Trailer: Del Toro Returns to Small-Scale Fantasy in Crimson Peak

While it’s a bit of a stretch to call Pacific Rim a true departure from Guillermo Del Toro’s aesthetic style, that movie, which came out in 2013, was the largest, riskiest endeavor of his entire career. He made a valiant attempt to match a budget the size of Massachusetts with the unique vision of his earlier films, the result a creature feature featuring creatures the size of cities and a color palette belonging in a European rave. By no means was this movie a failure, critically or financially, but it wasn’t the, er, peak of the Del Toro way.

His staunchest followers have no doubt been waiting for him to return to the other side of his ambitious self, reflective of the first HellBoy and the masterful Pan’s Labyrinth. Que Crimson Peak, a full tilt horror-fantasy more concerned with bubbling id and ego than rumbling iron and flesh. And ghosts. There’s going to be a lot of ghosts. If anything, this movie should erase all memory of that terrible Eddie Murphy stumbler Haunted Mansion. Here’s the first trailer for Crimson Peak:

With a cast of A-listers that people never remember to list and the words “Comes His Ultimate Masterpiece” splayed across the screen, there’s enormous potential for another classic from the unique director-writer. Pan’s Labyrinth may never be topped. You’ve got to give him credit for trying.

And before you go all knee-jerk on the so-so ghost CGI, remember two things. First, the CGI in a trailer is rarely the finished material, as has been exemplified over and over again in recent years. Second, Del Toro almost resents believability, and it’s the viewer that fully embraces the thing that doesn’t quite fit in the image that gets the most out of his movies. What you’re getting here is a mixture.