Arguably the scariest of Guillermo del Toro’s films to-date, this chilling ghost story takes place in a remote orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. When young Carlos is dumped there following the death of his father, he soon discovers the orphange is haunted. Del Toro would revisit this period of history again for his internationally […] Read more »
Excellent Spanish thriller that takes two seemingly separate story strands and sends them hurtling towards each other with predictably shocking, tragic consequences. In the Spanish countryside on the eve of the civil war, a group of children who can feel no pain are confined to an asylum after being deemed a danger to themselves and […] Read more »
I’ve always appreciated Pedro Almodovar’s films without necessarily calling myself a fan, until he made The Skin I Live In, which quickly became my favourite of his films. Hopes that he might continue in the horror vein have been waylaid, however, as his latest effort goes right back to the crude sex comedies on which […] Read more »
Every man is, in his mind, a cowboy, a potential John Wayne, ready to march into any situation with a gun in each hand, ready to outdo the bad guys and win the woman of his dreams. Or, so the myth goes. But, the sad reality, as this Spanish comedy explores, is a long way […] Read more »
Director Pablo Berger re-locates the Brothers Grimm classic Snow White in the world of Spanish bullfighters, while also harking back to Silent Cinema. Read more »
The great thing about attending a large international film festival like HKIFF is the element of discovery. There is always plenty of variety on offer, much of which even someone like myself – who tries his best to keep track of the year’s buzz titles – knows very little about. Blancanieves was just such a […] Read more »