Not what I was expecting at all and I was very pleasantly surprised by what I git, was expecting a pure Ghost story but it is so much more than this. I will say it does not pull any punches and does not go where you expect it to, it is well worth a watch.

This film is lovingly crafted. There's a sense of warmth and innocence to the interactions between the children and a general sense of heart that is rarely found in horror cinema. For a film crammed full of child actors, there is rarely a poor performance to be seen.

Additionally, the film is incredibly economical with its detail. There is a brief mention of everything that ends up coming to play in the final act during the first two. Nothing is wasted.

A nicely bound filmic package.

Clearly one of Guillermo del Toro's most personal films. It's not a great ghost story, but a great film that happens to have a ghost in it. Should be watched as a double feature with it being followed by Pan's Labyrinth.

All around loved this. I would've liked to see Santi a bit more violent for his ghostly self but it'll just have to do for now.

I love the little twist it gave. I wasn't really expecting all the commotion like what happened honestly.

I was not blown away, possibly because my expectations were ramped up as a fan of Pan's Labyrinth, which was the second half of a double feature. Both films are beautifully written and shot, and the characters are strong, so I'm not really sure what was missing.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

All around loved this. I would've liked to see Santi a bit more violent for his ghostly self but it'll just have to do for now.

I love the little twist it gave. I wasn't really expecting all the commotion like what happened honestly.

Yikes. You know? Typical Del Toro type shit, in a good way.

Guillermo del Toro's "The Devil's Backbone" is not really a horror film. It occasionally uses elements from that genre, but to pigeonhole it to anything would be foolish. Good stuff.

The Devil's Backbone has beautiful cinematography and production design, as expected with del Toro at the helm. But I found the story quite dull and the horror elements a little tame.

Also, in the end I asked myself why the ghost was there at all? It added nothing to the story, and I felt it was there just for the sake of being there. I think they should either have made the supernatural elements a bigger part of the story, or removed it altogether.

I enjoyed the film nonetheless, but comparing it to Pan (which is inevitable), it draws the losing card.

"¿Qué es un fantasma?"... Me encanta la manera en la que Guillermo del Toro introduce lo sobrenatural en una historia ya de por sí interesante como un elemento normal.

del Toro's grasp of tone is what I love most, I think. He nails the creepy atmosphere of this locale of course, where death and life intersect and time seems to stand still, but he also makes the adolescent interactions feel very real. The kids are rote characters on paper: new kid with insight, bully who turns to friend. Yet the fairly good actors and del Toro's handling of their back-and-forth makes them feel like real kids interacting, not *story* kids.