01
The Devil's Backbone
Why this pick
Del Toro’s earlier ghost story similarly entwines a child’s mythic perception with the violence of the Spanish Civil War, using melancholy gothic imagery rather than simple scares.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE2006 2h 25m MEX
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Pan's Labyrinth
DramaFantasy
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Pan's Labyrinth, try these.
01
02
The Spirit of the Beehive
Why this pick
A child’s imagination becomes a quiet refuge and lens for adult cruelty in postwar Spain; its hushed, amber-toned ambiguity echoes Pan’s Labyrinth’s fable-like emotional weight.
03
The Orphanage
Why this pick
This Spanish gothic tale turns childhood games, old-house mystery, and spectral imagery into an emotionally serious fairy tale with the same tender darkness and mounting dread.
04
Tigers Are Not Afraid
Why this pick
Children facing real-world brutality retreat into a haunted magical-realist world, balancing supernatural unease with fierce empathy and a fairy-tale sense of danger.
05
A Monster Calls
Why this pick
Its towering fantasy visitor gives a young protagonist a visually rich way to confront unbearable adult realities, combining dark storybook imagery with sincere emotional gravity.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
“Innocence has a power evil cannot imagine.”
It's 1944 and the Allies have invaded Nazi-held Europe. In Spain, a troop of soldiers are sent to a remote forest to flush out the rebels. They are led by Capitan Vidal, a murdering sadist, and with him are his new wife Carmen and her daughter from a previous marriage, 11-year-old Ofelia. Ofelia witnesses her stepfather's sadistic brutality and is drawn into Pan's Labyrinth, a magical world of mythical beings.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Ivana Baquero
Ofelia
Maribel Verdú
Mercedes
Doug Jones
Fauno / Pale Man
Ariadna Gil
Carmen
Sergi López
Capitaine Vidal
Álex Angulo
Doctor Ferreiro
Roger Casamajor
Pedro
César Vea
Serrano