7/10 -> B-

It has all the right ingredients as El laberinto del fauno, but the final product isn't as magical and enticing as it.

The characters are well thought out, but some of them feel misused. The story screams a wonderful fairytale with a ghost twist, but the movie's atmosphere never manages to fully give it that feeling.

I love El laberinto del fauno. No matter how many times I see it I'm always fascinated. El espinazo del diablo is rather good but I cannot help myself feeling disappointed as it fails to approach ELDF on every single aspect. I compare the two as they definitely feel like companion pieces.

This has been on my watch list from the moment Pan’s Labyrinth ended, but for whatever reasons it took over thirteen years to get around to it. I’d say it was worth the wait though. It’s a little slow at first, though this is mostly the movie distracting us with a ghost story while the real monster of the story, Jacinto, is built up. What an asshole that guy is, starting as bitter but still sympathetic. He works at an orphanage and though he cuts one of the kids, seems to immediately feel remorse about it. But then, little by little, he becomes a full fascist prick and ends up killing over half the cast. GDT sure knows how to make a monster and it’s never the one you first expect (except in Shape of Water where everything was obvious right away.)

Loved the scene where the kids realize they’ll need to fight to make it out of there alive.