El espinazo del diablo (2001)

Director:

Guillermo del Toro

Writers:

Guillermo del Toro (written by) and
Antonio Trashorras (written by) ...

Release Date:

20 huhtikuu 2001 (Spain)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The living will always be more dangerous than the dead.

Plot:

It is 1939, the end of three years of bloody civil war in Spain, and General Franco's right-wing Nationalists...

Plot Keywords:

Orphanage | Ghost | Bully | Bomb | Spain

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Marisa Paredes	...	Carmen
Eduardo Noriega	...	Jacinto
Federico Luppi	...	Dr. Casares
Fernando Tielve	...	Carlos
Íñigo Garcés	...	Jaime
Irene Visedo	...	Conchita
José Manuel Lorenzo	...	Marcelo
Francisco Maestre	...	El Puerco (as Paco Maestre)
Junio Valverde	...	Santi
Berta Ojea	...	Alma
Adrián Lamana	...	Gálvez
Daniel Esparza	...	Marcos
Miguel Ortiz
Juan Carlos Vellido
Javier Bódalo	...	Búho (as Javier González Madrigal)

Also Known As:

The Devil's Backbone (Europe: English title) (UK) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

106 min | Australia:108 min

Country:

Spain | Mexico

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Chile:14 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Finland:K-15

Filming Locations:

Madrid, Spain

Company:

El Deseo S.A.

Trivia:

The design of the ghost was inspired by the white-faced spirits of Japanese horror films like Ringu (1998).

Quotes:

Casares: 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.

Movie Connections:

References The Searchers (1956)

Soundtrack:

Yo no sé que me han hecho tus ojos

Dramatic, creepy and excellent overall

After seeing the impressive rating on IMDb and being intrigued by its appearance at my local video store, I finally rented this film. I'm glad that I did.

"Blade 2" and "Hellboy" were my only other del Toro film's to date. Obviously, the man has an eye for style and even, occasionally, atmosphere. I was particularly impressed with "Hellboy": not nearly as good as the source material, but the best comic adaptation to film in many years, including the Marvel disasters. "The Devil's Backbone" is well acted and surprisingly effective in style and atmosphere. Not quite a horror movie...but with its creepy moments nonetheless. The script is also quite good: the characters are realistic and well portrayed, and there are a lot of great plot elements (i.e. the defused bomb) that give the story layers on top of layers.

My only complaint is that del Toro makes the mistake that many directors in the horror genre make: showing the monster/creature in too great a definition, and, in this case, far too early in the movie. Many directors should take a page from Ridley Scott's book: "Alien" is so scary because what you don't see of the creature, not because the little we do see of it. Still, del Toro's supernatural character is well-designed and has several haunting appearances.

All in all this was a great film that works as a mystery and as a drama: the writing, direction and performances are that strong. del Toro seems to do his best work while working with his own material, let's hope he does so more in the future.