(1993)
Overall: GOOD
Proving himself a visionary even on his first feature length film, Cronos is Guillermo del Toro's fascinating re-working of vampire mythos. Made independently in his native Mexico, a then twenty-eight year old del Toro explores the undead via an ancient contraption fused with the heart of an alchemist and an immortal, blood-drinking scarab that transforms elderly Federico Luppi into a creature of the night through further unconventional means. The heart of the story is that which is between Luppi's Jesús Gris, (the name "Jesus" intentionally in reference to his rising from the dead three days after the fact), and his non-speaking granddaughter Aurora, both of whose committed, nurturing, and truly lovely relationship skews every concept of the diabolical nosferatu that we have previously seen. Both Ron Perlman and Claudio Brook make short-sighted, capitalist villains yet even as a bratty goon, Perlman has a charm to him that counters Brook's eccentric, selfishly cold uncle character. Made on modest production values in comparison to American movies of the day, del Toro and his dedicated team still manage to create something that is visually compelling without the enhanced flare of the director's later works.
(2001)
Overall: GOOD
After the less than satisfactory experience with his first Hollywood feature Mimic, Guillermo del Toro ventured to Madrid to film the much more personal and auteuristic The Devil's Backbone, (El Espinazo del Diablo). Set during the tail end of the Spanish Civil War in a completely isolated, haunted orphanage, it has some of the scope of Sergio Leone Westerns with that same grit transferring over to its supernatural elements. There is much said here about a repeated cycle of tragedy where Eduardo Noriega's orphan-turned-caretaker becomes a sadistic loner who desperately tries to overcome his lifelong setbacks by destroying whatever comes in his way. Meanwhile the setting only adds more spirits to its now dilapidated grounds as the next generation of children are left on there own to carve out a bit of hope. Purposely on del Toro's part, the realism of the war-torn setting and its effects on the characters is much more frightening than the ghosts as the filmmaker pulls no punches with some brutal violence and tragedy. It is probably del Toro's least fantastical horror film to date and a necessary stepping stone to his later work which would be much more grandiose in scale while still allowing for unflinching brutality to ground it.
(2006)
Overall: GREAT
A thematic and narrative companion piece to The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth, (El laberinto del fauno), is Guillermo del Toro's first bona fide masterpiece; a combination of brutal, real world oppression and fantastical storytelling made exclusively on the filmmaker's terms. Shot in the Guadarrama mountain range in Central Spain and once again focusing on a susceptible child newly arriving at a frightening location under the influence of the Francoist period, the two worlds here that del Toro presents are significantly linked at various intervals with the magical one becoming more undeniable as things progress. Visible through the eyes of Ivana Baquero's resurrected Princess protagonist Ofelia, the land of mystical realms and creatures is seemingly impenetrable to the adults who have had any imaginative innocence coldly beaten out of them. Still, the effects of the supernatural on "reality" are integrated all the same and the antifascist agenda of trusting one's benevolent intuition as opposed to blindly following orders without question is a paramount one. Just as the two different universes co-exist, there is a similar melding of practical and computer generated effects which represent a triumph of both. If anyone were to proclaim that this is one of the most visually gorgeous and moving of all dark fantasy films, such a thing would be rather impossible to argue with.
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