2022 is the year of Guillermo del Toro.

The “atmospheric horror” the author has directed, produced, and written a long list of highly acclaimed movies and TV shows, earning him a loyal fanbase over the past three decades. These include Chronos (1993), Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), Pacific Rim (2013), FX Strain (2014-2017), and alley of nightmares (2021)among many others.

This year, it offers aficionados two Netflix specials: Cabinet of Curiositiesan eight-part horror anthology series curated by del Toro that is out now, and Pinocchioa stop-motion project planned for December.

Del Toro called Pinocchio the third entry in his unofficial anti-fascism fairy tale trilogy. The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth take place during the Spanish Civil War and its Francoist aftermath, while Pinocchio takes place in the Italy of Benito Mussolini.

Devil’s backbone, a low-budget Spanish indie, is one of del Toro’s lesser-known entries, but fans of Pan’s Labyrinth will no doubt be delighted. “They are ‘mirror films’, which reveal symmetries and reflections if you ever watch them together…and I love them both with equal passion”, del Toro said in a 2017 retrospective for Weekly entertainment.

Before by Pinocchio BFI London Film Festival preview, del Toro believes that all three films are about childhood and fatherhood colliding with war and violence. “Fascism seems to be interested in a father figure of another kind and the desire to indulge in a father who unifies thought. So I think it’s both a background and something thematically interesting.

In the case of The Devil’s Backbone, directed and co-written by del Toro and released in 2001, fathers and brothers are won and lost in this harrowing ghost story set in a spooky orphanage in the middle of nowhere, Spain. Guillermo del Toro’s Cinematic Panache and Penchant for Political Gothic Horror The Devil’s Backbone terrifying pleasure.

The orphanage doctor, Dr. Casares (Federico Luppi), keeps a collection of infants preserved dead from spina bifida in spiced rum. Canal+ Spain/Warner Bros. Discovery

Towards the end of the Spanish Civil War, the young son of an upper-class Republican loyalist, Carlos (Fernando Tielve), becomes an orphan. Two loyalists take Carlos to a decrepit makeshift orphanage in the harsh desert run by Carmen (Marisa Paredes) and Dr. Casares (Federico Luppi), who can barely manage the rooms they already have. All the inhabitants are children whose parents are fighting for the republican cause or died trying.

The orphanage also serves as the Republican treasury, and it is an open secret that a treasure trove of gold bars has been hidden there. Thus, the orphanage is a frequent target of Franco’s troops. A deactivated bomb sits in the middle of the yard where the boys are playing, constantly reminding them of the horrors of war and of a mysterious tragedy that happened the very night the bomb was dropped: one of their comrades went missing.

Barcelona’s DDT studios created the ghost of Santi, his face resembling cracked porcelain to denote lost innocence. HBO Max

Carlos thinks he sees the missing child. And he thinks he hears her whispering: “Many of you will die” in the night. As orphanage bullies Jaime, Gálvez, and Owl scold Carlos for being “posh” and believing in ghosts, they soon realize he might be onto something.

Meanwhile, Dr. Casares and Carmen try to figure out what to do with these boys once the Republicans lose. Former orphanage resident and current gardener Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega) and his fiancée Conchita (Irene Visedo) are also loyalists who know Franco’s victory is inevitable. Their master plan for their future together? Rob Republicans.

But everyone’s plans hit a wall when the origins of the specter – and his killer – are revealed, prompting both supernatural and mundane allegiances to be made in the pursuit of justice and revenge.

Dr Casares, Carlos and Jaime. HBO Max

The Devil’s Backbone was well received and has spent the past two decades gaining more success. Even Taylor Swift couldn’t help but be charmed, quoting her and del Toro’s other political fantasy films as some of his biggest inspirations. “I remember watching two Guillermo del Toro films back to back – The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth – and my whole world became fairy tales,” she said during a panel at the Toronto Film Festival in 2022.

If Taylor’s word isn’t enough, The New York Times noted that The Devil’s Backbone “balances fear with tenderness”, and Bloody disgusting dubbed it “alternately a harrowing portrait of wartime childhood and a chilling, evocative nightmare”. It did not do particularly well at the box office, however.

The Devil’s Backbone was filmed in the suburbs of Madrid. HBO Max

“I’d rather get the good story to fewer people than the bad story to more people.” del Toro said in a 2001 interview with IndieWire. “I break my ass for the movies I make to at least look really good. I try to make them beautiful and I try to make them look big, within their budget.

And that’s what he did. With a heartbreaking story that harmoniously mixes hauntings and anti-fascist propaganda, The Devil’s Backbone is packed with awe-inspiring Spanish scenery, sharp period costumes, and meticulous stage design to stir up all the thrills (and ghosts).

“A movie about ghosts erased all the ghosts from my past. A film about loss brought me back to life. A story of orphans gave me a family of filmmakers,” del Toro wrote in a 2017 retrospective. “Disguised as a gothic tale, The Devil’s Backbone hides a beating heart and a story about loss and the ghosts of regret. It is a worthy “adventure of a boy” and a little fable full of melancholy. This film is full of love and worthy of love. I hope you will agree.

The Devil’s Backbone diffuse on HBO Max.