Pan’s Labyrinth: there are easier ways to become a communist

by Ross Catrow

RMSzero and I ventured out of the (relative) safety of the city limits to catch a flick at the Short Pump Move Complex. Aside: Isn’t it odd that when you live inside the city limits you feel more comfortable among bums and transvestitutes than rent-a-cops and soccer mom’s that insist on driving while chatting it up with their bestest girlfriend about neighbor Dave and how Kimberly saw him eating dinner at the clubhouse with Ashley the sixteen year old babysiter?

Anywhoo, don’t worry about us. We went, we saw, and we got the hell out of their alive — barely. The movie on the menu was Pan’s Labyrinth or El Laberinto del Fauno, directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro is a mexican director “famous” for directing Hellboy and Blade II.

His dad was also kidnapped in 1988, wtf?

Pan’s Labyrinth is an interesting amalgamation of fantasy, horror, and war story. Basically what we have here is a fairy tale set during the Spanish Civil War with an appropriate amount of gristle. I’ll will admit, however, I had to squint at the screen during a scene that involved the SEWING OF HUMAN FLESH. I mean, some shit I just can’t handle.

I thought the visuals were awesome, specifically the creature design. I would have been happy, no happier, if we could just drop the whole Spanish Civil War thing and do more of the running away from creepy well designed monsters thing. But hey there was, as RMSzero said, “lots of plot.” YMMV.

The most interesting thing about Pan, other than the preview of 300 before the movie started, was the melding of horror and fairy tale. This isn’t a new idea, but one that we’ve forgotten about apparently. You might even say that this was how fairy tales started out before those bastards at Disney got ahold of them. Something about a horror flick starring an innocent little kid makes it EVEN MORE HORRORFUL.

I’d say, three point five stars baby — more for the visuals and the genre blending than anything else.

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