Espíritus Oscuros de Guillermo del Toro / Dark Spirits by Guillermo del Toro

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the movie Dark Spirits caught my attention for having in its direction two greats like Scott Cooper and Guillermo del Toro, since I admire them a lot for how stable and faithful their products are with respect to their style and quality on screen.

As I have told you in other opportunities the Horror genre is my favorite, and since the 80's when I was a child and I saw Michael Jackson's video of Thriller, I was in love with all the special effects, which later I met many of those resources in the TV show Behind The Scene, so I consume a lot the horror genre without that means I am masochistic or that I enjoy suffering watching them, on the contrary I consume them to admire a good story, good special effects, good performances, a good arc of the characters, etc..

Dark Spirits is a movie from 2021, it takes place in a mining town in Oregon that looks pretty neglected in many places, and as a town they have few police personnel to take care of situations.

Our protagonist is Keri Russel who I remember from the series "Felicity" she plays Julia, a teacher who lives with her brother Paul, who is Sheriff in this town. This pair of siblings have certain past traumas for having suffered violence from his father, for which Julia had left home, here looms a fairly strong family plot between them, especially we see it in Julia who still has nightmares about everything lived in the past, although it is noted that they are very supportive and love each other.

Julia feels empathy for one of her students named Lucas, who is very lonely and suffers from bullying at school, so she worries and wants to help him.

Lucas is very mysterious and we soon discover that he is hiding a situation at home with his younger brother and his father, where something evil is dominating in his house and makes Lucas bring him dead animals to devour them.

Julia's brother Paul is investigating a series of gruesome crimes in the town, where people appear to be eaten in a creepy way.

With these three characters raised the whole movie Dark Spirits is going to develop, which will take us through a horror story that at times is going to be very intense.

When Julia tries to help Lucas, she discovers certain drawings and information that the boy has in his classroom, after investigating she learns that it is the Wendigo, a Native American myth, a revenge of nature against a cruel humanity that abused it.

The Wendigo that has trapped Lucas' father and his younger brother, is the same one that is committing the horrible murders in the town. And this is the basis of the story of the film, where the lives of the three main characters Julia, her brother Paul and the boy Lucas must survive all the tragedy that this creature brings to the town and to their lives.

With Scott Cooper and Guillermo del Toro directing Dark Spirits we can assume that the creature of The Wendigo must show off Guillermo del Toro's trademark terrifying style, and indeed this is another of cinema's great and horrifying creations.

We will have an ending with Julia and Paul making intelligent and very brave decisions, and with Lucas in the midst of all the horror of seeing and wanting to help his father and brother suffering.

What I Liked About Dark Spirits**

The photography, the locations, the colors.

The sub story of Julia and Paul, with the traumas of their childhood and how they manage to understand and support each other despite everything they lived through.

The sub story of Lucas, and his father's abandonment by work and drugs, and how he insists on staying together as a family.

Guillermo del Toro's Wendigo and that the villain of this film is a Mythological Being with a strong, yet terrifying message.

The ending of the movie, I recommend you watch it.

What I Liked About Dark Spirits

Keri Russel's performance as Julia, I think she lacked to convey more emotions because I feel like she spent the whole movie with the same face. I really expected more from her, to see her with more nuances, but surely that's what the director wanted for Julia.

I found the Wendigo creepy the little we got to see, I would have liked to see more of him during the movie.

The name of the movie Dark Spirits made me think there were more evil spirits, but it was all about The Wendigo.

Les recomiendo esta película, no es perfecta, pero siento que si logra sumar en el género de terror que necesita grandes historias unidas a un buen mensaje y otras sub tramas.

Sigo fan del género del Terror y también seguiré a estos grandes Directores que no decepcionan en lo que producen y aportan al cine.

I recommend this movie, it is not perfect, but I feel that it does add to the horror genre that needs great stories coupled with a good message and other sub plots.

I am still a fan of the Horror genre and I will also follow these great Directors that do not disappoint in what they produce and bring to the cinema.