The six Guillermo del Toro movies that he couldn’t live without: “Better than I ever imagined”
Few filmmakers immerse themselves in their love of art and cinema as much as Guillermo del Toro, who lives and breathes his craft, constantly surrounding himself with reminders of why he is so dedicated to being a filmmaker.
His house is lined with paintings, sculptures, posters, and memorabilia, from Frankenstein’s monster heads to a life-size model of Ray Harryhausen and his Jason and the Argonauts skeletons. Known as Bleak House, it looks like a real gothic mansion, but inside is not a flesh-eating monster with a thirst for blood, but rather a passionate cinephile and lover of all things horror and fantasy adjacent.
Del Toro has always explored the realm of fantasy and how this intersects with the real world. Most notably, Pan’s Labyrinth demonstrates the fight for escapism in a nightmarish world, following a young girl as she meets various strange creatures in a mystical place away from the horrors of war and her ailing mother.
Judging by images of the filmmaker’s house, it’s like a labyrinth of his own to get lost in, a fantastical escape from outside. Clearly, del Toro’s love for such fantasy and otherworldly horror is all-consuming, and in an interview with Deadline, he called his love for monsters “my religion”.
It’s no surprise, then, that Pan’s Labyrinth sticks out as one of his favourite movies he has ever made, alongside five others that he believes to be the most essential. If you need a beginner’s guide to his world, then one of these six films is probably the greatest starting point – and there’s something for everyone.
He cites his 2001 gothic horror film The Devil’s Backbone as one of his favourites, which, similarly to Pan’s Labyrinth, follows a child during the tumultuous years of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, it’s as moving as it is unnerving, with del Toro mastering the fine line between these emotional poles.
His other gothic film, Crimson Peak, makes the cut, although it takes a romantic route rather than a horrific one, with the Victorian era setting making for a suitably stylish film – the costumes are dramatic and exaggerated, and the colours are beautiful and rich.
Del Toro also recommends his sci-fi spin on the gothic genre, Frankenstein, his most recent endeavour starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi. The filmmaker has always wanted to make his own version of the classic Mary Shelley tale, telling Little White Lies that “the experience of making this film was as good or better than I ever imagined.”
Speaking of monsters, he picked out The Shape of Water, which won ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ at the Academy Awards. The movie sees Sally Hawkins’ lonely lab cleaner fall for a strange amphibious man. While it sounds like an unlikely romance, del Toro injects plenty of pathos into the film, which is a moving portrait of the desire for connection in an isolated world.
Finally, his most unlikely project, yet one he claims to be incredibly proud of, Pacific Rim, another monster film, only one that looks much more Transformers than Frankenstein. Pacific Rim is a lot better than Michael Bay’s film series, however, bringing artistry and depth to a genre that often falls flat in that department. That’s to be expected when del Toro is in charge.
