El Espinazo del diablo

Or, otherwise known as “The Devil’s Backbone.”

Or yet otherwise known as a rousing good tale from writer-director Guillermo del Toro (of Pan’s Labryinth fame). I watched it in one gasp, while coughing from a nasty chest cold. It is a refreshing ghost story, one well suited to a hot summer’s day. It is thankfully free from cliches — the screaming babe, the hand from behind, the joke scares, the ominous camera pans, and the pointy teeth.

Instead you are treated to a clean ghost story, in an isolated school for boys in World War I-era Spain. Rent it, and treat yourself to it if you haven’t seen it!