I am personally embarrassed that SquidFlicks has existed for a decade and has never given Guillermo Del Toro’s masterpiece it’s proper due review. That changes now. This is the quintessential primer to understand Del Toro’s fascination and talent at telling the ‘monster’ story through all his cinematic endeavors.
Set during the viciously violent (and often overlooked as a footnote during World War II) Francoist era in the years after the Spanish Civil War (1944), a young girl, Ofelia, along with her mother and unborn baby brother are escorted to a chateau in the dense forest of the Spanish countryside to bunker down with an enclave of fascist forces led by her adopted father, Captain Vidal.