I also had seen Crimson Peak. It was on my list of movies I'm willing to watch but not go nuts over. Alas, the Martian was sold out, so we saw this instead.
Definitely more style than substance. The story was really bland. The metadiscussion of romance shoehorned into a ghost story was amusing, but it didn't strike me as self-referential, as this movie had the opposite. There were ghosts shoehorned into a mystery story. Seriously, the ghosts did not contribute to the movie. They led the protagonist to some clues, but the script could have easily been written so that she finds the clues on her own. The ghosts did nothing to advance the plot, especially the ghost in the opening sequence. The end ghost had a way for her to say goodbye, but that was still unnecessary, especially considering the huge betrayal she experienced.
I wasn't even that fond of how the ghosts looked. The smoky tendrils weren't very wispy so it was like parts of their bones were twisting upward. That could be a cool effect too, but I interpreted the effect to have meant to be wispy. I did enjoy the effects of the clay, though even that seemed heavy-handed at times. Does clay really behave that way? In one scene, it was just oozing down the wall like blood (intentional, no doubt).
Kind of disappointed, and I’m glad we used free tickets to see it.