To me, this movie is perfection.

Simply A Masterpiece

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Good acting and great visuals highlight this interesting yet bit of a slow moving film about a group of orphans. The film deals with different issues, from greed to revenge, and also has a few great action sequences, and some truly scary moments. Being only his third film as director, the film already carries Guillermo's stunning visual trademark. The child actors were very good.

The Republicans are losing the Spanish Civil War to General Franco and the right-wing Nationalists. Carlos is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Republican sympathizers one-legged Carmen and Dr. Casares who are hiding a cache of Republican gold. He hasn't been told that his father was killed on the frontlines. Dr. Casares sells his spiced rum "limbo water" to the villagers from a glass jar containing a baby with an exposed spine or the Devil's Backbone. Carlos encounters the ghost of Santi, a boy who disappeared when a giant bomb landed in the middle of the courtyard. The bomb is suppose to have been defused. Carlos is bullied by Jaime and the other boys. Carlos rescues Jaime from drowning and they become friends. Angry groundskeeper Jacinto was once one of the orphans being cared for and Conchita is the beautiful teacher.Carlos has a childhood innocence and this is an intriguing childhood ghost story from Guillermo del Toro. This is not scary but it has the tension of the Spanish Civil War like his later masterpiece "Pan's Labyrinth". It has a mood of dread and feel of wonder. The characters are all compelling. It would be nice to have Carlos and Jaime battle it out a little longer. It's all very well made.

The Spanish Civil War is coming to an end and Carlos is placed in an orphanage after his father died in battle fighting for the Republicans.Carlos finds it difficult to feel comfortable in his new home, partly due to unpleasant characters within the orphanage and his new school but also because of the presence of a ghost known as Santi. A ghost haunts the inhabitants, bringing chaos and seeking revenge on its killer.Great cinematography and good plot but the storyline is poorly told by the film. It is difficult to care about or believe in any of the characters and some of the events don't fit smoothly into the overall narrative.

The Devil's Backbone only relies on one thing, it's tremendously well written story. To make a film though with that one quality is extremely difficult and there is just a few people out there that can pull it off, Guillermo Del Torro is one of them. There are really no scare scenes, high profile actors or even special effects. The only horror element it really has is a little ghost boy that appears periodically throughout the movie. What it lacks in is what makes the movie great because it makes the film realistic and sucks the viewer into its setting. There are so many moving components to the movie, it's something that the viewer has to really pay attention to or watch several times. It seemed I was always wondering how certain aspects of the film were going to pop back in. Del Torro with this movie proves he is a horror film-making genius and it should be on the top of everyone's top foreign horror lists.