For the final entry in our anniversary series, return to the labyrinth for this dark fantasy fable from Mexican director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pacific Rim). One of the most acclaimed and visually stunning films of the year!

In the 1940s after the Spanish Civil War, a young girl named Ofelia (Baquero) accompanies her pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to live with her new stepfather, cruel army captain Vidal (Lopez). As he continues to lead his men in their hunt for rebels, Ofelia embarks on her own adventure and escapes into a fantasy world to find her real father.

Pan’s Labyrinth is a phantasmagoria for grownups. I repeat, for grownups. Yes, if you look this film up on the Internet, it proves irresistible for curious minds. However, be warned that you might feel depressed (or relieved, depends on which perspective you use) once it ends. It is violent, brutal, and downright hopeless, but it is also wild and beautiful at the same time, and creates a powerful, gloriously dream-like world in which anything feels possible.

The intertwining of the real and the fantasy worlds is captivating, though Ofelia’s real world was so unbearable that I found myself anticipating when the faun and other fantasy creatures would return to grace the screen. Which is probably exactly what crafty director del Toro intended: to make the audience relate to Ofelia’s reason for escaping and becoming a princess of an underground kingdom. The ending of the film is also left open to interpretation, and you might face a difficult choice in deciding whose perspective the events took.

Look out for many not-so-subtle artwork references to Germanic folklore such as the Krampus, Ruben’s depiction of child-eating God Cronus, and the red shoes of The Wizard of Oz (thanks to YouTube reviewer nerdwriter1 for pointing these out in your awesome video).