A decade later, Crimson Peak remains Guillermo del Toro’s most misunderstood film

Looking at Universal Pictures marketed Crimson Peak, you can understand why audiences expected a much scarier film. The trailer sets up a paranormal horror story, emphasizing jump scares and the supernatural presence driving Edith to insanity. It’s an intriguing premise for a movie, but it’s also wildly removed from the actual plot of this one, which follows Edith Cushing as she marries English baronet Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), and the tragic romance that unfolds. Furthermore, Crimson Peak also has Del Toro’s name attached to it, and the filmmaker was well-established at the time as a horror master thanks to movies like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth — even if his last film before this one was the decidedly not scary sci-fi epic Pacific Rim.