‘Crimson Peak’ Director Guillermo del Toro on the Film’s ‘Real Monster’

Crimson Peak writer/director Guillermo del Toro is a master of all things dark and scary. He’s spent his life finding the beauty in darkness and death, then doing his best to share those findings with his audiences in the form of visually beautiful films with deeply disturbing plots.

The connoisseur of the macabre does just this in his latest movie, Crimson Peak. With an impressive cast including Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam and Jim Beaver, del Toro transports audiences back to the creepy days of haunted house thrills that give you a House on Haunted Hill meets Jane Eyre vibe.

The horror master chatted with The Wrap about his upcoming work of art, touching on the film’s true genre, who (or what) the real monster is in this movie and more.

On the film’s real monster

“…the house is a creature. The house is a monster. That’s the key to the movie, in a way, because the real monsters in the movie are not Lucille and Tom [Chastain and Hiddleston]. It’s the family that built that house – that arrogant spirit, the horrible mother, the absent father. Those are the real monsters.”

On the inspiration behind Crimson Peak

“It started eight or nine years ago, after “Pan’s Labyrinth.” We wrote it as a spec, Matthew Robbins and I, because it came from a lifelong fascination with Gothic romance. The fact is, a lot of people confuse horror and Gothic romance. But the flavor of it, the combination of love and death, horror and beauty, is so unique. I’ve been a collector of Gothic romance novels and stories all my life, and I wanted to make one before I croaked.”

On the state of horror in Hollywood today

“…the genre used to be very varied. You had James Whale doing “Frankenstein,” of course, but you had also B-movie products. You had crazy, risky jewels like “Freaks” by Todd Browning, or insane independent movies like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” You had a range. I think that we have somewhat narrowed that range. Commerce says it’s better to just make a little investment that you have a good chance of recouping. But the language of the genre has languished.”

Crimson Peak premieres in theaters everywhere this Friday, October 16th.

Photo Credit: Legendary/Universal Pictures