If you’re a fan of dark fantasy, Grimm type fairytales, or Guillermo del Toro, I highly recommend the movie Pan’s Labyrinth. One of the many things that has stuck with me in addition to the amazing visuals, haunting story, and Guillermo del Toro’s wonderful creepy creatures is an exploration of the monstrous.

In the movie, a woman marries a Captain in the Spanish army, under the new facist regime, after the Spanish Civil War in 1944. The woman is pregnant with the Captain’s child, and the Captain really only cares about his unborn child. As the mother becomes increasingly ill during her pregnancy, the young girl stumbles upon a magical labyrinth and encounters a faun-like creature, who send her on a series of trials to maintain her essence, as the faun believes she is the reincarnation of a princess of the underworld. Continue reading →