Fantasy accounts for only about 28 minutes of Pan’s Labyrinth’s 119-minute running time, yet these supernatural scenes are what many viewers remember most about Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film. A rewatch 20 years on makes it easy to see why.

Despite everything del Toro has achieved since, including his Oscar success for The Shape of Water (2017), Pan’s Labyrinth remains for many (including me) his magnum opus.

The film weaves together the brutality of a war drama with a dark, mythic undercurrent. Set in 1944, five years after the Spanish civil war, the story follows General Francisco Franco’s regime as it brutally suppresses lingering Republican resistance. The grim reality is filtered entirely through the eyes of a child, Ofelia (portrayed by Ivana Baquero).

Described this way, it is difficult not to think of the Upside Down world in Stranger Things (2016-25). Particularly given the striking visual similarities between the Demogorgon and del Toro’s iconic Pale Man (played by Doug Jones, who also plays the Faun and has appeared in six of the director’s films).

In a recent rewatch of Pan’s Labyrinth, I was reminded of the film-maker’s expertise and the dark beauty I had remembered so vividly back in 2006. What I hadn’t remembered, however, was just how sparse the overtly supernatural elements are, occupying less than half an hour of the total run time. Their relative scarcity confirms just how powerful and arresting del Toro’s imagery is, and how less can be more when expertly applied.

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