The Devil's Backbone (DVD) Reviews

Que es un Fantasma?, asks El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone) - what is a Ghost? Crafty and chilling, the movie is described by director Guillermo Del Toro as the "sister film" to his smash-hit Pan's Labyrinth. Just as its better-known sibling is a stylish adult twist on a prototypical fairytale, The Devil's ...  Read the complete review

The Devil's Backbone or El espinazo del diablo is for me rather like the older, but potentially slightly less accomplished sister of Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth or El laberinto del fauno. Like Pan's Labyrinth however, it offers an incredibly accomplished intertwining of the supernatural narrative on the surface, and the undercurrents of ...  Read the complete review

I don't like horror films - on the whole they're either not scary just silly (in which case, what's the point), or they're properly scary (which is way too much for my weak and feeble disposition) - but I love Guillermo del Toro, including his chillier movies. The Devil's Backbone gets put in the horror pigeonhole, but really it's more ...  Read the complete review

In the final days of the Spanish Civil War, a young boy named Carlos is orphaned and taken to a remote orphanage, the home of many other children from Republican families. Watched over by an elderly couple named Casares and Carmen, the inhabitants of the orphanage live in the shadow of fear, terrified that the fascists will find them. To add to ...  Read the complete review

The devil’s backbone - Guillermo Del Toro. I first got into Guillermo’s work having watched Pan’s labyrinth. How ironic it was that that was his most recent work, and I worked from it, backwards to his humbler beginnings. Guillermo is possibly better known for his work on Blade 2, and also cult classic, Hellboy. His passion is ...  Read the complete review

‘The Devils Backbone’ is set in Spain during the final days of the Spanish Civil War. Francisco Franco’s fascists have victory within their sights, and in a small orphanage the children from Republican families await their fate. In an effort to fool the fascists Casares (Frederico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes), an old couple who run the ...  Read the complete review

Various movie magazines and people in the British media are constantly scratching their heads when they wonder why the British film industry is mostly crap. Well that's probably because the money goes to films that are mostly crap, formulaic and generally have a happy romantic or farcical vibe. Meanwhile the French knock out stunning films ...  Read the complete review