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Tom Hiddleston Chills and Thrills in First Crimson Peak Trailer

Director Guillermo del Toro returns to Gothic horror, whilst his leading man Tom Hiddleston goes into full-on tall, dark and handsome stranger mode: it’s a fair to say a great many film fans have reason to be excited about ‘Crimson Peak,’ and this first trailer is sure to only boost that excitement.

Though this is a green-band trailer, we see straight away that (as expected) ‘Crimson Peak’ has already been rated R in the USA for ‘bloody violence, some sexual content and brief strong language,’ meaning a 15 certificate - or possibly even an 18 - are almost certain here in the UK.

For older fans of Guillermo del Toro, this may well be something of a relief. It’s been nine years since the director’s last adult-oriented film, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ and the almost-decade since has seen him produce two comparatively family-oriented films in ‘Hellboy II: the Golden Army’ and ‘Pacific Rim,’ sadly losing several years in the middle initially attached to direct ‘The Hobbit’ whilst legal issues prevented that film (or trilogy, as it turned out) from starting production.

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Given that ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ is widely regarded del Toro’s greatest work to date, it’s bold indeed to see this trailer declare ‘Crimson Peak’ to be “his ultimate masterpiece.” Clearly Universal and Legendary are not lacking for confidence on this one.

Mia Wasikowska stars as, in the words of the official synopsis, an “aspiring author (who) is torn between love for her childhood friend (Charlie Hunnam) and the temptation of a mysterious outsider (Hiddleston). Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds…and remembers.” Jessica Chastain also stars as the sister of Hiddleston’s character.

Beyond this fairly enigmatic summary, we don’t know a great deal about the plot of ‘Crimson Peak’ - which is probably a good thing. The trailer wisely plays its cards close to its chest, promising all manner of nightmarish weirdness without giving us enough to put the pieces together; meaning there should hopefully still be surprises aplenty in store once the film reaches screens.

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Del Toro, for his part, has long since described the film - which he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins and Lucinda Coxon - as “a ghost story and Gothic romance,” and has hinted at “kinky” content; and given that we get a glimpse Chastain’s character appearing to peek on her brother in bed with Wasikowska, there are definite hints of some potentially creepy sexual elements.

Perhaps above all else, it’s exciting to see Del Toro return to the more mature, character-based supernatural drama on which he made his name - and this time on a Hollywood blockbuster budget, as opposed to the somewhat smaller scale independent Spanish-language productions  of years gone by (‘Cronos,’ ‘The Devil’s Backbone,’ and of course ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’).

It’s also encouraging to see another upcoming major studio movie aiming for a mass audience with an R-rating attached. The huge commercial success of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and ‘Kingsman: the Secret Service’ is already prompting speculation that we might at last see a change in the wind, and that studios may no longer be so reticent to produce big budget R-rated films for fear of losing money.

If ‘Crimson Peak’ should prove a similar-sized hit, could del Toro’s long-awaited adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ (infamously aborted in 2011 over concerns about budget and rating) possibly be taken off the back-burner?

Either way, del Toro will next start work on the sequel to ‘Pacific Rim,’ due to start production this autumn before hitting screens on 7 April 2017. But before that, ’Crimson Peak’ hits cinemas on 16 October 2015.

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Picture Credit: Universal/Legendary