‘The Devils Backbone’ is set in Spain during the final days of the Spanish Civil War. Francisco Franco’s fascists have victory within their sights, and in a small orphanage the children from Republican families await their fate. In an effort to fool the fascists Casares (Frederico Luppi) and Carmen (Marisa Paredes), an old couple who run the orphanage, have erected a giant crucifix on its roof, hoping to disguise the institution as a Catholic school. In the courtyard an unexploded fascist bomb sits ominously on its nose, embedded into the dirt.

At the same time Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), the charismatic groundskeeper has his eyes on a cache of gold hidden at the orphanage thatis used to fund the Republican's war effort. He’s engaged to the orphanage’s cook, but that doesn’t stop him sneaking into Carmen’s room at night. Their lovemaking is a torment to the impotent Casares, who adores Carmen but can no longer satisfy her. Jacnito is of course, only interested in the gold and his late night visits are used to find out more about the whereabouts of the gold.

This is a film that from the very outset marks itself as ambitious; combining a boy’s adventure story, a classic ghost story and some high brow political allegory all in one film. It would have been very easy for Del Toro to lose his way with this film but at no point does the film lose direction or impact. Any director of a ghost film is also faced with the problem of how to portray the ghost. Put a single foot wrong and the effect produced is laughter rather than scares and it is certainly a fine line to traverse. Thankfully Del Toro handles the images of Santi brilliantly. The spirit is glimpsed only briefly but appears as a transparent, hollow eyed child, that shimmers and wavers as if it were underwater. Blood flows from a wound in his head and his whispers are heard throughout the orphanage. As far as the horror goes Del Toro keeps it short and punchy. He gives us punctuated bursts of suspense and surprise interspersed with quieter more introspective scenes illustrating the turmoil caused by the Civil War rampaging across the country. As such what Del Toro creates is not an out and out horror film but something that hints at a horrific event. Del Toro uses tense scenes and a sense of danger (through Carlos) to create a nerve jangling experience. As Carlos explores the ruinous orphanage in the foreboding gloom you can literally feel the suspense and danger hanging from every scene.

The star of the show though, is definitely Eduardo Noriega who is superb as the ‘snake in the grass’ type character, Jacinto. On the surface he is the charming and charismatic fiance to the resident maid but beneath his false exterior lurks a much darker character. Fuelled by greed, the malicious Jacinto will stop at nothing to get his hand on the gold that is reportedly hidden within the orphanage. When nobody is around he is violent and abusive to the children and in one scene he recklessly attacks Carlos when he finds him snooping around in the cellar. I feel I should also mention Junio Valverde who plays the rather limited role of Santi. To be honest he has very little do other than look spooky but he certainly pulls this off with a little help from some excellent special effects.