The Devil's Backbone · reception & legacy

2001 · Guillermo del Toro

How The Devil's Backbone has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A well-reviewed arthouse ghost story in 2001 that stayed a connoisseur's pick until Pan's Labyrinth blew up in 2006 — after which everyone went back and discovered its 'brother' film, and a 2013 Criterion release sealed the reappraisal.

What's debated

The evergreen fight it starts: is this actually better than Pan's Labyrinth — the leaner, sadder, more perfect of del Toro's two Spanish Civil War films?

Its footprint

The opening question 'What is a ghost?' is one of the most quoted lines in modern horror, and the image of Santi — the pale boy with blood drifting upward from his wound — is endlessly referenced as the gold standard of movie-ghost design.

Where it stands

A canon climber turned consensus pick: Criterion-approved, a fixture on best-ghost-story-ever lists, and the reliable 'if you loved Pan's Labyrinth, you must see this' recommendation.

★ Did you know? Del Toro originally conceived the story as taking place during the Mexican Revolution, but relocated it to the Spanish Civil War when Pedro Almodóvar and his brother Agustín came aboard as producers through their company El Deseo — del Toro has called it one of his most personal films.

Named by the director

Influences Guillermo del Toro has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) — Del Toro has repeatedly cited Víctor Erice's film as a touchstone for telling a Spanish Civil War story through a child's eyes.
Carlos Enrique Taboada — Del Toro has cited the Mexican gothic-horror director as the root of his ghost-story sensibility in this film.