El espinazo del diablo (2001)

 

After Carlos - a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War - arrives at an ominous boys' orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets which he must uncover. 

More than just a simple ghost story this assuredly directed and beautifully photographed Gothic tale is also a tale about compassion, avarice and political commitment and is both spooky and moving.

Halliwell**: "Elegant, chilling tale of greed and repression that also serves as a political allegory of the times."

Maltin***1/2: "A fascinating ghost story with multiple layers, strikingly shot and designed." 

La piel que habito (2011)

 

 

A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage, and his guinea pig is a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession.

Pedro Almodóvar successfully presents a very personal homage to old-school horror, with an especially obvious wink to Les yeux sans visage, all in the guise of an off-kilter melodrama.
 

Maltin**1/2: "Unusually bizarre Almodovar offering...A provocative mix of horror and melodrama with clear echoes of Frankenstein, slickly filmed and designed. Full of the filmmaker's usual explorations of identity and gender - which, ironically, stays too frustratingly close to its stylish surface and never delivers the full emotional impact it should. Banderas is appropriately intense as the obsessive doctor..."