Director and co-writer Guillermo del Toro said that this was “a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. I think people are getting used to horror subjects done as found footage or B-value budgets. I wanted this to feel like a throwback.”

He succeeded as this feels so close to the gothic Italian films I love, as well as parts of Hammer along the way, as heiress and author Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) continually is visited by spirits who carry warnings of Crimson Peak, even in her childhood.

As she becomes an adult, she falls in love with English baronet Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), an inventor who is trying to revive the fortunes of his family’s clay mine. Her father thinks something is wrong with Thomas and his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain), so he pays them to leave the country, but not before Mr. Cushing is murdered. Sharpe takes her to England and his home, located above the clay mines, a place where the red dirt and snow combine to make a bloody canvas for a foreboding home. Meanwhile, Edith leaves behind Dr. Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam), who follows her to England to save her from the Sharpes.

Working with writers Matthew Robbins and an uncredited Lucinda Coxon, del Toro aims for a big movie here and succeeds. I watch this at least twice a year and am always so pleased with its scope and substance. The story of doomed romance and a deranged family is one that I return to for comfort, marveling at the colors and tones of this, wishing that more filmmakers would find inspiration in films like The Haunting. Nothing compares to seeing this on a real movie screen, just sitting in the dark savoring each moment yet I try to recapture that feeling with each watch.

Crimson Peak is a movie that I have been waiting for a company to make a UHD release of and I’m so excited that Arrow Video did it. As always, you get an incredible package that goes beyond just a stunning looking version of the movie, but also a massive amount of extras. They include audio commentary by co-writer and director Guillermo del Toro; The House is Alive: Constructing Crimson Peak, a feature-length documentary with cast and crew interviews and extensive behind the scenes footage; a Spanish language interview with del Toro; four featurettes exploring different aspects of Allerdale Hall; A Primer on Gothic Romance, a featurette with the director and stars talk about the key traits of Gothic romance; The Light and Dark of Crimson Peak, featuring the cast and crew discussing the use of color in this movie; Hand Tailored Gothic, a featurette on the film’s striking costumes; A Living Thing, a look at the design, modeling and construction of the Allerdale Hall sets; Beware of Crimson Peak, which has Tom Hiddleston giving a walking tour around Allerdale Hall; Crimson Phantoms, a featurette on the film’s amazing ghosts; Kim Newman on Crimson Peak and the Tradition of Gothic Romance and Violence and Beauty in Guillermo del Toro’s Gothic Fairy Tale Films by Kat Ellinger. There are also deleted scenes, an image gallery, and original trailers and TV spots.

It all comes inside limited edition packaging designed by Crimson Peak concept artist Guy Davis, which includes a double-sided, fold-out poster, four double-sided postcards and a limited edition 80-page, hard-bound book featuring writing by David Jenkins and Simon Abrams, an archival interview with Guillermo del Toro and original conceptual design illustrations by artists Guy Davis and Oscar Chichoni.

Crimson Peak is one of the films that I can point to as being one of the best movies made this century. I’m beyond overjoyed to have this fabulous release in my collection to celebrate it.

You can get the limited 4K UHD on the Arrow site and the blu ray release from MVD.