Guillermo del Toro Picks His All-Time Favorite Horror Film

Guillermo del Toro has always been drawn to horror, but not in the typical way. His films, from Cronos to The Devil’s Backbone and even Hellboy, often stray from conventional horror. For del Toro, it’s less about jump scares or gore and more about the human emotions and relationships at the heart of his stories.

When asked about his favorite horror film, del Toro singled out Georges Franju’s 1960 classic Eyes Without a Face.

The movie tells the story of a plastic surgeon obsessed with restoring his daughter’s face after a car accident. Del Toro praised Franju’s ability to mix brutality with beauty, saying, “His first film was a documentary about a slaughterhouse called Le Sang des bêtes (Blood of the Beasts). Therefore he is a man who pulls no punches when it comes to graphic stuff. And yet he’s a guy who is also capable of capturing a poetic, feminine, tragic essence in his central character.”

Del Toro has a particular fondness for Alida Valli’s performance, noting, “It’s like an undead Audrey Hepburn character that inspired me a lot, by the contrast of beauty and brutality, that I favour and love. And at the centre of all the horrible things that happen, there are immense acts of love by her father.”

Eyes Without a Face was a French-Italian production shot in Paris and its suburbs, including Boulogne Studios. Despite careful attention to European censorship standards, the film’s release sparked controversy.

Early reviews were mixed, with critics uncertain whether Franju’s move from documentaries to genre filmmaking could succeed. Some dismissed the film as derivative of German expressionism or a minor genre effort.

The Spectator called it “the sickest film since I started film criticism”, while Variety criticized its acting and pacing. However, many also recognized its haunting imagery and poetic approach.

Over time, Eyes Without a Face has grown in stature. Re-releases in the 1980s and 2000s, along with retrospectives at the National Film Theatre in London and the Cinémathèque Française, helped reestablish its reputation.

Modern critics hail the film for its lyrical horror, praising Franju’s camerawork and Maurice Jarre’s obsessive score. Roger Ebert noted the emotional depth, writing, “It moved me because the daughter, once she understands what is happening, is more heartbroken over her father’s victims than over her own fate.”

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film now holds a 97% approval rating, while Metacritic gives it a score of 90 out of 100. Critics frequently highlight Franju’s poetic influence, noting connections to French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau.

Jonathan Rosenbaum called it “absurd and as beautiful as a fairy tale”, and J. Hoberman described it as “a masterpiece of poetic horror and tactful, tactile brutality.”

Del Toro’s admiration for Eyes Without a Face reflects his own filmmaking philosophy: horror is most powerful when it explores love, loss, and human emotion alongside its darker elements. For him, Franju’s film isn’t just a story about fear, it’s about the beauty and tragedy that can exist within it.

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