Member review

While it is a Spanish film, Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Devil's Backbone’ presents a young boy, Carlos, who has been dropped off at an orphanage in the middle of an isolated Spanish orphanage in the desert. With a backdrop of the Spanish civil war, del Toro explores the supernatural and ideas around ghosts in this intense horror. Carlos takes the bed of another child, Santi, who went missing the same day a bomb, that failed to go off, landed in the orphanage courtyard. Unease is slowly built up as Carlos is increasingly haunted by the ghost of Santi, telling him "Many of you will die” and chasing after him down corridors. But Santi’s warning is not what it seems, as Santi is not the real villain of the film out seeking his revenge but the victim. Unlike the typical horror films of today, ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ is engaging throughout, even with subtitles, and is a masterpiece. Even though made in 2001, del Toro has produced a classic film that is tense and rewatchable.