The Devil's Backbone [Criterion Collection] [2 Discs]

Director: Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro

Overview

Guillermo del Toro, who quickly became one of the most talked-about directors in contemporary horror films with his first two features, Chronos and Mimic, takes on a more subtle tale of terror with this psychological suspense piece. Casares (Federico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes) operate a small home for orphans in a remote part of Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Helping the couple mind the orphanage are Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), the groundskeeper, and Conchita (Irene Visedo), a teacher who is also involved with Jacinto. Casares and Carmen are aligned with the Republican loyalists, and are hiding a large cache of gold that's used to back the Republican treasury; perhaps not coincidentally, the orphanage has also been subject to attacks from Franco's troops, and an unexploded bomb waits to be defused in the home's courtyard. One day, a boy named Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at the home, looking for a place to stay after being left behind by his parents. Casares and Carmen take him in, and the boy soon strikes up an unlikely friendship with Jaime (Inigo Garces), a boy with a reputation for tormenting other kids. But Carlos soon begins having visions of a mysterious apparition he can't identify, and hears strange stories about a child named Santi who went missing the day the bomb appeared near the orphanage.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/30/2013
UPC:	0715515107815
Original Release:	2001
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:48:00

Special Features

New 2K digital film restoration, approved by director Guillermo del Toro and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Audio commentary featuring Del Toro
Video introduction by Del Toro from 2010
New interviews with Del Toro about the process of creating the ghost Santi and the drawings and designs made in preparation for the film
¿Que es un fantasma?, a 2004 making-of documentary
Spanish Gothic, a 2010 interview with Del Toro about the genre and its influence on his work
Interactive director’s notebook, with Del Toro’s drawings and handwritten notes, along with interviews with the filmmaker.
Four deleted scenes, with optional commentary.
New featurette about the Spanish Civil War as evoked in the film.
Program comparing Del Toro’s thumbnail sketches and Carlos Giménez’s storyboards with the final film.
Selected on-screen presentation of Del Toro’s thumbnail sketches alongside the sections of the final film they represent (Blu-ray edition only).
Theatrical Trailer.
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Mark Kermode

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Eduardo Noriega	Jacinto
Marisa Paredes	Carmen
Fernando Tielve	Carlos
Federico Luppi	Casares,Actor
Irene Visedo	Conchita
Berta Ojea	Alma
Francisco Maestre	El Puerco
Junio Valverde	Santi
Íñigo Garcés	Jaime
José Manuel Lorenzo	Marcelo
Adrián Lamana	Gálvez
Miguel Ortiz	Actor
Juan Carlos Vellido	Actor
Víctor Elías	Actor
José Luis Torrijo	Actor
Andreas Muñoz	Santi
Inigo Garces	Actor
Javier Navarrete	Composer

Technical Credits

Guillermo del Toro

Antonio Trashorras

David Muñoz

Guillermo del Toro	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Antonio Trashorras	Screenwriter
Reyes Abades	Special Effects
Agustin Almodovar	Executive Producer,Producer
Telson	Special Effects
Agustín Almodóvar	Producer,Executive Producer
Bertha Navarro	Producer,Executive Producer
David Muñoz	Screenwriter
Salva Mayolas	Sound/Sound Designer
Miguel Rejas	Sound/Sound Designer

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Devil's Backbone
1. Opening Credits [3:53]
2. Carlos [3:02]
3. Gálvez and Owl [2:53]
4. Left Behind [3:03]
5. Bed no. 12 [1:37]
6. Jacinto and Conchita [2:52]
7. The One Who Sighs [3:21]
8. Off-limits for Orphans [6:01]
9. "Many of you will die" [10:51]
10. At the Pool [2:56]
11. The Devil's Backbone [2:10]
12. Swamp Meet [2:08]
13. The Last Time [2:46]
14. The Legend of Santi [6:35]
15. Condemned [1:23]
16. "Show Me Where Santi Is" [4:40]
17. "We Have to Go" [1:39]
18. Prince without a Kingdom [4:22]
19. Prophecy Fulfilled [4:01]
20. A New Poem [5:26]
21. Armed and Waiting [1:37]
22. The Truth Revealed [6:06]
23. "Say You're Sorry" [4:30]
24. Santi's Wish [1:35]
25. Jacinto Returns [1:46]
26. Escape [5:49]
27. Gold [2:01]
28. A Fitting Punishment [8:28]
1. Color Bars
1. Bold Genre Combination [3:53]
2. A Pure Protagonist [3:02]
3. Fairy-Tale Sensibilities [2:53]
4. Otranto and Architecture [3:03]
5. Peppered with Symbols [1:37]
6. Open Meanings and Modern Gothic [2:52]
7. James, Machen, and Blackwood [3:21]
8. Character Development [6:01]
9. Embracing the Darkness [10:51]
10. Breaking rules of Construction [2:56]
11. Flaws in Role Models [2:10]
12. Trappings of Logic [2:08]
13. Melding Screenplays [2:46]
14. War Within the Walls [6:35]
15. Chinese Involvement [1:23]
16. Showing the War [4:40]
17. Countering Cheap Shocks [1:39]
18. Transformation of Horror [4:22]
19. Cronos and Cannes [4:01]
20. Honoré Fragonard [5:26]
21. Melodrama vs. Drama [1:37]
22. From Boy to Adult [6:06]
23. Working from Westerns [4:30]
24. Revenge from Beyond [1:35]
25. Impact of The Monk [1:46]
26. Flies for Film [5:49]
27. Seeds of Fascism [2:01]
28. Minimalistic Pain [8:28]
29. Color Bars [:00]
Disc #2 -- Devil's Backbone
1. Enchanted Horror Tale [3:21]
2. "Insects Trapped in Amber" [3:32]
3. Realizing del Toro's Vision [1:58]
4. An Adult Approach [2:37]
5. Anchoring Fantasy In Everyday Life [:25]
6. A Director Like No Other
1. Prologue and Opening Credits [2:01]
2. Sleeping Quarters [2:01]
3. The Bomb [2:20]
4. The Ribbon [2:20]
5. Keyhole [:01]
6. "Who Are You?" [:01]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Devil's Backbone
   Guillermo del Toro Introduction
      Play
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Commentary
      Commentary: On/Off
         Commentary: On
         Commentary: Off
      Index
   Trailer
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
         Subtitles: On
         Subtitles: Off
Disc #2 -- Devil's Backbone
   Summoning Spirits
      Play
   ¿Que es un fantasma?
      Play
      Index
   Spanish Gothic
      Play
   Director's Notebook
      Play
   Designing The Devil's Backbone
      Play
   Deleted Scenes
      Play All
         Carlos and the Principal
         Encounter in the Plaza
         Carmen and Conchita
         "I'm Coming with You"
   Sketch, Storyboard, Screen
      Play
      Index
   A War of Values
      Play
   Subtitles
      Subtitles: On/Off
         Subtitles: On
         Subtitles: Off

Editorial Reviews

After proving his mettle with the American genre hits Mimic and Blade 2, director Guillermo del Toro returns to Spanish-language filmmaking with The Devil's Backbone. An atmospheric ghost story set in a renegade orphanage during the Spanish Civil War (specifically, 1939), the film frightens more through storytelling than via special effects. Following the mysterious disappearance of a resident/student, young Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at the orphanage, which is an arid oasis in the war, run with tough love by headmistress Carmen (Marisa Paredes, All About My Mother) and Professor Casares (Federico Luppi, Cronos), both of whom traffic in gold and moonshine on the side. Amid typical run-ins with the local bullies, Carlos discovers the ulterior motives of Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega, Open Your Eyes), the aggressive young groundskeeper who has his eye on the headmistress's hidden treasure. Around the premises, Carlos begins to see a ghost child, who repeatedly foretells the explosive results of Jacinto's greed. The seasoned and impressive adult cast is well balanced by the young neophytes, who offer as much range and sympathy as their elders. Del Toro deals in eerie imagery, the most striking of which is an unexploded bomb dropped in the center of a courtyard; the ghost's a chiller, too, always appearing to be submerged underwater, even while walking the halls. Equally masterful is del Toro's handling of the trials of childhood. Rarely has a horror film been as honestly sensitive to growing pains as The Devil's Backbone.

Barnes & Noble - Tony Nigro

"What is a ghost?" asks Spanish director Guillermo Del Toro's supremely menacing supernatural tale of greed and sorrow set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Although fear of the unknown strikes a chord deep within the collective psyche, Del Toro shows that these things of a more familiar persuasion may, in fact, be the driving force behind their vengeful motivations. The desolate landscape that surrounds the dilapidated orphanage is the ideal setting for a tale of ghosts both literal and figurative - its crumbling corridors the perfect mix of beautiful melancholy and pregnant menace that underscores a sinister mystery slowly bubbling to the surface, and the vengeful supernatural force from the past that roams the decaying hallways which house children with little past or future. Screen newcomer Fernando Tielve shows great promise as the orphanage's fearful yet brave newcomer Carlos, while Obre los Ojos star Eduardo Noriega takes an effectively chilling turn as caretaker Jacinto - the so-called "prince without a kingdom" who is willing to trade his soul for a well-guarded treasure. Menace and mystery are the crucial factors which compel the viewer and command their attention, simultaneously driving the film forward with an increasing sense of dread and wonder. (Guillermo Navarro)'s stylishly aged lens adds the perfect visual texture through the dark nights, in which the children giggle with nervous fear of "the one who sighs," and the harsh daytime hours, in which they attempt to avoid the wrath of a more tangible ghost. In Navarro's lens, director Del Toro has found the perfect visual compliment to his deliberately brooding and seductive tale. A mysterious relic of war that sits silent in the courtyard of the orphanage is a centrally anchored reminder that, even though considered harmless by those who share its space, adds a layer of unresolved tension beneath the fragile surface of reality. With characters' pasts and sometimes questionable motivations slowly revealed as the viewer is taken deeper into the troubled minds of those who dwell in the isolated kingdom in limbo, Del Toro has crafted a finely tuned and quietly intense fable of the influence of ghosts on the fate of man.

All Movie Guide - Jason Buchanan

The Devil's Backbone has been compared to The Others, and has the same ambition and intelligence, but is more compelling and even convincing.

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

With the ambitious and ominous The Devil's Backbone, Del Toro rises to a new level of accomplishment, adding history and politics to his distinctive blend.

Los Angeles Times - Kevin Thomas