Studying The Devil's Backbone

James Rose

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March, 2010
Paper, 112 pages, 10 b&w illus.
ISBN: 978-1-906733-09-4
Auteur
$15.00

The Devil’s Backbone (2001) is a Gothic film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, 2006). The story centers on a ghost that haunts an isolated orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. Studying The Devil's Backbone explores the narrative of the film in relation to central concerns, such as genre, theme, iconography, representation, and film language. Through these elements, the volume reads the film’s unique blend of literary Gothic, Western, and War film and the use of bombs, ghosts, and color as visual signifiers. It critiques the central characters and compares their representation of women, monsters, and political context against an examination of mise-en-scene, sound, and special effects. In addition, the author provides a critical biography of del Toro, an analysis of his auteurist traits, and an in-depth bibliography and filmography.

Related Subjects

• Film

Series

• Studying Film (Auteur)

About the Author

James Rose is an independent scholar specializing in Gothic and horror cinema. He has published with a range of international journals, including Vertigo, Splice, Senses of Cinema, Offscreen, MediaMagazine, and Rue Morgue, and is the author of Beyond Hammer: British Horror Cinema Since 1970.

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