as deaths by stabbing, strangling, mauling and a little girl run over by a carriage… and that's only in the first 3-minutes! This decidedly gothic take on the La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman") legend focuses on a young lady and her husband who travel to her aunt's menacing/decrepit country estate only to realize far too late that they've been lured there for dark business indeed.
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The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
Perhaps it's no coincidence that Guillermo del Toro lent his voice to narrating this classic 1842 Edgar Allen Poe story in the upcoming animated omnibus Extraordinary Tales, as it has so many elements he loves like dungeons, mechanical terrors and Spanish tyranny. However, Roger Corman's 1961 adaptation barely uses any of the source material, only the title swinging slice-o-matic. Vincent Price plays a man haunted by his father's evil deeds and the death of his wife (Barbara Steele). The moment when her buried-alive body is discovered with a rictus scream was referred to by Stephen King in "Danse Macabre" as "the most important moment in the post-1960 horror film, signaling a return to an all-out effort to terrify the audience."
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Kiss of the Vampire (1963)
England's Hammer Studios virtually cornered the market on fog juice when they produced countless gothic horror films throughout the 1960s and into the '70s. Although this one includes neither Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing nor any recognizable name-brand monsters, it does have all the trademarks that made Hammer great: A spooky castle, superstitious locals, heaving bosoms and lots of day-glow bright-red blood. It concerns a newlywed couple (Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel) that stumbles across an incestuous vampire cult in early 20th-century Bavaria. If that doesn't peak your interest than we don't know what will!
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Nightmare Castle (1965)
Although Mario Bava's cult classic Black Sunday put her on the map, it was the string of blatant rip-offs which cemented Barbara Steele's legacy as the saucer-eyed queen of the B's in the 1960s. While neither the best or even the most competent of these Bava knock-offs (see Antonio Margheriti's The Long Hair of Death if you want quality), Nightmare Castle is the most blunt and shocking of its ilk. It revolves around a deranged scientist who murders his cheating raven-haired wife (Steele) with both acid and electricity (!), and then marries her nearly identical blonde sister to get an inheritance and blood in order to rejuvenate his elderly assistant into a young sexpot. The assistant character bears a striking resemblance in both purpose and look to Jessica Chastain's character in Crimson Peak, as does the heroic doctor who comes to Steele's rescue have a similarity to Charlie Hunnam's heroic doctor who comes to Mia Wasikowska's rescue.
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Kill, Baby, Kill (1966)
From his earliest short student films Guillermo del Toro has been a devout acolyte of the church of Mario Bava. The oversaturated colors and virtuoso camerawork that were the Italian maestro's trademark are also del Toro's, and one need only look at the bleeding reds and greens and blues in Crimson Peak to see that stylized influence at work. Kill, Baby, Kill is one of several gothic works by Bava, along with Black Sunday and The Whip and the Body, though this 1966 effort features a creepy little dead blonde girl whose ghostly visage was taken by Fellini for his "Toby Dammit" segment in Spirits of the Dead, represented as the guise of Satan in Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, and is a spitting image of Mia Wasikowska's childhood self in Crimson Peak.
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Kuroneko (1968)
Gothic horror is gothic horror, whether it's wearing a corset or a kimono. In this Japanese take on a ghost story the fog is as heavy as the dramatic tension when Yone (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law Shige (Kiwako Taichi) are raped and killed by a despicable group of marauding soldiers. The two return as spirits who tantalize the soldiers-turned-samurai into following them to their secluded burnt-down house, then killing them by biting out their throats like cats. When the son/husband returns from battle he is given the task of eliminating the evil spirits, but when he realizes who they are he is conflicted by having to choose between honor and (undead) family.
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Gothic (1986)
Mary Shelley is referenced verbally by Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) during an early scene in Crimson Peak as something of a maverick role model for her aspirations as a budding author. Ken Russell's 1986 film tells a fictionalized version of the famous real-life event during the summer of 1816 when Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) invited Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley (Natasha Richardson and Julian Sands) and Dr. John William Polidori (Timothy Spall) to stay at his Swiss Villa and trade ghost stories. From out of these sessions birthed Mary's "Frankenstein" and John's "The Vampyre" (which in turn inspired Bram Stoker's "Dracula") thus giving birth to modern horror as we know it! Of course, the movie's proceedings leave room for Russell's typical surreal dream sequences and explorations of raw sexuality.
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Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
When it comes to sumptuous production design in a horror film, the gold standard is still Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 epic adaptation of the crowning work of vampire literature. Unlike the Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee or Frank Langella versions, Coppola chose to emphasize the romantic elements of Count Dracula over the bloodthirsty-ness, with Gary Oldman portraying the most famous Transylvanian as an almost Shakespearean tragic hero. Roman Coppola's practical, in-camera visual FX work and Eiko Ishioka's striking costumes make this a timeless experience, even though many of the story elements were cribbed from Dan Curtis's 1973 TV production of the book.
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Stoker (2013)
Another Mia Wasikowsa flick is in order, especially since her gothic work with del Toro, Tim Burton and Jim Jarmusch has her slowly becoming the living embodiment of an Edward Gorey drawing. As it was, the current corset queen got to wear modern garb for this southern gothic directed by a Korean (Chan-Wook Park) and starring two Australians (Wasikowska and Nicole Kidman) and a Brit (Matthew Goode). The mildly telekinetic bond between niece and uncle is the only supernatural element in the film, although the dangerously unhinged emotional states of all three main characters creates a very twisted family dynamic that del Toro would no doubt appreciate.
