A trio of films by the acclaimed Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. Cronos (1993): A strange object the Cronos device has been found inside the statue of an angel in an antique store. While the dealer Jesus Gris is holding the device it springs open & its metallic legs pierces his flesh. Once bitten he develops a craving for human blood & his body grows more & more youthful with each drink. As the addiction spreads through his body he realizes he desires the blood of his innocent granddaughter... The Devil's Backbone (2001): A deliciously dark horror The Devil's Backbone tells the tale of a remote Spanish orphanage during the final days of The Spanish Civil War whose young inhabitants are brutally terrorised by Santi a decomposing spirit who stalks the building's dark decaying hallways. But as the film builds to a grisly explosive finale the children learn the true story of Santi's death & rise up to vow a deadly vengeance on his vicious murderer. Produced by Pedro Almodovar & brilliantly photographed for maximum suspence by leading cinematographer Guillermo Navarra The Devil's Backbone is a truly haunting memorable ghost story. Pan's Labyrinth (2006): the story of a young girl that travels with her mother & adoptive father to a rural area up North in Spain 1944
- after Franco's victory. The girl lives in an imaginary world of her own creation & faces the real world with much chagrin. Post-war Fascist repression is at its height in rural Spain & the girl must come to terms with that through a fable of her own.