Metacritic reviews

Del Toro builds excitement, dread, and melodrama in equal layers.

Here is a ghost story so dynamic you could call it a ghost poem.

An entertaining and atmospheric revenge tale.

The sensitive art-house viewer should be warned: Though slow-moving at first, the film ends in explosions and violent death, with a level of sadism that will undoubtedly prove too intense for some viewers.

Brooding ghost story is rich with psychological and political implications that never obscure its fundamental creepiness.

After a leisurely first half, The Devil's Backbone becomes utterly spellbinding, its tension mounting in steady increments, its story taking one dark turn after another, and its bittersweet resolution destined to haunt you long after you've left the theater.

The film doesn't explore the nature of ghosts, as it promises to initially, but it's fun to watch Del Toro confront death and fear with such energy and humor.

A seductively corrosive horror story that also potently suggests the ways war can shatter childhood.

Creepy and compelling and beautifully shot, The Devil's Backbone is a tale of the supernatural that feels completely natural. Its realness is what makes it so scary.

That The Devil's Backbone makes any sense at all -- with its many, swirling plotlines -- seems like a little wonder.