Pick of the Week

This week's pick is none other than: The Devil's Backbone: Special Edition, or in it's untranslated form: El Espinazo del diablo. I know, I could have taken the easy route and chosen another favorite in Hellboy, but I wanted to go another route. Sure, they're both by the same director, Guillermo del Toro, but how many of you have heard of The Devil's Backbone? Probably not as many as would like to. It was previously released a little over two years ago, I had snapped it up back then as soon as I found it. Turned out to be a hard disk to find, you know, not being a major release, being subtitled, and not starring anyone familiar, the orders were not terribly high for it. But, for those who had read about, or did see it on the shelf and make it part of their collection would be surprised to find an intelligent, well-acted, and genuinely creepy film.

Now, this movie seems to be a bit of a departure for del Toro, especially if you are familiar with his other films which tended to be much higher energy and horror/action related. There is even a good chance that many of you reading this have even seen one or two of his films. They include the Mira Sorvino bug horror film Mimic, the fantastic vampire battle Blade II, and the aforementioned Hellboy. This time around we get a quieter tale of an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. It is a tale of boys living here with the ever present unexploded bomb in the courtyard, and the ghost of previous inhabitants. It is a great dramatic film with nice pacing and a real creepy aura too it. I guess you could compare it to something like The Others or The Sixth Sense, for the mood. Definitely something you should check out.

There are a few other titles of note to check out this week:

• Andromeda Season 2: It's a little corny, but really addicting.
• Attack the Gas Station: A fun Korean comedy, I'm interested to see how good the transfer is on this.
• Garfield and Friends Vol. 1: For all the feline fans. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: the series sequel to the classic film.
• Hellboy: A must own.
• Showgirls: This must have a heckuva cult following to warrant this edition!
• V- The Complete Series: "Here mousey, mousey!"
• Zombi 2 (25th Anniversary Special Edition 2-Disc Set): The unofficial sequel to Dawn of the Dead (which was released as Zombi in Italy), in restored gory glory.
• WWE:Hard Knocks - The Chris Benoit Story: One of the greatest in-ring performers ever gets what appears to be a great 2 disk set.

Nothing interesting on the music front. And that closes out this latest edition of Pick of the Week. Let me know if you like any of these!