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.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New, restored 2K digital film transfer, supervised by director Guillermo del Toro and director of photography 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 and archival interviews with Del Toro about the creation of his film
¿Que es un fantasma?, a 2004 making-of documentary
Interactive director’s notebook
Four deleted scenes, with commentary by del Toro
New interview with scholar Sebastiaan Faber about the film’s depiction of the Spanish Civil War
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 (Blu-ray edition only)
Trailer
New English subtitle translation by del Toro
PLUS: An essay by critic Mark Kermode
