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The Devil’s Backbone

Guillermo del Toro

 
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Blu-Ray

1 Disc

SRP: $39.95

Criterion Store price:$31.96

Film Info

  • SYNOPSIS
  • CAST/CREDITS
  • Spain, Mexico
  • 2001
  • 108 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • Spanish
  •  
  • Spine #666

One of the most personal films by Guillermo del Toro, The Devil’s Backbone is also among his most frightening and emotionally layered. Set during the final week of the Spanish Civil War, it tells the tale of a twelve-year-old boy who, after his freedom-fighting father is killed, is sent to a haunted rural orphanage full of terrible secrets. Del Toro expertly combines gothic ghost story, murder mystery, and historical melodrama in a stylish mélange that, like his later Pan’s Labyrinth, reminds us the scariest monsters are often the human ones.

Cast

CarmenMarisa Paredes
JacintoEduardo Noriega
Dr. CasaresFederico Luppi
CarlosFernando Tielve
JaimeÍñigo Garcés
ConchitaIrene Visedo
MarceloJosé Manuel Lorenzo
The PigPaco Maestre
Santi Junio Valverde
AlmaBerta Ojea
Gálvez Adrian Lamana
MarcosDaniel Esparza
Owl Javier González Madrigal
LuisVictor Barroso

Credits

DirectorGuillermo del Toro
Executive producersAgustín Almodóvar and Bertha Navarro
ProducerPedro Almodóvar
Director of productionEsther García
Director of photographyGuillermo Navarro
CoproducerRosa Bosch
Associate producerMichel Ruben
Written byGuillermo del Toro, Antonio Trashorras and David Muñoz
MusicJavier Navarrete
Art directorCésar Macarrón
EditorLuis de la Madrid
Camera operatorJoaquín Manchado
CastingSara Bilbatua
SoundMiguel Rejas
Sound designSalvador Mayolas
Special mechanical effectsReyes Abades
Special makeup effectsDDT
Special makeup effects supervisorsDavid Martí and Montse Ribé
Special digital effectsTelson
MakeupJorge Hernández
HairdresserFermín Galán
CostumesJosé Vico

Disc Features

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

  • New, restored 2K digital film transfer, supervised by director Guillermo del Toro and director of photography Guillermo Navarro, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Audio commentary featuring Del Toro
  • Video introduction by Del Toro from 2010
  • New and archival interviews with Del Toro about the creation of his film
  • ¿Que es un fantasma?, a 2004 making-of documentary
  • Interactive director’s notebook
  • Four deleted scenes, with commentary by del Toro
  • New interview with scholar Sebastiaan Faber
    about the film’s depiction of the Spanish Civil War
  • Program comparing Del Toro’s thumbnail sketches and Carlos Giménez’s storyboards with the final film
  • Selected on-screen presentation of Del Toro’s thumbnail sketches (Blu-ray edition only)
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation by del Toro
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Mark Kermode

Current Posts

  • FEATURED
    (3)
  • FILM ESSAYS
    (1)
  • ALL
    (3)

Three Reasons

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Three Reasons: The Devil’s Backbone

July 30, 2013

Watch video »


Film Essays

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The Devil’s Backbone: The Past Is Never Dead . . .

By Mark Kermode July 30, 2013

Guillermo del Toro’s ghostly fable beautifully reflects the director’s fascination with the personal and the political. Read more »


Video

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Guillermo del Toro’s Ghostly Encounter

July 29, 2013

Watch video »

Film Essays

spacer

The Devil’s Backbone: The Past Is Never Dead . . .

By Mark Kermode July 30, 2013

Guillermo del Toro’s ghostly fable beautifully reflects the director’s fascination with the personal and the political. Read more »

Three Reasons

spacer spacer

Three Reasons: The Devil’s Backbone

July 30, 2013

Watch video »


Film Essays

spacer

The Devil’s Backbone: The Past Is Never Dead . . .

By Mark Kermode July 30, 2013

Guillermo del Toro’s ghostly fable beautifully reflects the director’s fascination with the personal and the political. Read more »


Video

spacer spacer

Guillermo del Toro’s Ghostly Encounter

July 29, 2013

Watch video »

My Criterion

  • NOTES
    (77)
  • LISTS
    (315)
  • COLLECTIONS
    (2754)
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“I love Pan's Labyrinth & Hellboy films are beautiful & fun. I want this because if The Others taught me anything it's that the Spanish do horror best!”

Gord

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“plethera of extras make this must have for fans of with Cronos as bookend. superlative initial film project gave hints to genius at work. spine # 666”

futurestar

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“Not at all what I expected. From what I gathered it focused on the ghost story, but it is an incredibly human fairy tale about human monsters in a war”

clwestbr

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“Much like Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone makes the viewer want to crush the antagonist in the worst way possible, and I mean the human one. ”

JacksWastedMan

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“Del Toro truly understood the ghost story, but added his own seductiveness, and subtlety that most horror films lack. This is one of his best films.”

Sidney

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