Film
Horror in the Caves: The Devil’s Backbone
- Director
- Guillermo del Toro
- Certificate
- 15
- Running Time
- 106 mins
It’s the late 1930s and the Spanish Civil War is coming to an end when ten-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is dumped in the huge Santa Lucia school, which shelters the war’s malnourished Republican orphans. The place isn’t just physically imposing: there’s an oppressive atmosphere about it too. Around 20 waifs are currently in residence, the oldest of whom immediately picks on Carlos. Elderly, impotent professor Casares (Federico Luppi), who muses mysteriously on the nature of ghosts in the opening scene, runs the place with hard-bitten, one-legged headmistress Carmen (Marisa Paredes), the widow of a leftist poet. Among the other adults here are Conchita (Irene Visedo) the cook and her aggressive caretaker fiance Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), himself a former pupil. To add to poor Carlos’s woes, he’s approached by the ghost of a murdered child seeking help and revenge. Slowly, he begins to piece together the dark secret that links the inhabitants and learns what really happened on the night when the fascists dropped a bomb in the courtyard, where it remains symbolically unexploded.
https://youtu.be/90o1YhN0vHY
A rich and confident fusion of political allegory, murder mystery and gothic ghost story, 2001’s The Devil’s Backbone atoned for Guillermo del Toro’s compromised first Hollywood venture, Mimic, delivering on the promise he displayed in his award-winning debut, Cronos. Although enjoyable enough on a superficial level as a historically grounded, genuinely creepy ghostie story, this is a good deal darker and more ambitious than the contemporaneous The Others. Get the beers in at the bar afterwards and you’ll be arguing for hours over the significance of the sado-masochistic relationship at its heart, the allegorical message about the corrupting lure of fascism as Franco’s troops march towards victory, and whether you’ve just watched the first overtly Marxist Big Scary House flick. It’s back on screen in spooky ol’ Redcliffe Caves as part of this year’s Horror in the Caves Halloween warm-up weekend, courtesy of Bristol Film Festival. Go here for ticket details.
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