Pan’s Labyrinth is a fairy tale about Spain in 1944, one year after Franco’s victory, set in a world of fascist repression and genuine magic. Guillermo del Toro made a film that insists on both simultaneously.

Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother’s new husband, a brutal Falangist captain named Vidal (Sergi Lopez). In the ruins near his base, she discovers a labyrinth. The faun within tells her she is a lost princess and must complete three tasks to reclaim her kingdom.

The film’s creature design, particularly the Pale Man, a eyeless figure with hands for eyes who sits at a banquet table, is among the most frightening in cinema. Sergi Lopez as Vidal is one of the great screen villains: cold, methodical, and entirely without doubt about his own righteousness. He is scarier than any monster in the film.

Pan’s Labyrinth won three Academy Awards. Del Toro made his definitive film.