Why is it that every character Tom Hiddleston plays, he has the genuine ability of making you loathe and love him equally?

I love Mr Hiddleston...in more than the fangirl way...okay I will admit that I fan over Loki harder than most of the army combined. However, the man is truly a creatives muse. He is the type of person I love to listen to, his love of character is an integral part of his success, and I genuinely admire the man. He speaks openly and truthfully, with feeling and depth about his passions, and in the next heartbeat he sings and laughs and joyfully licks back with the rest of us. A man who seizes joy is a wise man indeed.

So, I will openly admit that the main fuelling desire to go see Crimson Peak was because of Tom Hiddleston. The other is with my flirtation with a ghost story that's been crawling under the surface of my imaginative soul for awhile now - more about that later.

So, out I set with my younger brother (oh the irony) who is a preforming arts student and just loves a good scare. We bought our tickets and obligatory overpriced nachos and malteasers (it was an extremely taxing decision, magic stars or malteasers, it was a heavy burden). We ooo'd and aaah'd at the various movie posters, and cracked Marvel and Loki jokes the whole way to our seats. At this stage, my brother - whom I adore with all my heart and cannot express in words how his bright little soul is just a miracle - turns to me and pierces me with terrified eyes;

"Sis...I am totally shittin-a-brick!"

Well I never said he was eloquent, or that we are even alike, but he is pretty direct with his descriptions.

"You are a six foot wuss...if you scream like a lady I am disowning you."

And, I never said I was particularly comforting...but we have a sort of antagonistic yet humorous relationship. It works, we enjoy confusing others with our theatrics. So, here we are bravely facing a supposed horror flick, when neither of us are particularly good with spooky goings on. I grew up in a big, creaky, groaning, house, at the top of a long lane in the middle of the woods in Ireland. I know of several traumatic deaths that happened in those lands, my grandfather found headstones once, and I was always convinced the old place was haunted. So Crimson Peak was striking an all to familiar chord with me.

Needless to say I was engrossed from the opening line...'Ghosts are Real.' Said in that airy voice of our introspective heroine...Edith Cushing.

Edith Cushing is a fabulous example of a typical "strong" female leading character. She is confident, and boldly embraces her uniqueness and what sets her apart from others. That difference is her love of the written word, she wants to be a writer. She plainly prefers the company of her books than the outside shallow glamour of her social climbing world. She has an outward disdain for class and boldly rings the bell for her feminism in a mans 1900s world. Yet, that is her greatest flaw and weakness and Del Toro really exploits that. That which is commonly used to lead the generic audience into pining those traits as a desirable "strong" woman, slowly fade in the face of a thief in the dark....love.

''Love makes monsters of us all." - Lady Lucille Sharpe

Yes, well love has many forms...not all of them good. When love is taken and twisted beyond its natural state it can become dark and deadly...a desperate weapon that slowly kills both the victim and those that wield that horrifically disfigured love. And all this, I believe, is the true horror in this movie. Not the groaning ghosts, or decaying mansion, nor the gory scenes or the Crimson blood like clay that drips from everything...but the horror of misshapen love.

Thomas Sharpe is truly tragic...appearing to the audience as the obvious charismatic fiend, who shall manipulate and possess Edith for his gains...because he is only a glossy mask for a despicable creature. Yet, for all the truth in that assumption, the creature behind the mask is merely the pawn of a much more heinous being. Thomas is afraid, and even the slightest bit lost, and his loyalty to Lucille is entirely tested when Edith takes more of a hold on him than he expected.

That hold was not her "strong" feminism, nor her brisk and confident nature...but her innocence. She loves Thomas and that innocent and accepting love breaks a character down. The naivety of a young girl who willingly accepts the flaws of this man, and encourages his dreams and believes in him when no-one else did before...well this is the most disarming tactic anyone can employ. For I have found, that people, draw such innocence and naivety as weakness that bring about a fragile characters demise. Truly it should have sealed Edith's fate, but she touched a tortured man in a vulnerable place and that misshapen love was reformed...he tasted something sweeter and much more satisfying.

There are several references made of sweet and bitter, and how Edith seems to be intolerant to those bitter chills of Crimson Peak. But Lucille, the elder sister of Thomas and Lady of the House, openly embraces the bitter. From her tight clothes, to her restricted emotions, and her cold embrace...she is the bitter example of a chained soul. Again the audience is uneasy about her, but there is a sense of sadness and sympathy, after all it couldn't be easy living with that monster of a brother. Yet as the story progresses you begin to see the stark contrast between Lucille and Edith. Lucille is dark whilst Edith is bright. Edith is warm and accepting, whilst Lucille is coarse and unforgiving. Lucille is jealous and possessive, and Edith is open and giving to a fault. Two very different women, spinning two very different projections of love onto the same man.

Without spoiling the ending, I will say that the story is about love. How one loved consumed and destroyed in its unnatural depravity, whilst the other love shone truth and healing in the darkest of places, setting free that which was chained. One was the definition of True Love, whilst the other was the description of True Darkness. Absolute brilliance in story telling, and I found all of it grotesquely fascinating.

Now...I am truly inspired by the metaphors of a ghost. The incredible characterisations, and as always a tragic soul.

I am brewing a new book as I write.