Guillermo del Toro chooses to helm ghost story Crimson Peak as his next film!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The busiest of bees, Mr. Guillermo del Toro (seen above), has just committed to his next directorial effort. After a successful collaboration with Legendary Pictures on PACIFIC RIM, del Toro is sticking with the team to give us the lavish ghost story CRIMSON PEAK.  Check it…

Deadline has mined some sweet quotes from del Toro, who describes CRIMSON PEAK as “a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love, and at the same time subvert the old rules.”

I love it, especially when the “grand dames” of the genre, like THE HAUNTING and THE INNOCENTS, are invoked. Del Toro continues:

“To me that is Robert Wise’s The Haunting, which was a big movie, beautifully directed, with the house built magnificently. And the other grand daddy is Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’ve always tried to make big-sized horror movies like the ones I grew up watching,” del Toro said. “Films like The Omen, The Exorcist and The Shining, the latter of which is another Mount Everest of the haunted house movie. I loved the way that Kubrick had such control over the big sets he used, and how much big production value there was. 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.”

Turns out del Toro actually wrote CRIMSON PEAK (with frequent co-scribe Matthew Robbins) on spec right after PAN’S LABYRINTH, and even sold it to Universal. Then HELLBOY II came about, then THE HOBBIT, and before you know it, PACIFIC RIM.

Word is the Mexican filmmaker will do some rewrites with Lucinda Coxon on CRIMSON PEAK. Of course, del Toro has to finish PACIFIC RIM and then head into “The Strain” for FX, so it sounds as if an early 2014 production start is being eyed.

Still, del Toro back firmly in the horror genre? Gotta love that shite!