Between Pacific Rim (his most commercially successful film worldwide) and The Shape of Water (his Oscar-winning smash), Guillermo del Toro released Crimson Peak—a movie filled with themes and visually dazzling imagery dear to his Gothic-loving heart that didn’t quite find its footing with audiences or critics. Looking back in a new interview, he has an idea why the 2015 film was initially so misunderstood.

Speaking to Vulture, del Toro explained the marketing had something to do with it: audiences thought they were getting a full-on horror flick—not a tortured period romance with supernatural overtones. “What I was trying to do with Crimson Peak was what I’ve tried to do in many of my movies: make an action movie that operates as an anti-action movie or, in the case of Crimson Peak, a Gothic romance that defuses the romance,” he said. Later in the interview, he goes deeper on that: “I knew I wanted to produce a lavish, beautiful, operatic spectacle, with sets and melodrama and beautiful light and, you know, just make it make it a sort of banquet.”

Unfortunately, as the director recalled, Crimson Peak‘s unique sensibilities proved difficult to market. “The thing that will always, pun intended, haunt that movie is that it was sold as a horror movie,” he said to Vulture, recalling that at the time he know it was a “doomed” strategy. “I was saying, ‘You should promote the romance, and you should promote the mystery. The last thing you want to do is promote it as horror.’ We were opening in October, and October is the month of Halloween, so I understand why it happened.”

However, he’s well pleased that Crimson Peak has found its audience in the years since. “It’s a movie that connects with the people who love it at an almost molecular level,” he said. And del Toro is, unsurprisingly, among their number; he calls it “one of the movies I love the most and that is very close to my heart.”

Guillermo del Toro’s next release will be his much-anticipated take on Frankenstein for Netflix.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.