Tesis - 1996 **** 1/2

I think that the first part of this film was superb, I was totally gripped to it and couldn't tear my eyes from the screen.

However the last 20 minutes or so lagged just a bit which was a shame because I was enthralled into finding out what the outcome would be.

A young student working on her thesis about AudioVisual Violence on the screen (it took me over 5 hours to realise that the title was actually thesis in Spanish....) unwittingly uncovers a snuff film involving a girl who used to be at her university but mysteriously disappeared several years beforehand. With the help of her slightly sadistic friend who has his own collection of violent and pornographic films, she tries to figure out the connection between the film and the camera that is used.

It's a really excellently made film. A good storyline and very watchable, although Ana Torrent gets a bit annoying after a while.

The Devil's Backbone - 2001 ***

Guillermo del Toro is one of those interesting directors, because he can bring out either a masterpiece (Pan's Labyrinth) or a pretty dire effort (Cronos), as well as a load in between that don't sway you much either way.

The Devil's backbone was bizarre. And I won't deny that it had some very frightening parts, and one of the cutest little boys I've ever seen in a Spanish film, but the story didn't flow right for me, it didn't connect, and I think that is what let it down.

The young boy Carlos, is sent to an orphanage towards the end of the Civil War, and is given the bed of a boy named Santi who died due to a mysterious explosion in the orphanage years ago. Carlos begins to see him as a ghost, but no one else does, and he realises that this is Santi's way of trying to get Carlos to avenge his death, and in the process of doing so, he uncovers some rather terrifying facts about his new home, and the people who live in it.

Del Toro has obviously stolen quite a bit from this for his later work 'The Orphanage' which features several similar ghostly scenes which send shivers down your spine. The war going on around them is significant, but it doesn't quite overpower the story like it did in 'Pan's Labyrinth' and I feel too much time is taken up with pointless scenes that don't add much to the storyline.

Worth a watch for a die hard Del Toro fan however.