Guillermo del Toro

“He’s a wild creature. We can’t ask him to be anything else”: Marine Monstrosities in The Shape of Water

In 2017, renowned Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro released The Shape of Water, asking his audience to find comfort in his sympathetic monsters and further question the slippery boundary that separates the natural from the unnatural. Arguably, Del Toro’s filmography has been largely defined by his fascination with mythological and fantastical creatures including everything from […]

Women and Water Monsters

Now that spring’s in the air, the thoughts of horror fans turn to summer.  Jaws might put us in the mood for the beach, but perhaps the most disturbing part of the movie is that women serve primarily as victims.  Shark bait.  Men solve the problem and men wrote, directed, and produced the movie.  Why can’t women get a break […]

A creature looks into the distance as half of its face is submerged in the water

The Shape of the Creature

Director Guillermo del Toro’s 2017 film The Shape of Water was born from a desire to retell the story of The Creature from the Black Lagoon films from the 1950s. Del Toro had always wanted the Gill-man and the human woman he falls for to be romantically together in the end[1]. Getting to such a […]