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Guillermo Del Toro is a truly unique and visionary director. He’s most at home telling dark stories, usually centering on monsters, but manages to imbue these narratives with deep emotion. Del Toro has an eye for striking images and a keen interest in weighty topics – whether it’s the Spanish Civil War in Pan’s Labyrinth or loneliness in The Shape of Water.
His latest movie, Pinocchio, is one of the most gorgeous films of the year, featuring excellent puppetry by the company Mackinnon & Saunders. Like all of Del Toro’s projects, Pinocchio is the product of the diverse influences that’ve shaped him. Indeed, Guillermo Del Toro is an avid movie buff, who often takes to Twitter to share movie recommendations with his fans.
‘The Counselor’ (2013)
The Counselor is a crime film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt. Despite the star-studded cast, it’s one of Scott’s lesser-known movies. However, Del Toro is a huge fan of it and considers it “unappreciated”.
According to Del Toro, “The Counselor to me is filled with things that, as a Mexican, I understand on that level. I know that death, and finality, and tragedy exist right around the corner in everybody’s life. And that once you cross that line […] the world will not take you back.”
‘Vampires’ (1998)
Vampires is a neo-Western horror from legendary director John Carpenter. The movie follows a vampire hunter (James Woods) trying to find a Catholic relic before the vampires do. If the bloodsuckers get hold of it, it will allow them to walk freely in the daylight.
Vampires was a box office disappointment, barely recouping its budget and drawing negative reviews. Del Toro is one of its few defenders. “James Woods’ Jack Crow is 100% worthy of the Carpenter Pantheon of hardasses along with Snake, Napoleon, Nada, etc.” Del Toro says, “John Carpenter is one tough motherf—er.”
‘Arcane Sorcerer’ (1996)
Giacomo (Stefano Dionisi), a young priest, is expelled from the church after he gets a young woman pregnant. With nowhere to go, he takes shelter with another excommunicated clergyman. However, things take a turn for the macabre when Giacomo finds out that the man was banished for dabbling in the dark arts.
Giacomo is soon embroiled in a plot involving illusions and the raising of the dead. Del Toro calledArcane Sorcerer “eerie, subtle, and well-documented.” “It’s an incredibly well-researched, pastoral, spiritual horror movie,” he says. “The rhythm and style of it are hard to describe. It’s the Barry Lyndon of horror films.”
‘The House on Carroll Street’ (1988)
Set during the time of the McCarthyist witch hunts, the neo-noir drama The House on Carroll Street follows a journalist (Kelly McGillis) who is blacklisted after she refuses to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. She soon teams up with an FBI agent (Jeff Daniels) and the pair of them investigate a plot to smuggle Nazi war criminals into the United States.
Del Toro says that he’s watched The House on Carroll Street about six times. “Wonderfully produced and directed by Peter Yates,” he wrote in a tweet. “Fabulous Hitchcockian set piece at the end, magnificent actors all, and an out-of-this-world score by Georges Delerue (a Titan).”
‘Man Facing Southeast’ (1986)
Man Facing Southeast is an Argentine sci-fi beloved in its home country but not very well-known outside of it. The movie focuses on Rantés (Hugo Soto), a patient in a mental institution who claims to be alien from outer space. The 2001 American film K-PAX has the same premise but does not credit Man Facing Southeast.
Man Facing Southeast makes for a gripping and thought-provoking sci-fi, with a sharp script and terrific acting. It arguably tops the English-language ripoff. Del Toro called it a “powerful spiritual drama, now almost forgotten. Worth seeking immediately.”
‘Watcher’ (2022)
Watcher is the feature debut from writer-director Chloe Okuno. The movie follows Julia (Maika Monroe), a young woman who moves to Romania with her boyfriend (Karl Glusman) after he’s offered a job there. She doesn’t speak Romanian and is lonely in the new environment. Her paranoia grows after reports emerge that a serial killer has been picking off young women in the city.
Soon after, Julia notices a shadowy figure watching her from a neighboring building, and her terror escalates. This creates cracks in her relationship, as even she isn’t sure whether the threat is real or all in her head. Okuno emphasizes these themes with the camera itself, which follows Julia in a way that is voyeuristic and predatory. “This is a compelling, visually precise, and really handsomely mounted thriller,” per Del Toro. “And the way architecture and frames constrain the characters is nifty and cool.”
‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe’ (2016)
Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch star in The Autopsy of Jane Doe as father-and-son coroners who work in a mortuary. One night, they are tasked with examining the body of an unidentified woman. The police suspect she has been murdered, but cannot ascertain her cause of death. A massive storm strikes, trapping the two men in the building. Soon, unexplainable events begin to take place, and it becomes clear that the dead woman is connected to something supernatural – and out for vengeance.
It’s a slow-burner that packs some killer frights and builds up to an incendiary climax. Del Toro called the film “a fun, stylish, beautifully built funhouse of horror!” Edgar Wright is also a big fan. “The Autopsy Of Jane Doe is that rare horror movie that finds completely fresh scares from beyond the grave,” he tweeted. Well conceived, funny & scary!”
‘Emily the Criminal’ (2022)
Aubrey Plaza delivers her most intense and realistic performance yet in Emily the Criminal, playing a young woman struggling to get by. First, she’s involved in minor credit fraud, but this escalates to grand theft auto and more. She finds that she’s well-suited for life outside the law, but the situation quickly becomes unstable when her associate Youcef (Theo Rossi) is betrayed.
Emily the Criminal is an entertaining movie, but also a relevant and perceptive one. It explores real-world issues around poverty and the lengths people must often go to to survive. Del Toro called it an, “Incredible debut film. A real, tough crime film. No sentimentalism, no easy answers, no manipulation- just truth. [Plaza] handles the nuances and keeps the lid on the slow-burn rage and power – until the finale. Theo Rossi is fab!!”
‘I’m No Longer Here’ (2019)
I’m No Longer Here is a Mexican drama about the teenage members of a gang. After the leader (Juan Daniel Garcia Treviño) gets entangled with a rival cartel, he has to flee to the United States. However, he struggles to get by and eventually returns to Mexico, where he finds that the world he knew has changed.
Del Toro has gushed about I’m No Longer Here on multiple occasions. “I think that it’s rare to find a movie being done so early in the career of a young filmmaker that has the wisdom and the complete control of the medium that is formally impeccable but, at the same time, very, very free narratively,” he has said.
‘Killing’ (2018)
Killing is a Japanese period film set in the mid-19th century. The movie follows a masterless samurai (Sosuke Ikematsu) as he wanders the landscape with war on the horizon. It’s a gritty take on the violence of that era, with a powerful and nuanced lead performance from Ikematsu. The focus is more on the characters than on the action.
Killing is directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, most famous for his Tetsuo cyberpunk movies. In a tweet, Del Toro called Killing a “brutal fable about the Samurai as weapon – the purpose of the sword. Of a piece thematically with [Tsukamoto’s] punk Tetsuos.”
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