Mexican-born auteur Guillermo del Toro hit the Oscar jackpot with his fantastical love story “The Shape of Water” (2017), which took home four prizes including Best Picture and Best Director. But that’s just one of many eye-popping fantasies he has crafted throughout his career. Let’s take a look back at all 12 of del Toro’s films, ranked worst to best.
Del Toro made his feature directing debut with the Spanish-language horror drama “Cronos” (1993), which established him as a maker of dark, visually-stunning fright-fests. The film wrote him a ticket to Hollywood, where he helmed the creepy chiller “Mimic” (1997). Over the next two decades, he would bounce back-and-forth between mainstream American productions (the “Hellboy” films, “Pacific Rim,” “Crimson Peak”) and more personal stories in his native language (“The Devil’s Backbone,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”).
It was for “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006), a fable about a young Mexican girl escaping into a terrifying fantasy realm during the falangist Spain of 1944, that del Toro reaped his first Oscar bid for Best Original Screenplay. The film took home prizes for its cinematography, art direction, and makeup, but lost Best Foreign Language Film to “The Lives of Others.” Del Toro, meanwhile, was bested by Michael Arndt (“Little Miss Sunshine”).
It took 11 years for del Toro to return to the Oscar race with “The Shape of Water,” a romantic fantasy about a mute janitor (Sally Hawkins) who falls in love with a fish man (Doug Jones). The film amassed a whopping 13 nominations and won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Production Design and Best Score. In addition, del Toro swept the major industry prizes for directing, taking home the DGA, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Critics Choice awards.
He returned to the Academy Awards with “Nightmare Alley” starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett. His first animated feature was the glorious “Pinocchio” for Netflix, which also turned out to be an Oscar winner.
Take a tour through our gallery of del Toro movies, including a few for which he should’ve received Oscar nominations.
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12. MIMIC (1997)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Written by Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro, based on “Mimic” by Donald A. Wollheim. Starring Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin, Giancarlo Giannini, Alexander Goodwin, F. Murray Abraham, Charles S. Dutton.
After stunning international audiences with “Cronos,” del Toro brought his unique vision to Hollywood with the creature feature “Mimic.” Mira Sorvino stars as Dr. Susan Tyler, an entomologist who genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a deadly disease. Three years later, Dr. Tyler must battle her own monsters before they destroy humanity. Del Toro famously fought with executive producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein over every aspect of the film, eventually disowning it. Luckily, the newly released director’s cut restores his vision, clearing up some of the narrative confusion caused by too many scissors in the editing room. Even with the famously persnickety Weinsteins breathing down his neck, del Toro manages to fill the screen with many striking images, elevating “Mimic” above its B-movie origins into something much creepier.
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11. BLADE II (2002)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Written by David S. Goyer, based on “Blade” by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. Starring Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Valera, Norman Reedus, Donnie Yen, Luke Goss.
The original “Blade” (1998) wasn’t exactly crying out for a sequel, yet this followup to the Wesley Snipes vampire hunter saga is more entertaining than it has any right to be because of del Toro’s visual flair and obsession with viscera. Snipes stars as the half-man, half-vampire crusader who forms an unholy alliance with the bloodsuckers to combat a new breed of ravenous killers known as the Reapers. Its with these seriously nasty creatures that del Toro shows off his gift for making your worst nightmares come to life. While this is certainly a minor work, it’s still one hell of a fun ride.
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10. CRONOS (1993)
Image Credit: Iguana/Ventana/Imcine/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel, Tamara Shanath.
Del Toro first came to the attention of audiences with this stunning debut about an antiques dealer (Federico Luppi) who discovers an ancient device that grants immortality by drinking the blood of its user. But everything has a price, and the user must in turn consume blood to stay forever young. “Cronos” explores many themes and tropes that would become staples of del Toro’s work: the use of horror and fantasy as metaphor, religious iconography in images, a delicate mixture of comedy and pathos. Despite the obvious growing pains present in any first feature, the film provides a showcase for the immense talent del Toro would soon become.
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9. HELLBOY (2004)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Written by Guillermo del Toro, based on “Hellboy” by Mike Mingola. Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, John Hurt.
With “Hellboy,” del Toro found the ultimate outcast anti-hero. Ron Perlman has the time of his life as the cigar-chomping, demon-slaying devil, who battles the underworld after being conjured by Nazis. The director brings Mike Mingola’s comics to life with splashy, colorful visuals that seem lifted right off the page and onto the screen. He also surrounds Hellboy with a variety of lovable oddballs both human and in-human, including a walking, talking fish boy named Abe Sapien (voiced by David Hyde Pierce and brought to life by Doug Jones) that prefigures the creature from his 2017 masterwork “The Shape of Water.”
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8. PACIFIC RIM (2013)
Image Credit: Legendary Pictures/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written by Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro; Story by Beacham. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Rob Kazinsky, Max Martini, Ron Perlman.
“Pacific Rim” may be del Toro’s most exhilarating entertainment yet, a monsters and robots mashup that’s part “Godzilla,” part “Transformers,” and all fun. Set in the not-too-distant future, the film centers on a war between mankind and giant sea creatures called Kaiju. When conventional weaponry wont do, brave soldiers must operate massive automatons, known as Jaegers, piloted with their bodies and minds. The film is basically an excuse for a bunch of rock ‘em sock ‘em fight sequences, and del Toro stages them with visual style and bravura. He also fills the frame with eye-popping art direction and stunning visual effects that were inexplicably snubbed at the Oscars. “Pacific Rim” never takes itself too seriously, nor should it. Here’s hoping the upcoming sequel can live up to the original.
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7. HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY (2008)
Image Credit: Universal/Dark Horse Comics/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written by Guillermo del Toro, based on “Hellboy” by Mike Mingola. Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt.
Nobody has a knack for sequels like del Toro, and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” is that rare followup that’s better than the original. This installment finds the red devil with a heart of gold (Ron Perlman) doing battle against the mythical underworld when it starts a rebellion against humanity to rule the Earth. Brimming with invention and overflowing with eye-popping creatures (the film reaped an Oscar nomination for its makeup design), this feels like the “Hellboy” movie del Toro wanted to make. Although it was overshadowed by two other summer superhero blockbusters released that summer – “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man” – “Hellboy II” remains a devilish entertainment.
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6. NIGHTMARE ALLEY (2021)
Image Credit: Kerry Hayes/Searchlight Written by Guillermo del Toro, Kim Morgan. Starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn.
Del Toro’s reworking of the 1947 neo-noir film was a bold rethinking of the original material, a blackly cynical look at the nature of good and evil. Bolstered by top-notch performances from Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett and an A-list cast, the film was widely praised for its cinematography and production design in both its carnival-set first half and its upper class digs in its second. (In fact, the film’s visuals were so striking that it was re-released in a black-and-white version in January 2022.) The Academy took notice and nominated “Nightmare Alley” for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, which netted del Toro his fifth Oscar nomination.
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5. CRIMSON PEAK (2015)
Image Credit: Legendary/Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins. Starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver.
And the award for del Toro’s most underrated feature goes to “Crimson Peak,” a seriously spooky ghost story wrapped in a romance with some gothic humor thrown in. The story centers on Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), an aspiring author who falls in love with a mysterious outsider named Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). When tragedy strikes, she abandons her childhood friend (Charlie Hunnam) to marry Thomas and live with him and his sister (Jessica Chastain) in a mansion filled with secrets and spirits. In “Crimson Peak,” you see many of the director’s influences – from Mary Shelley to James Whale to Alfred Hitchcock – yet this is wholly his vision. Del Toro fills the screen with haunting and operatic images that chill audiences to the bone. After being largely ignored upon its release, the film has found a second life much like the scary ghouls that haunt Miss Cushing. Just don’t watch it with the lights out.
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4. THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE (2001)
Image Credit: Canal+Espana/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written by Guillermo del Toro, David Munoz, Antonio Trashorras. Starring Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Fernando Tielve, Inigo Garces.
“The Devil’s Backbone” is in many ways a spiritual cousin to “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006), a ghost story set against real life horrors. In the final days of the Spanish Civil War, a twelve-year-old boy (Fernando Tielve) is sent to live at an ominous orphanage after his freedom fighting father is killed in action. He finds the home haunted by the ghoul of a recently murdered child with unfinished business. Yet as is always the case with del Toro, the real monsters are the human ones. The director proves himself to be a master at creating tension and suspense, making the orphanage a place filled with doom and secrets. It’s also a surprisingly emotional film, another instance of del Toro wearing his heart on his sleeve and creating one of his finest works.
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3. PINOCCHIO (2022)
Image Credit: Netflix Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson. Written by Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale. Voices: Gregory Mann, David Hadley, Ewan McGregor, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman.
Del Toro’s version of “Pinocchio” is far from any Disney version that you’ve ever seen. For one thing, it’s set in fascist Italy in the 1930s, and it’s a world filled with suffering and pain, with no one if grieving more than the kind workcarver Gepetto, who is still in mourning the death of his young son. This is the boy that the wooden puppet Pinocchio is created to replace, and when Pinocchio is given the gift of life, Gepetto worries that a similiar fate will befall him as well. This is much joy in this retelling (and several songs as well!), and del Toro has created a real work of art here, one of the finest pieces of stop-motion animation ever and, in so doing, made one of the best films of his career.
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2. THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017)
Image Credit: Fox Searchlight Written by Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. Story by del Toro. Starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer.
Del Toro’s affinity for monsters has never been so beautifully expressed than in “The Shape of Water,” a romantic creature feature about a mute janitor (Sally Hawkins) who falls in love with a giant fish man (Doug Jones). The screenplay by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor is a delicate balancing act of sci-fi chills, Cold War espionage, and musical comedy, held together by a cineaste at the top of his game. Every character is given multiple dimensions, from Richard Jenkins as the maid’s gay neighbor to Octavia Spencer as her faithful confidant, from Michael Shannon as the villainous government official bent on destroying the creature to Michael Stuhlbarg as the Russian spy anxious to save it. Del Toro has often used monsters as a metaphor for misfits, and at its heart, the film is a heartfelt ode to society’s outcasts. “The Shape of Water” hit the Oscar jackpot, snagging 13 nominations and 4 wins: Best Picture and Best Director for del Toro; Best Production Design; and Best Score.
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1. PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006)
Image Credit: Tequila Gang/WB/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu, Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil, Alex Angulo.
With his masterpiece “Pan’s Labyrinth,” del Toro found the perfect blend of fantasy and horror, wonder and gore. It is at once a frightening fable and a hauntingly realistic chronicle of war. At its center is Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a bookish girl who uses her imagination to escape into a magical realm to avoid her dictatorial stepfather (Sergi Lopez), a sadistic army officer in the falangist Spain of 1944. With the faun and the Pale Man (both played by Doug Jones), del Toro creates his most terrifying monsters, yet neither compares to the fascism from which Ofelia hopes to break free. The film rightfully won Oscars for its stunning art direction, lush cinematography and extravagant makeup. Del Toro competed in Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film, losing to “Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Lives of Others” respectively. Oscar or no Oscar, “Pan’s Labyrinth” remains the crowning achievement of del Toro’s career, a deeply moving, haunting fable that expresses the very best of the director’s unique storytelling talents.
I sadly haven’t seen CRONOS or DEVIL’S BACKBONE. But I’ve seen the other 8 and CRIMSON PEAK is by far my least favorite. It looks amazing as all of his films do but I found the story to be so boring and uninteresting.
While I’m of the opinion that Pan’s Labyrinth is actually Del Toro’s best, Cronos, Blade II and Hellboy certainly don’t deserve to be among the worst. IMO, Del Toro’s weakest films (also not bad movies, mind you!) are Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak and Mimic. My (deeply personal) list would be: 1. Pan’s Labyrinth, 2. Hellboy II, 3. Shape of Water, 4. Hellboy, 5. Blade II, 6. Devil’s Backbone, 7. Cronos, 8. Pacific Rim, 9. Crimson Peak and 10. Mimic