Movie Information
Overall Rank: 1083
Average Rating: 3/4
# of Ratings: 106
Theatrical Release Date: 11/21/2001
Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: 07/30/2013
Language: Spanish
Genre: Horror, Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Actors: Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega (II), Federico Luppi, Fernando Tielve, Íñigo Garcés, Irene Visedo
Plot: A boy at an orphanage is haunted by a ghost that is trying to warn him and show how he really died. Takes place in Spain during WWII.
Quick Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Matthew Brady - wrote on 02/17/2022
Guillermo del Toro is right when it came to Hollywood's portrayal of kids in movies with "children as happy, brainless creatures that spout one-liners." The same goes to the tired praise of "the accurate portrayal" of kids who swear and make crude banter, because "omg that's what kids totally do and say". However, what I feel is missing from a lot of these movies is just how vulnerable and how unsafe it is to be a child. Where the chances of experiencing trauma and being ignored lies in certainty. And I think del Toro captured that effectively.
Rating of
4/4
Logan D. McCoy - wrote on 06/24/2019
A ghost story that brings the common supernatural horror movie tropes, but "The Devil's Backbone" also takes the time to develop a powerful story.
Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3.5/4
"The Devil's Backbone" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 04/29/2012
Pan's Labyrinth was not Guillermo Del Toro's first stab at a story that mixes fantasy with a tale of the Spanish civil war. In the Devil's Backbone, a young boy is abandoned at an orphanage for children whose fathers were killed in the fighting and is haunted by a ghostly apparition that holds the secret of a tragic past event. The thing that stands out about this film is it's haunting atmosphere. There is no running around screaming, no blood and guts, no monsters jumping out at you. Del Toro's visuals are as sumptuous as always, almost resembling a Leone spaghetti western in places, and the visual effects are frankly stunning; the recreation of the ghostly boy is incredibly effective and bears more resemblance to the subtlety of J-horror than gore obsessed Hollywood film makers. Add to …
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