The Devil's Backbone (MA 15+) PRESENTED IN 35MM FILM & English Subtitles

The Devil's Backbone (MA 15+, 2001) 25th Anniversary Presented in 35mm Film & English Subtitles by The Revival House Perth

During the final years of the Spanish Civil War, young Carlos (Fernando Tielve) is left at a remote orphanage after his father is killed fighting for the Republican cause. The isolated institution, run by the sympathetic Carmen (Marisa Paredes) and her companion Casares (Federico Luppi), harbours dark secrets: an unexploded bomb sits ominously lodged in the courtyard, and rumours persist of a ghostly boy who haunts the building's shadowy corridors. As Carlos navigates the orphanage's tense social hierarchy and increasingly threatening bullying from an older boy, he begins uncovering the tragic truth behind the ghost's origins, discovering that the institution's buried secrets are as dangerous as the literal violence encroaching from the war outside. This screening presents the original Spanish audio with English subtitles.

Director Guillermo del Toro crafts a haunting, atmospheric ghost story that uses supernatural horror as a lens through which to examine the trauma and moral corrosion of civil war. Del Toro's meticulous visual style renders the orphanage as both a place of genuine danger and eerie, melancholic beauty, using the ghost's presence to embody unresolved historical trauma rather than simple scares. The young ensemble cast brings genuine emotional authenticity to the story's exploration of childhood innocence colliding with adult brutality and wartime violence, while Federico Luppi's performance as the orphanage's ageing caretaker provides the film's moral and emotional anchor. Blending gothic horror atmosphere with genuine political and historical weight, The Devil's Backbone stands as one of del Toro's most personal and thematically rich works, a precursor to the thematic concerns he would later explore in Pan's Labyrinth.

Original format and audio experience of this film faithfully reproduced by The Revival House. Presented in 35mm film and English subtitles unless noted otherwise.

When: Thursday, October 29th at 7:20PM
Where: The Revival House at the Como Theatre
Rating: MA 15+ (Medium level violence)

Del Toro's haunting ghost story channels wartime trauma into gothic horror—experience the original Spanish audio with English subtitles on 35mm film.