Friday's Festivities

I decided to take a small break from writing the last two days. I did see Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak in the theaters Friday night after some grub with the misses thanks to mom’s keeping the kids. Looked great, with a sociopathic Chastain as a type of “Blood Baroness”, sister to an English engineer (and toy maker in his youth) hoping to get the right amount of capital to fund his “clay digging machine”, seducing the daughter of a builder in New York as the city (and country) was building into something substantial (still dirt without decent roads, and the mode of transportation was the early Fords and horse-and-buggy if you weren’t so fortunate to have the financial means to buy one of those motorized contraptions). 

The builder is murdered savagely by someone who bashes his face into a sink, breaking a ceramic piece from it! The daughter is left alone, and being in love with the engineer, leaves the country to his home at Allerdale Hall, a crumbling castle that is sinking into the “crimson clay ground” it stands upon, and is in dire need of repairs and renovation (there’s a hole in its roof as leaves, moths, and snow fall right in the middle of the entrance floor, with walls peeling its paper, rust overtaking the pipes, age corrupting the furnishings, walls, and structure). In other words, Allerdale is a Gothic horror fan’s dream. The cellar holds a gruesome secret, and a rickety elevator leads to it. Oh, yeah, Allerdale also has ghosts, ghoulish blood-red skeletal uglies that seem to be trying to communicate with the heroine, Edith, on how her husband—or, more specifically, his sister—was somehow either a reason behind their presence or a direct reason why they are still not among the living. Even before she left her home in New York, her deceased mom (she is black, unlike the red crimson of the ghosts in Allerdale) was telling her to “beware the Crimson Peak” (nickname for the hill the Allerdale Hall rests upon). 

The Gothic trappings are absolute eye candy, but the content, particularly the heroine’s questionably idiotic behavior at times when all signs point to her being poisoned (Chastain’s Lucile is never once *not* sinister or suspicious in her personality and behavior), is rather frustrating at times. Like when Edith goes back for her husband even after so much is exposed to her, or how she is almost willing to sign the estate document to her husband even after his sister has committed some abhorrent deeds prior to this: Edith proves to be a rather exhausting character due to moments of downright stupid actions that could possibly cost her dearly.

------

The Gallows was not the worst film of 2015 as some horror fans seem to believe and voice loudly, but I still can’t say it was any great shakes. It was just kind of mediocre with a rather stupid conclusion. I think it was the way this character of Charlie, a kid who dies accidentally during a play when a noose actually hangs him on a prop gallows rig. He wasn’t supposed to even play this character: he was a replacement to someone else who ditched the play at the last minute. Charlie was supposed to play…the hangman executioner. This was 1993…take the film to 2013, and the play, The Gallows, is being resurrected. 

This time a dedicated girl named Pfeifer spearheads the play’s re-emergence, with a former football star named Reese taking the drama lead for a credit, much to the mockery of the jocks he once associated with. Ryan is the chief *antagonist* of the film, an obnoxious prick who loves to clown around (using tasteless jokes about Charlie at points, like how Reese shouldn’t *choke* on stage, and harassing the stage hands with nerd insults and pranks like throwing a football at someone’s head) and question why his buddy Reese would demean himself with theater. This mentality is not something Ryan keeps quiet: Ryan loves to point out the fact that the theater is occupied and for a bunch of losers. I couldn’t tell you how happy I was to see him pulled away by Charlie and that hangman’s noose…a noose for a nuisance. Cassidy is Ryan’s hot blonde cheerleader girlfriend who wants to tag along with him when he convinces Reese to go into the school theater at night through a door with a bum lock to destroy the stage and props “to get out of making a serious mistake in a worthless play”. The three of them do just that…go into the theater to destroy the play, by knocking over or destroying props. However, they meet Pfeifer in the hall just outside of the auditorium, with Reese having to find a way to smooth talk her into believing there’s no funny business involved. 

Soon all four are trapped inside with even the door that couldn’t lock closed shut. Charlie emerges as a specter with a hangman’s noose and uses it to drag each victim away for a supernatural lynching. The first two are easy to guess…Cassidy’s victimization is in all the trailers so her fate is no surprise. Ryan is such an asshole (when a stage hand gets even with him through the use of a rope backstage is a nicely comic moment that leaves the douchebag with a bruised ego; he doesn’t know how to take it but can give it dutifully) you know Charlie can’t wait to kill his ass. His fate is rather interesting as it starts with a trip off a ladder after purposely mocking the specter. A broke leg and an isolation from the others results in his cell phone capturing ole Charlie paying him a special visit. Reese learns a secret about the kid from ’93 who skipped out on the play and it ties him to Charlie. Pfeifer…well there’s a reason she is so enthusiastic and excited about the reawakening of the play.

 I can say I almost seen this in the theater and saved 9 bucks because this really wasn’t all that worthwhile and probably should have made it directly to the dvd/blu market along with other films of its ilk (that are actually better). It has a striking red color hue during its most memorable sequence…Cassidy’s fate which was shown to audiences for free in trailers throughout its build to theaters. Reese is an okay guy but his willingness to go the stage to destroy the play indicates he’s no saint. Pfeifer, well she reveals a darker side of herself that Reese will be witness to in the worst way. Charlie’s name shouldn’t be said, this film continues to inform us. Maybe, stay away from the stage…a certain stage notorious for an accidental hanging. You never know when Charlie might be around to repeat his true performance…the performance robbed him that night when he took a different role not intended for him.

The use of a recording camera and phone camera as separate sources to capture isolated events is clever and innovative but truthfully I found this to be a bit of a bore. It just never is really that exciting. That and the ending is just a bit too much in how it wants to be the kind of *gotcha* twist with Pfeifer and Charlie, and a visit to a home by cops, with it all just hard to swallow...it gets hung in the throat. Get it, hung in the throat. Yeah, about as witty as the twist.