Love this film!

I agree. It's like the ultimate statement of gothic romance/horror - pure enchantment, with a great cast, classic story, and amazing visual sensibility. Del Toro creates a whole world.

I've just watched this, never heard of it but I liked it. All the hate must be from 00s horror fans who expect shock scares around every corner. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just realise there are lots of sub genres of horror. Gothic tales being one of them.

My favourite gothic story is the pit and the pendulum.

It's what I call an "interesting failure". It's a muddled mess, really, nothing makes Sens and the attempt at a mega-Gothic atmosphere fails, but I love that Del Toro tried to make a Gothic Romance in this day and age.

But no, nothing about the finished film worked.

I really enjoyed it too. Verges on pastiche at times but I have to say I just went with it and found it a thoroughly enjoyable gothic horror throwback. Blood and melodrama with captivating visuals, I couldn’t ask for much more really. Give me this over nasty torture porn any day.

I will concede there are some narrative issues but the three leads are all very good and it looks beautiful and has tremendous atmosphere. Big fan of classic gothic romances which you almost never see these days so it was nice to see one. Seen it like six times since it came out.