Crawling out of the darkest recesses of Guillermo del Toro’s mind, Pan’s Labyrinth might not be a horror movie in the traditional sense, but the dark fantasy not only reaches deep into the well of influences that have manifested throughout del Toro’s career - from B-movie monsters to the twisted nature of fairy tales - but also brings scares in how it mixes those story book scares with real-life horrors to mesmerising effect.
It’s horror in the imagery of the Pale Man and other gruesome creatures that inhabit the underworld, but it’s even scarier in its depiction of the Franco regime, and the very human evil of Captain Vidal. It crafts spooks in the creak of the floorboards, the design of its world, and how it plays on the enchanting fairytales of our youth to scare children and adults alike.
A beautiful movie with strong messaging, it represents the zenith of del Toro’s career, and in 2018 it remains every bit as relevant and evocative as it did upon release. Much like the stories it takes influence from, the themes, and the frightening nature of what humanity is capable of, are timeless.
Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far.
A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.
