Guillermo del Toro Explains Why He's Drawn to Monster Films as A Kid

Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wkimedia Commons

Guillermo del Toro's love for horror films shows in his work. Whether it's his classic Pan's Labyrinth or his latest film The Shape of Water, you can tell that the filmmaker is the master of the genre.

When del Toro was at Lyon's Lumière Festival on Monday, he was asked how he's able to translate nightmares into beautiful dreams, and he said, as Variety reported, "I had a f****d up childhood."

Del Toro described the grotesque imagery of the Mexican Catholic Church. "There was a Christ in my church with an exposed bone fracture, and it was kind of green and purple, but his face looked like he was coming. And then they said, ‘The body of Christ,' and I said, ‘No thank you.'

He also shared his experience of exploring catacombs with other boys and look for opened crypts: "One of them was loose and we moved it and we saw the two feet. The soles of the shoes had been eaten and you could see the bones and the dry muscles. That made a big impression on me."

Del Toro explained why he was drawn to monster films, saying:

"I started loving the monsters because, with the monsters, as a child, you don't have to think. The adults that were supposed to be good with you were bad. The adults that were supposed to protect you, beat you. But the monsters, they did what they looked like [they would do]. You swim with the fucking Creature of the Black Lagoon and you're gonna die."

Del Toro's explanation is brutally honest, reminding us that reality has its own horrors that are sometimes more unpredictable than the monsters we see in the movies.

Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water is set to release in theaters on December 8.

Read more: Guillermo Del Toro Shares His Thoughts On David Harbour's New Hellboy