The Beginner's Guide to the films of Guillermo del Toro

Still from Guillermo del Toro's movie Pan's Labryinth

Guillermo del Toro's filmography is more mixed than the lolly pick 'n' mix bin at the supermarket. For every delicious jet plane or sugary banana, there's a disappointing jelly snake or jelly bean lurking in the bag - and yes, we are looking at you Pacific Rim...
But fret not novice film fan, our handy Guillermo guide will see you right and offer nothing but a satisfying viewing treat.

5: Hellboy
There's no doubt that 2004's Hellboy played a large part in legitimising comic book movies, contributing to the cinematic super-takeover of today. del Toro's love of the source material, his unique Gothic visual style and an absolute pearler of a performance by Ron Perlman as the wisecracking, cigar chewing, kitten loving, demonic son of Satan make it a thoroughly enjoyable and unusual super-romp.

4: Cronos
In his cinematic debut, Del Toro laid down the obsessions that would blueprint his career. The dramatic horror is gory, visually stylish, and offers a wildly original take on classic mythology and religion. Released in 1994, well before vampires were cool, this take on the human bloodsuckers explored their curse of immortality, cloaking it in macabre mysticism and splattering blood all over the screen.

3: The Devil's Backbone
This subtitled 2001 Gothic horror flick is one of Del Toro's best, but perhaps not the best place to start in his filmography. It's a chilling ghost story, a mysterious whodunnit, a revenge tale and, above all else, just plain scary. Set in an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War, a backdrop that will pop up again, the movie applies a fantastical layer over the horrors of war, painting a picture that will haunt you well after it's finished.

2: The Shape of Water
Two years ago this film, which, let us remind you, is about a woman who takes a fishman for a lover, won four Academy Awards, including the two biggies; Best Picture and Best Director. Consider how great a film with such an absurdly bizarre concept as inter-species lovin' has to be in order to just get nominated, let alone win. Kudos Del Toro, you wonderfully imaginative weirdo. Kudos.

1: Pan's Labyrinth
This haunting, grim fable is set in the fallout of the Spanish Civil War and has been described as "Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups". It's the movie where all Del Toro's cinematic strengths and fascinations - wild creativity, brilliant visual style, and deeper allegorical storytelling - were all truly realised. Full of startling, at times terrifying, images and telling a brutal and heartbreaking story, the film is a gloomy dark masterpiece to truly get lost in. If you only see one of the Mexican director's movies, make it this one.