Year: 2001
Country: Spain (joint production w/ Mexico)
Subgenre: Ghosts/Haunted House-Habitations/War Horror
Runtime: 106 minutes
Director: Guillermo del Toro
My absolute favorite horror genre is haunted habitations/houses. I would recommend nothing but if I didn't stop myself from doing so. When done right, I find it far more spine chilling, engaging and thrilling than any other type of horror. Guillermo del Toro did it RIGHT here. This movie scared me stupid the first time I watched it. If I had been in a theater, I most likely would have been hiding behind the seat in front of me! This is a "watch it through your hands" kind of film. Of course, once you've seen a haunting/ghost film--most of which are also mysteries of some sort--you've seen it. What I look for are the films that stand up to repeat viewings even after you know what is going to happen/why it's happening. The Devil's Backbone passes that test with flying colors! It's a deeply haunting film and story on many levels, not just the supernatural. It is set in a war time orphanage during the Spanish Civil War--a truly dreadful atmosphere; there is also a kind of "mad scientist" bent to it that make it more tragic and deeply sad rather than weird, while at the same time adding to a sense of dark fate. The late Argentinian actor Federico Luppi (who is the lead in del Toro's Cronos) begins the film with a haunting voice over
What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps? Something dead which still seems to be alive? An emotion suspended in time? Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber.
If you haven't seen it, you are in for real scare (treat); if you have, then you already know it's worth a rewatch. A beautiful story, a deeply disturbing story, a film as much about what the horrors of war do to children, as it is a film about children afraid of a lurking presence. Del Toro has said that he considers his Pan's Labyrinth a sibling to this this film. This is the brother, while Labyrinth is the sister.
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