Includes bibliographical references and index.

The magical spirituality of a lapsed Catholic: atheism and anticlericalism / S. T. Joshi -- At the mountains of Mexico: the echoes and intertexts of Lovecraft and Dunsany / Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. -- Slime and subtlety: monsters in del Toro's Spanish-language films / Ann Davies -- Time out of joint: traumatic hauntings in the Spanish Civil War films / Karin Brown -- The child transformed by monsters: The monstrous beauty of childhood trauma / Jessica Balanzategui -- The ambivalence of creative desire: Theogonic myth and monstrous offspring / Sidney l. Sondergard -- Henry's kids: othered children and Karloff's Frankenstein monster / John Kenneth Muir -- Where the wild things are: monsters and children / Alexandra West -- Bloodsucking bugs: Horacio Quiroga and the Latin American transformation of vampires / Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodriguez -- The birth of fantasy: a Nietzschaen reading of Pan's labyrinth / Jack Collins -- Menstruation as heroine's journey in Pan's labyrinth / Richard Lindsay.

"This collection of new essays discusses cultural, religious and literary influences on del Toro's work and explores key themes of his films, including the child's experience of humanity through encounters with the monstrous"-- Provided by publisher.