Crimson Peak - C+

Rated R, 110 minutes

If you like old-school horror flicks mixed with some blood and chills, then the creepy new Guillermo del Toro movie "Crimson Peak" is for you. The acclaimed director of "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Blade" returns for a more traditional, old-fashioned horror movie with loads of style, creepiness and a stellar cast. Set in Cumbria, in a crumbling mansion in a largely rural and mountainous region of northern England in the late 19th century, young author Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) falls in love and marries Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) but then discovers that her charming new husband is not who he appears to be. His home harbors ghostly, mysterious entities, which he and his sister, Lady Lucille Sharpe (Jessica Chastain), desperately and fiercely try to hide. Directed by del Toro and co-written by he and Matthew Robbins ("Mimic"), the stylish "Crimson Peak" is a lavish, upscale that's much more story-driven, and while filled with a few scattered chills, it's less jumpy and disturbing than most del Toro efforts and heavier on the creepiness factor. On that note, "Crimson Peak" is indeed plot-heavy, with a slower, plodding first act until it picks up some steam in the later chapters, when it begins to unravel and take more shape, with some interesting tea and big knives. Those del Toro fan boys expecting the scares or blood and guts from "Blade," "Hellboy" or even the aforementioned "Pan's Labyrinth" might be a little disappointed, though del Toro still crafts some decent chills, and filled with his usual first-rate visuals, production design and dark but lush photography from acclaimed cinematographer Fernando Velazquez ("Mama," "The Impossible"). It also features convincing work from the well-cast Wasikowska and especially Chastain, who continues to impress in a variety of different parts, this her second horror film collaboration with del Toro (the first was the solid del Toro-produced outing "Mama") and a role that isn't her usual heroine. The stylish, brooding "Crimson Peak" isn't del Toro at his scariest and he draws it out too long here, but it's still worth a look for a handful of chills.