Blu-ray Review: Criterion Dissects Del Toro’s Brilliant ‘Devil’s Backbone’

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CHICAGO – Criterion Collection Blu-ray releases start from a more critically safe place than most films simply by their selection process. What I mean is that it’s easier to produce a quality Blu-ray from a Kurosawa or Hitchcock film than, say, “Scary Movie 5.” The implied stamp of quality given to the film itself before you even see the transfer or special features elevates the way we approach the material.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

However, Criterion certainly does much more than merely present their chosen classics. Take the case of “The Devil’s Backbone,” a film I know and love, one of the best horror flicks of the ’00s and the second-best film that “Pacific Rim” director Guillermo Del Toro has ever made. The special features for “The Devil’s Backbone” don’t just accompany this gorgeous, perfectly-transferred master-work, they enhance your appreciation of it. There are few people in the industry smarter than Del Toro and so getting him to do a commentary track in which he not only talks about his film but the horror and fairy tale genres as a whole is something that should be played in film classes. Seriously, you’ll get more out of the special features on “The Devil’s Backbone” than most days at film school. Del Toro dissects the history that led to his film — both culturally and personally — through a series of fantastic special features. It’s one of the best Blu-ray releases of the year.

The Devil’s Backbone was released on Criterion Blu-ray and DVD on July 30, 2013
Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

Synopsis:
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 tell 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.

Special Features:
o Audio Commentary Featuring Del Toro
o Video Introduction By Del Toro From 2010
o Trailer
o New Interviews With Del Toro About The Creation Of His Film
o Que Es Un Fantasma? A 2004 Making Of Documentary
o Interactive Director’s Notebook
o Four Deleted Scenes, With Commentary By Del Toro
o New Interview With Scholar Sebastiaan Faber About The Film’s Depiction Of The Spanish Civil War
o Program Comparing Del Toro’s Thumbnail Sketches And Carlos Gimenez’s Storyboards With The Final Film
o Essay By Critic Mark Kermode

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com