• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Invest in You. Get Full Membership now.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Katie-Ellen

Full Member
Blogger
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Location
UK
LitBits
0
England
e9UizPFgoCnRCPtR0tyg2JNXY6A.jpg


Title: The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Tagline: The living will always be more dangerous than the dead.

Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Horror, Thriller

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Marisa Paredes, Fernando Tielve, Íñigo Garcés, Irene Visedo, José Manuel Lorenzo, Francisco Maestre, Junio Valverde, Berta Ojea, Adrián Lamana, Daniel Esparza, Javier Gonzalez Sanchez, Víctor Elías

Release: 2001-04-20

Runtime: 106

Plot: After losing his father, 10-year-old Carlos arrives at the Santa Lucia School, which shelters orphans of the Republican militia and politicians, and is taken in by the steely headmistress, Carmen, and the kindly professor, Casares. Soon after his arrival, Carlos has a run-in with the violent caretaker, Jacinto. Gradually, Carlos uncovers the secrets of the school, including the youthful ghost that wanders the grounds.



A sad story, redeemed by its message of love and devotion, even beyond the grave. Very much out of the Pan's Labyrinth stable, though more ghostly, less fantastical. Some wonderful, touching characters, though for me it lacked the sheer emotional power of Pan's Labyrinth. Which had me in bits.
 
I watched this in the cinema when it was released and it was one of the few times, possibly the only time since I was a kid, that I was truly scared watching a film. There were a couple of times when I was yelling inside my head to those children, 'No, don't look through the keyhole! No, don't go in to the cellar!' etc. Hugely believable, hugely powerful. A genuine, intelligent horror film.
 
And the lovely girl, stabbed by the no good fellow, howl, and the wounded old man, trying to stay alive to protect them, but not able to...and then his ghost saved them. How howl howl.
 
I love this movie. Anyone who likes it should check out Cronos, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Shape of Water, also by the same director
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Further Articles from the Author Platform

Latest Articles By Litopians

  • The Shadow Durian
    As a lifelong foreigner, I’ve learnt that being open to new things smooths the path considerably. ...
  • Goodbye Eeyore, Hello Tigger
    Granny was churchy. She grew up in an era that saw living by the Bible as an important British chara ...
  • 21st Century Song of Summer
         It’s sobering to think that while summer is celebrated in some parts of the world with mus ...
  • Falcon Theory
    “So,” said Goethe to his friend Johann Peter Eckermann, “let us call it a Novelle, for what i ...
  • The Joy of Lit Mags
    While my first novel is tentatively making its way towards agents who already have too much to read, ...
  • Advertising and Social Media
    There has been much discussion in writing circles about how much a writer has to self-promote these ...
  • Future Abstract: Fights at Night
    SATIRE ALERT: The following abstract is entirely fictional and does not represent actual events or s ...
Back
Top