The Devil's Backbone (2001)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Genres - Drama, Horror, Thriller |
Sub-Genres - Supernatural Thriller, Haunted House Film, Period Film, Gothic Film |
Release Date - Nov 21, 2001 (USA - Limited) |
Run Time - 106 min. |
Countries - Argentina, Spain, Mexico |
MPAA Rating - R
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Synopsis by Mark Deming
Guillermo del Toro, who quickly became one of the most talked-about directors in contemporary horror films with his first two features, Chronos and Mimic, takes on a more subtle tale of terror with this psychological suspense piece. Casares (Federico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes) operate a small home for orphans in a remote part of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Helping the couple mind the orphanage are Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), the groundskeeper, and Conchita (Irene Visedo), a teacher who is also involved with Jacinto. Casares and Carmen are aligned with the Republican loyalists, and are hiding a large cache of gold that's used to back the Republican treasury; perhaps not coincidentally, the orphanage has also been subject to attacks from Franco's troops, and an unexploded bomb waits to be defused in the home's courtyard. One day, a boy named Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at the home, looking for a place to stay after being left behind by his parents. Casares and Carmen take him in, and the boy soon strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jaime (Inigo Garces), a boy with a reputation for tormenting other kids. But Carlos soon begins having visions of a mysterious apparition he can't identify, and hears strange stories about a child named Santi who went missing the day the bomb appeared near the orphanage.
Characteristics
Moods
Themes
Keywords
boarding-school, bomb, boy, ghost, disappearance, janitor, mystery [unexplained phenomenon], paranormal, supernatural-forces, teacher, treasure, civil-war, desert, Mexico
Attributes
Sleeper