Guillermo Del Toro may soon become the king of flash over substance.

“Crimson Peak,” directed by Del Toro and starring Mia Wasikowska and Tom Hiddleston, barely succeeds to tell a romantic gothic tale.

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Sometime in the 20th century, a writer falls in love with a mysterious, English heir to an oil company. She soon learns the heir and his sister are hiding a grave secret which may end in her death.

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Del Toro has always been great at creating monsters and creepy settings. This is the man who brought the world fantastic creature films like “Hellboy” and “Pans Labyrinth.” He was not going to disappoint on a passion project like “Crimson Peak.”

This world is a wonderful too, and a lot of detail went into its gothic ambience. It even seeps into the story of the film, making characters and plot points more enjoyable.

The plot seems simple and overdone. Girl meets boy, boy has dark secret, girl fights for her life, similar to the trashy “The Perfect Guy” from earlier this year. Del Toro makes it his own, getting by on just his voice.

He misses with the overall script, something he tends to struggle with.

Del Toro has gone on record to say he hates writing regular characters, preferring to write monsters instead, and it is evident in this character piece. 

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Main character Edith, played by Wasikowska, comes off as simple and stupid at times. Obvious signs of danger are right in front of her face, but she choose to ignore them for no reasonable reason.

She ends up being a individual you hate instead of connecting with.

Stars: 3 out of 5