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Introducing… Guillermo del Toro’s Monsterverse

We’ve mapped the horror maestro’s mind

Guillermo del Toro has spent 25 years building his cinematic world. Since his gorgeously creepy debut Cronos in 1993, the Mexican director has spooked, thrilled and moved us by giving free rein to the strange obsessions that fire his imagination.

 

To celebrate the release of del Toro’s The Shape of Water (out 14 February – get tickets and times), Vue has made something special:

 

Guillermo del Toro’s 'Monsterverse', a visual guide to the themes and images that have defined his movie career.

 

 

Illustration and design: Maria Suarez-Inclan, Web design and typesetting: James Ring

It???s a cabinet of curiosities, a beautiful cornucopia encompassing every del Toro hallmark, from amphibians and insects to clocks and Catholicism ??? and from Hellboy and The Devil???s Backbone to Blade II and Pan???s Labyrinth ??? as well as details of the film-maker???s own life, which has been almost as outlandish as his fiction.

 

Most of all, del Toro loves monsters. He adores ghosts, fairies and vampires, but he particularly loves creatures of his own devising. Exploring our Monsterverse will remind you of his richest creations. Then you???ll be ready to book your tickets for The Shape of Water and its utterly beguiling tale of a sea creature (played by del Toro favourite Doug Jones, who looms large in the Monsterverse) falling in love with a mute janitor (Sally Hawkins) in a 1960s government laboratory.

 

Only Guillermo del Toro could dream up a film like The Shape of Water. Browsing the packed shelves of the Monsterverse is as near as you can get to stepping inside his mind.