A very personal career
Guillermo del Toro is the perfect example of a filmmaker who, dazzled from a young age by the horror and fantasy stories of his particular universe, has grown up influenced by all sorts of cultural references that include even an excessive passion for classics of Japanese popular culture, such as AstroBoy, The Knight Princess either Godzilla. Although in many of his productions we can see common elements that have supernatural creatures and the presence of diabolical beings as their main obsession.
In addition, Guillermo del Toro is not a conventional director in the stories he narrates and always seeks to offer a final twist that surprises the viewer. It is true that sometimes he has been restricted by the comics and the original sources that he should respect, but in others he has unleashed all his power of sleight of hand to wrap the viewer in his most personal world to make him a part of it until the last minute. .
And if that was not enough, Guillermo del Toro is passionate about video games and the audiovisual language that can be developed through them, which is why he has come to collaborate with Hideo Kojima in that PT which was no more than a simple demo for PS4 in 2014. Later, he even appeared as one more character in Death Strandingthe work of Kojima Productions for PS4 (and later PC), although he only put his physique, not his voice or his interpretation.
Your Spanish collaboration
Guillermo del Todo is a director who, in addition, has been very close with the Spanish film industry since in 2001 and 2006 he made two films that are considered among the best of the Mexican: The Devil’s backbone Y The Pan’s Labyrinthwhich are set in the Spanish Civil War, even in the post-war itself, and which are an extraordinary exercise in good cinema that were sponsored at the time, especially the first one, by the Almodóvar brothers, both Agustín and Pedro.
The best films of Guillermo del Toro
Without further ado, we are going to list the best films of the Mexican filmography, ordered from worst to best according to the ranking that each one occupies on IMDb which, as you know, is the most important website in the world where you can find any information about cinema, television, etc. An assessment that is the result of the votes left by the millions of visitors who pass through its pages daily.
These are his best movies:
Mimic (1997)
Purely horror film, which had quite a run in theaters and deals with the story of Dr. Susan Tyler, an entomologist who created a genetically modified insect capable of killing cockroaches. The problem is that everything will go wrong and soon these creatures will seek to exterminate humanity. Good job by Guillermo del Toro that helped him tell the industry what he was capable of.
Score on IMDb: 6
Scarlet Summit (2015)
A family tragedy marks the beginning of the story of a writer who finds herself at the crossroads of giving herself over to the love of an old childhood friend or a stranger who appears in her life. By the way, will try to escape from the ghosts of the past inside a mansion that breathes, bleeds and remembers. A very interesting and little known film of the Mexican. Give it a try.
Score on IMDb: 6.5
Chronos (1993)
A strange device capable of giving its owner eternal life reappears 400 years after it was last sighted. The problem is that it is now leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. A curious film in which it is already possible to see some of the characteristics that later made the Mexican director famous.
Score on IMDb: 6.7
Blade II (2002)
The second installment of this Marvel hero was carried out by Guillermo del Toro and maintained the line followed by the original film. Comic book fans applauded the Mexican’s work, although for the third film the production company decided to replace him with another director. a pity, because Surely the end result would have been better.
Score on IMDb: 6.7
Hellboy (2004)
This is surely one of the films that mark the career of Guillermo del Toro because his work with this character catapulted him to the glittering stardom of Hollywood directors. Not so much to take care of productions aspiring to the Oscars, but for that genre of entertainment that already in the first years of the 21st century pointed towards superheroes. Spectacular work by one of the Mexican’s fetish actors: Ron Perlman.
Score on IMDb: 6.8
Pacific Rim (2013)
This movie is the demonstration of Guillermo del Toro’s passion for everything that has to do with Japanese culturethe highlights and the kaijus. This production, which has millions of fans around the world, is a very personal vision of that popcorn cinema in which the world is destroyed between wild and spectacular fights between titans that destroy cities in their path. Unpretentious entertainment.
Score on IMDb: 6.9
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
After the success of hell boy, Guillermo del Toro faced his continuation four years laterhey the result was even better. Surely many of the formulas had already been advanced in the first installment but The Golden Army it meant the consecration of Ron Perlman as the authentic Hellboy that we all keep in our memory. Above all, once seen the film that was released in 2019, which was very far from the work done with the character by the Mexican director.
Score on IMDb: 7
The Alley of Lost Souls (2021)
Extraordinary movie that is perfect example of that grotesque and fantastic universe in equal parts through which Guillermo del Toro’s characters move. A story of losers that when they find fame they don’t know how to handle it and that sometimes resorts to the fantastic factor to offer us a captivating story that always remains at the mercy of those plot twists that Guillermo del Toro likes so much.
Score on IMDb: 7
The Shape of Water (2017)
For many, Guillermo del Toro’s most personal film. A love story between a woman and a strange creature that looks like the mythical Swamp Thing, and that left us with some of the most iconic sequences in modern cinema. It was very successful and proof of this were the two Oscars it won at the 90th edition for Best Film and Best Director. What more could you want?
Score on IMDb: 7.3
The Devil’s Backbone (2001)
We have reached the height of Guillermo del Toro’s career. A film starring Eduardo Noriega and that tells the story of a boy who, during the Spanish Civil War and the postwar period, ends up in an orphanage where he discovers that some strange creatures live. Pure essence born from the imagination of the Mexican director.
Score on IMDb: 7.4
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
If it’s not the shape of waterthen it will be The Pan’s Labyrinth what we can consider the best film by Guillermo del Toro. A fable set in the Spanish Civil War where the daughter of a wild army officer seeks refuge in a fantasy world inhabited by a mysterious Faun. She captivating, surprising and shocking.
Score on IMDb: 8.2
