Category Archives: Mexican Horror Films
THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE
THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE-Mexico/Spain-2001
Eduardo Noriega as Jacinto
Marisa Paredes (w/Federico Luppi) as Carmen
Federico Luppi as Dr. Casares
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Written by Guillermo del Toro, Antonio Trashorras and David Muñoz
The entire time that I was watching The Devil’s Backbone I kept thinking to myself ‘I know there’s a metaphor for war in there somewhere.’ I mean, a movie that features a dropped-from-the-sky-unexploded-in-the-middle-of-an-orpahanage-courtyard bomb has got to be making some kind of statement about war, right? The only thing is that I am one of the most metaphorically challenged people on the planet. I’ll get it eventually; just not at the moment.
So, I figured the best way to approach the movie was from the point of view of it being quite a frightening little ghost story. Bingo! Guillermo del Toro’s tale of a young boy and a vengeful ghost set in an orphanage in the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War is as downright scary a film as you are ever likely to see. The best thing is that Del Toro layers the suspense on slowly; taking his time and allowing us to digest each scene and each scare as an individual moment instead of a bombardment of jump scenes. There is a style to this film that is unlike any that I’ve seen in quite some time. The only other movie that comes to mind that features such a slow build of frights is Takashi Miike’s disturbing ode to a woman scorned, Audition.
Guillermo del Toro has stated that The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth are of a male and female companion piece to one another. I’ve never watched the latter film; but if it is anywhere near as satisfying as The Devil’s Backbone, then I cannot wait.
TRIVIA
Related articles
- Wednesday’s What You Should Watch – The Orphanage (dumideas.wordpress.com)
- Five Great Obscure or Lesser Known Horror Movies To Scare You This Halloween (forbes.com)
- Great Horror Movie Scores (weirdmovievillage.wordpress.com)
- Guillermo del Toro Officially Directing Emma Watson in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (geektyrant.com)
- Guillermo del Toro Takes on Beauty and the Beast (dreadcentral.com)
- Guillermo del Toro to Direct ‘Beauty & the Beast’ Retelling with Emma Watson (screenrant.com)
- ‘Pacific Rim’ Production Update From Guillermo del Toro (screenrant.com)
DON”T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK-United States, Australia, Mexico-2010
Katie Holmes as Kim
Guy Pearce as Alex
Baillee Madison as Sally
Directed by Troy Nixey
Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins
Based on the 1973 teleplay by Nigel McKeand
The Guillermo del Toro produced and co-written remake of the 1973 film Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark has all the feeling of a TV movie, just like the earlier film, which was a TV movie in the first place. That’s not a compliment, mind you, it’s a harsh criticism. Watching this film in the theatre, I felt like I could pause, go take a leak, grab a beer and come back without having missed anything. The original film worked because it understood the constraints of the format (television) in which it was played out. Guillermo del Toro and director Troy Nixey have made a horror film that’s too little for the big screen and therefore too big for its cinematic britches.
Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes are Kim and Alex; a couple restoring an old mansion, Blackwood Manor, for a client of theirs. Alex’s daughter, Sally, is staying with them after her mother forces her off on Alex to look after her. The child soon becomes the target of a horde of nasty little nocturnal creatures that want her for their own and will stop at nothing to have her. The creatures, resembling malnourished rats with human faces, scurry about, sensitive to the light, staying in the shadows and allowing only glimpses of them from the corner of the eye. They whisper Sally’s name in the darkness, beckoning her, luring her. It all sounds like pretty scary stuff, right?
Well, no, not really. Besides having the feel of a TV movie, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark feels like a reject from the Disney factory. I’m surprised they didn’t make Sally’s character older and cast Miley Cyrus. I’m also surprised that I didn’t see Robin Williams name in the credits as the voice of the creatures. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a major disappointment from del Toro, the man behind the lens for The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. If this film had been made by a lesser name it would have stood as a failed experiment. Coming from del Toro and crew, it’s a failure, period.
TRIVIA
Appropriately set in Providence, RI as that was the home of H.P. Lovecraft who wrote the story “The Rats in the Walls” which apparently inspired this film. Though the short story was set in England not Rhode Island.
The runes carved into the stone over the furnace that the creatures live down spells out “Be Afraid” in Elder Futhark.
