GUILLERMO Del Toro must have been raised on a steady diet of Hammer horror and gothic romance.
Crimson Peak (Cert 15; 119mins)
Every lush, florid moment of Crimson Peak seems to be communing with the spirits of Edgar Allan Poe, Daphne du Maurier, M.R. James and at least one of the Brontë sisters. The latest film from the maker of Pan’s Labyrinth feels as if it should be watched by a roaring log fire with a storm howling outside, a window occasionally flying open with the intensity of the wind, and a glass of whisky gulped down to calm your growing terror.
It may be completely ridiculous and leave no cliché of the genre unvisited but if you are in the mood for some opulent-looking melodrama then it is tremendous fun. Set at the turn of the 20th century Crimson Peak stars Mia Wasikowska as aspiring writer Edith Cushing (perhaps a tribute to Peter?). Swept off her feet by tall, dark and handsome Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), she starts a new life in the Lake District. Allerdale Hall is the kind of gloomy, decaying mansion that should send her running in the opposite direction but Edith is made of sterner stuff.
She has a vivid imagination and feels quite at home with ghost stories, so she is determined to stay despite warnings from kindly doctor Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam). The Mrs Danvers in this variation on Du Maurier’s Rebecca is Sharpe’s sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) who doesn’t exactly welcome her new sister-in-law with open arms or a generous heart.
She is as chilly as the first frost of winter and seems amused by Edith’s suggestion of a future that will be marked by “friendship, love and warmth”. Crimson Peak is soon unleashing everything you would expect from the haunted house genre from things that go bump in the night to dark forces that lie hidden in the shadows.
The very house seems to live and breathe, groan and creak. The set is bigger when Edith is scared and smaller when she is fearless so it can literally overwhelm her slight frame.
It also oozes a blood-red substance as it threatens to sink further into the clay mines that lie under its foundations. It has clearly been the site of some hideous events in the past that have neither been forgotten nor resolved and Edith might just be the key to ensuring that its occupants have a future. Crimson Peak looks an absolute picture.
The mansion is a set designer’s dream that grows and shrinks, intimidates or retreats like a hound uncertain whether to attack you or lick your hand.
The costumes are sumptuous and Del Toro goes big on special effects that conjure up all kinds of eye-popping demons. In truth, the plot is not the strongest element of Crimson Peak. What matters more is the suffocating atmosphere, the attention to detail and performances that do Del Toro the service of taking the material seriously.
There is so much in the film that would lend itself to a Mel Brooks-style spoof that everyone has to be on their best behaviour. Tom Hiddleston is perfectly cast as a suave, tormented matinée idol aristocrat in a film where the female roles are much more significant. Jessica Chastain plays the cruel, suffocating Lucille to the hilt and Mia Wasikowska provides stark contrast as a vision of loveliness and good sense.
The central trio ensure you remain happily caught in the web of Crimson Peak even as you hesitate between laughing at it and just enjoying the ride.
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| Pan: An exhausting, joyless mess |
Pan (Cert PG; 111mins)
Everyone tries way too hard to transform Pan into a rip-roaring family adventure and the result is an exhausting, joyless mess. This dark Peter Pan prequel takes many of the familiar J.M. Barrie characters and pointlessly transforms them into people you wouldn’t even recognise. Peter (Levi Miller) was abandoned by his mother as a baby and now resides in a wartime orphanage presided over by an evil nun played to excess by Kathy Burke.
Peter is whisked off to Neverland to serve as child labour for pirate Blackbeard, played by Hugh Jackman with the pasty face of a drug addict, the wardrobe of an Elizabethan monarch and the spirit of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow. The story drags on as Peter is identified as the chosen one who has come to save them all from the tyranny of Blackbeard.
The special effects are a throwback to the 1980s, the dialogue makes you wince and the whole film spectacularly misses the mark.
VERDICT: 2/5
The Lobster (Cert 15; 118mins)
Being single makes you a social outcast in The Lobster, an elaborate, absurdist dystopian satire that works best in moments of cruel, deadpan humour. In what appears to be the near future, single people are arrested and kept in a country house hotel that operates as if Fawlty Towers was being run by Franz Kafka.
The residents have to find a new mate within 45 days or they will be transformed into an animal of their choice. David (Colin Farrell) has been abandoned by his wife and takes his place in an establishment governed by strict rules and populated by individuals desperate to find love. The Lobster gets full marks for originality but wears out its welcome long before the end.
VERDICT: 3/5
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| The Program gives a vivid insight into the mind of Lance Armstrong, who wanted to win at all costs |
The Program (Cert 15; 103mins)
Cyclist Lance Armstrong has the dubious distinction of being the world’s most famous cheat. Stacking up Tour de France victories and presenting himself as the ultimate athlete and humanitarian, Armstrong fooled most of the people, most of the time.
The Program doesn’t tell us anything new but it does give a vivid insight into the mind of a man who wanted to win at all costs. John Hodge’s smart, economical screenplay careers through Armstrong’s decision to take performanceenhancing drugs, his battle with testicular cancer and the lengths he went to cover his tracks. It is an exciting piece of storytelling graced by a committed performance from Ben Foster who looks uncannily like Armstrong and conveys a chilling sense of his arrogance.
Armstrong has the ruthless determination of a Mafia boss when he vows to crush anyone who stands in his way, especially journalist David Walsh (Chris O’Dowd) who dared to suggest his success was built on lies. Walsh’s despair at the way cycling was ruined by Armstrong and the culture of doping makes him the hero of this compelling
Hotel Transylvania 2 (Cert U; 89mins)
It’s tough being a scary monster in Hotel Transylvania 2. Humans just want to take a selfie with you and Dracula (Adam Sandler) fears that his grandson might not even grow up to be a vampire. Overprotective softie Dracula has given his blessing to the wedding of his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) to a human, Johnny (Andy Samberg).
He is devoted to his grandson Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) but the lad has yet to grow a fang or fly the night skies. If the fangs don’t appear before his fifth birthday then all hope is gone. Hotel Transylvania 2 just isn’t as much fun as the original even with a cameo from Mel Brooks as Dracula’s grumpy dad Vlad.
VERDICT: 2/5
North v South (Cert 18; 96mins)
Romeo And Juliet gets a bruising British makeover in North v South, a low-budget gangland tale filled with stereotypical characters and scenery-chewing performances. Terry (Elliott Tittensor) and Willow (Charlotte Hope) are the star-crossed lovers trapped in the crossfire between rival criminal gangs.
The love story is the most conventional element in a film with a comic book sensibility.
VERDICT: 2/5
Censored Voices (NC; 84 mins)
In 1967, shortly after the end of the Six-Day War, Amos Oz and a group of young kibbutzniks taped a series of interviews with Israeli soldiers returning from battle. They talked honestly about feelings that ranged from triumph to disillusionment. The tapes were mostly suppressed.
Censored Voices allows them to be heard, adding perspective as the now elderly soldiers listen again to the rawness of their confessions. A sombre, thoughtprovoking documentary.
VERDICT: 3/5
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