No complaining today (sorry for excreting my bile all over this site, but, hey, it's my site)

Movie stuff!!!

Watched The Devil's Backbone, the acclaimed Spanish film from the director of the not-so-acclaimed Blade 2. I learned along time ago that we shouldn't judge a foreign director by his first few English language films. Did not John Woo direct a Van Damme film? Actually all Woo's English films suck (yes, even Face Off), so he's a bad example. Anyway, I digress. DB is a tightly knit little thriller/drama set at an orphanage/school in Revolutionary Spain. Not only does the orphanage have its share of dirty little secrets, it also has a ghost, "the one who sighs." Not giving too much away, the ghost wants to avenge himself on his killer.
What I particularly liked about this film is that it avoids the traps of modern Hollywood ghost stories of pushing the special effects down our throats. The effects of this film (with the notable exception of the ghost's skeleton being visible when he walks) are kept to a minimum. There aren't large computer generated figures, a la House of Haunted Hill or the Haunting. The terror comes more from atmosphere and implication.
To characterize this film as a horror film, though is to do it a grave disservice. Sure, the ghost is important, but the story is about so much more. In fact, this is likely why many people might find it too boring. There isn't enough terror and too much plot for most diehard horror fans.