Truly Dreadful Film

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Excellent, smart action film.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

El Espinazo Del DiabloUnlike any other Guillermo del Toro project this one doesn't feed on a horror or fantasy fairy tale even though it starts off somewhere there and has a rough premise on it. El Espinazo Del Diablo tackles the audience in its first act to let the environment and the tone of this horrific world sink in and join them onto the rest of the act which is not only fast, to-the-point and gripping but also astonishingly beautiful despite of some cringe worthy scenes. Guillermo once again balances out the after life part and the real part of his world so perfectly that neither of them are dependent but still are linked and emotionally attached to the viewers. El Espinazo Del Diablo whispers dreadful emotion, heartbreaking sequences, complicated immature relations and obscure beauty to a certain anonymity that not only will it make sense but will be familiar proving once again Guillermo's excellence in not only imagination but also executing the thought-out idea on screen.

When I started watching The Devil's Backbone, I had no clue of how great the movie would prove to be. The story of the film is that a young boy Carlos, whose father has recently died in Spanish Civil War in 1939, is brought in an orphanage and school run by a kind old lady Carmen who has a love interest on a school doctor named Dr. Casarus. Moreover, there is a sadistic caretaker of the school named Jacinto who was a former student of in the orphanage and has a fiancé Conchita. Soon after arriving in, Carlos meets the school bully Jamie and other friends and also the school ghost. He sees that there is a bomb in the courtyard of the school intact which was diffused a day after it fell during which according to many children in the orphanage a boy named Santi disappeared. Now there are further events set to occur in the orphanage in the coming days that may change all the boys and teachers' lives forever.I found the first half of the film to be very gripping, entertaining and quite spooky, thanks to the excellent direction, cinematography, editing, performances and musical score. I became curious to know what will happen next as the story is extremely unpredictable! This made the film brilliant.I was absorbed into the film in the very first half. By the beginning of the second half, the film became very intense and more than a mere supernatural horror flick and I found myself connected to all the characters, a quality which a perfect movie must possess. By this time, I didn't care about the technical aspects of the film as I was deeply connected with the characters and their interactions with the situation they have fallen in. I cheered for the characters as they underwent a development. This whole part including the climax and the ending made the film a masterpiece.The film works on various levels from a potential ghost story to political aspects to psychological depth of the characters to the effects of war on children.Overall, the film is a 21st Century Horror, wait not Horror, a Supernatural Political War Drama Masterpiece.

The Republicans are losing the Spanish Civil War to General Franco and the right-wing Nationalists. Carlos is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Republican sympathizers one-legged Carmen and Dr. Casares who are hiding a cache of Republican gold. He hasn't been told that his father was killed on the frontlines. Dr. Casares sells his spiced rum "limbo water" to the villagers from a glass jar containing a baby with an exposed spine or the Devil's Backbone. Carlos encounters the ghost of Santi, a boy who disappeared when a giant bomb landed in the middle of the courtyard. The bomb is suppose to have been defused. Carlos is bullied by Jaime and the other boys. Carlos rescues Jaime from drowning and they become friends. Angry groundskeeper Jacinto was once one of the orphans being cared for and Conchita is the beautiful teacher.Carlos has a childhood innocence and this is an intriguing childhood ghost story from Guillermo del Toro. This is not scary but it has the tension of the Spanish Civil War like his later masterpiece "Pan's Labyrinth". It has a mood of dread and feel of wonder. The characters are all compelling. It would be nice to have Carlos and Jaime battle it out a little longer. It's all very well made.

It's a lot like "What Lies Beneath" and "The Orphanage." It's a bit of a mystery, mixed with drama of the war and its effects on a poor orphanage for young boys. One in particular whom we follow, Carlos, is new and begins to suspect that the orphanage is haunted. There isn't a lot to criticize here, yes it may be predictable and dry at times, but it's well put together with an eerie setting. Personally, as a horror fan, I'm a bit disappointed in the movie. But as del Toro fan, and a cinematic fan in general, I was well satisfied with the movie. Its harsh reality and ghost theme helps set the somber mood, and no complaints about the actors either, everybody did a convincing job in their roles. Great movie, go see it if you like mystery, drama, and yeah, even horror, why not.