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While "Devil's Backbone" is billed primarily as a ghost story, the ghost story in it is actually the weakest part (I resisted the urge to say "link"). This is not to say that it's bad, it's just not terribly scary or original. It's of the typical "ghost seeks revenge on murderer" variety, the ghost in this case being that of a young boy named Santi who was murdered in an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War, his body tossed into a deep pool of water. The ghost of Santi is a pretty creepy-looking thing, and the film boasts one of the coolest ghost effects by making the kid look like he's underwater, blood streaming from his wounds, whenever he appears. But the movie makes the mistake of revealing too much too soon, and we quickly get used to seeing the corpse-like ghoul until the impact of his presence is lost.

However, the film excels in most other areas. The acting from everyone is top-notch, even the kids. The story is well scripted, and the direction from Guillermo del Toro is excellent (I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does with "Blade 2"). The film is set in the aformentioned period of the Spanish Civil War, in an orphanage for boys that is also a front for the communist revolutionaries who hide their gold their, and occasionally show up for food, or to drop off another kid who has been orphaned by the cause. This time, they drop off young Carlos (Fernando Tielve) who doesn't realize yet that his parents have been killed. The first thing Carlos sees in the courtyard is a huge unexploded bomb that was accidentally dropped by government planes, but never went off. It was supposedly disarmed, though most of the kids there don't believe it. They say if you listen close enough, you can still hear its heart ticking.

Carlos is harassed at first by Jaime (Íńigo Garcés), the bigger, older boy and prerequisite bully. However, as time goes by they become uneasy friends, united against a greater evil. That evil comes in the form of Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), a former orphan who has now grown up to be a caretaker at the orphanage that he despises. He is not a nice guy to the kids, mistreats his beautiful young girlfriend (Irene Visedo), and sleeps with the headmistress, Carmen (Marisa Paredes) so that he can try and get at the gold she is hiding for the revolutionaries. Meanwhile, Doctor Casares (Federico Luppi) takes Carlos under his wing as a mentor and father figure, while trying to protect him from Jacinto and hide his unrequited love for Carmen.

Not long after he arrives, Carlos begins to hear, then see, the specter of Santi, who warns him that "many of you will die." Santi comes to Carlos to bear that warning, but also to enlist his help in seeking revenge.

As with most good foreign films, you will quickly forget you are reading subtitles and get swept up in the story. It helped that I already speak some Spanish, although the Castellano accents threw me off in places, so I was glad the subtitles were there. The subtitles were quite good, however, in conveying the spirit of the dialogue, even when literal translations weren't quite possible. The end result is a film full of mystery, intrigue, a fair ammount of violence, and some interesting philosiphizing in the form of Doctor Casares' narration. Like one of my other favorite horror films in recent memory, "Session 9", the last few lines of dialouge in "Devil's Backbone" will stay with you for quite some time.

So, although it's not quite as scary as I'd hoped (but then, I'm jaded and therefore difficult to scare), it is nonetheless a very well-made film. Check it out when it hits the art house near you. Hopefully you won't have to dodge the homeless dudes throwing folding chairs at each other on the corner when you leave the theater, though.

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originally posted: 01/16/02 18:02:43
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