The Devil's Backbone (Spain/Mexico: Guillermo del Toro, 2001)

 

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. - Criterion Collection

The Devil's Backbone (Spain/Mexico: Guillermo del Toro, 2001: 106 mins)

"Adventures in Moviegoing with Guillermo del Toro." The Current (May 25, 2017)

Barry, Angie. "Vivisect the Director: Guillermo del Toro and The Devil’s Backbone (2001)." The Criminal Element (April 7, 2014)

Cathcart, Abigail M. "An Outsider Amongst Outsiders: Psychosocial Impact of The Devil’s Backbone, The Orphanage, and Mama." (A Thesis Submitted to the Honors College of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in the Department of Theatre: 2015)

"Cleansing of the Soul for a Clean Slate: Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil's Backbone." Cinephilia & Beyond (ND)

del Toro, Guillermo and Cornelia Funke. "Guillermo del Toro's Influences." The Current (October 19, 2016)

Ebert, Roger. "The Devil's Backbone." Chicago Sun-Times (December 21, 2001)

Goldberg, Matt. "The Films of Guillermo del Toro: The Devil’s Backbone." The Collider (October 9, 2015)

"Guillermo del Toro's Ghostly Encounter." The Current (July 29, 2013)

Heumann, Joseph K. and Robin L. Murray. "Through an Eco-Lens of Childhood: Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero and Guillermo Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone." Monstrous Nature : Environment and Horror on the Big Screen. University of Nebraska, 2016: 57-80.

Ibarra, Enrique Ajuria. "Permanent hauntings: spectral fantasies and national trauma in Guillermo del Toro's El espinazo del diablo [The Devil's Backbone]." Journal of Romance Studies 12.1 (Spring 2012)

Kermode, Mark. "The Devil's Backbone: The Past is Never Dead." The Current (July 30, 2013)

Lázaro-Reboll, Antonio. "The Transnational Reception of The Devil's Backbone (Guillermo del Toro 2001)." Hispanic Research Journal 8.1 (February 2007): 39–51.

Markham, John. "Guillermo del Toro and the representation of the Spanish Civil War in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and ‘The Devil’s Backbone.'" (Personal Website: January 6, 2015)

Savage, Julian. "The Object(s) of Interpretation: Guillermo Del Toro’s El Espinazo Del Diablo (The Devil’s Backbone)." Senses of Cinema #21 (July 2002)

Smith, Michael Glover. "Giving The Devil’s Backbone Its Due." White City Cinema (October 15, 2010)