Every Guillermo Del Toro Movie, Ranked From Worst To Best

Guillermo del Toro has been making movies for over 20 years. As much as the director has grown in his craft, each outing feels like an invitation to his audience to be involved in a fantastical game of make believe. Through the grit and the gore, there's an enthusiastic compassion that seems to always light the way

Since 1993, del Toro has disrupted the world of genre movie making. His new film, The Shape of Water, is in theaters now, making it the perfect time to revisit the auteur's nuanced career. Here's each Guillermo Del Toro movie ranked, from worst to best.

Mimic follows the story of a giant cockroach monster that threatens New York's sewers. What's unfortunate about del Toro's first studio film is the version that hit the big screen wasn't his. 1997's Mimic buckled under the weight of Miramax's heavy demands--Harvey Weinstein notoriously wanted del Toro removed from the project--resulting in a cookie cutter creature feature that looks stunning but lacks any real human element for the audience to connect with.

You could say del Toro began coming into his own with Blade II. The sequel gave Wesley Snipes' fanged hero more to work with, teaming him up with the enemy to take down the vampire-killing Reapers. The director brought a refreshing sense of humor to the film, which was missing in the first outing. It didn't delve as deeply into the story as other films in del Toro's roster. But the character dynamic, fun action sequences, and gruesome vampire effects--which are revisited in FX's vampire series The Strain--are on full display here.

Cronos tells the story of an elderly man who finds immortality through a robotic parasite. The gift of eternal life comes at a cost: A vampiric need for human blood. It's Guillermo del Toro's first movie, which makes it feel a bit dated. There's an uneven balance of horror and humor here, which is unfortunate. The movie's cinematic influences can be a bit distracting, as well--there are bits of David Cronenberg and Sam Raimi sprinkled throughout. But Cronos gives the audience a glimpse at the storyteller Guillermo del Toro would eventually become. And for a debut movie, the end product is still an intriguing one.

If Crimson Peak was marketed as a gothic romance, the film may have fared better in the box office. But when the studio presented it as a horror film, viewers left the theater disappointed at the story's lack of scares. That said, the troubled love story between Edith (Mia Wasikowska) and Thomas (Tom Hiddleston) adds an emotional center to the tortured, incestuous, and violent tale. Taking a step back, it's easy to see the heartbreaking ghost story del Toro is telling here. With lavish backdrops and elegant costumes, Crimson Peak is a feast for the eyes.

Pacific Rim is the anti-Transformers. Michael Bay's film franchise is rife with one-dimensional characters, a distracting orange and teal color palate, and eye-numbing CGI'd fight scenes. Guillermo del Toro's take on the mech vs. monster genre doesn't necessarily reinvent the wheel, but it picks up the slack where Bay's movies fail by maintaining the focus on humanity's survival. Sure, Charlie Hunnam's performance was a bit forgettable. At the end of the day, watching the epic battles between jaegers and kaiju was a spectacle to behold. Add a Top Gun-style resistance into the mix and the end result becomes well worth the price of admission.

Before Marvel reignited the superhero genre, del Toro brought a different sort of comic book hero to life with 2004's Hellboy. Just like Blade, this protagonist is an outcast--OK, fine, he's the son of the devil--who fights against his genetic code to defend humanity from supernatural threats. Not only was del Toro able to stay true to Mike Mignola's comic, the casting of Ron Perlman as the big red guy was perfect. He brought the character's inner conflict and working class bravado to life, instantly cementing Hellboy as a genre icon. It's not a perfect film, but the layered anti-hero quality planted a seed for an epic sequel.

When Guillermo del Toro commits to going dark, he really goes dark. With The Devil's Backbone, he heads right for the jugular. The story takes place during the Spanish Civil War, following a young orphan as he makes contact with the ghost of another child. Here, del Toro's balance of heart and horror come together perfectly. There's an emotional throughline that binds the audience to each character--no matter how villainous they may be--because, at the end of the day, this is a story about accountability and repercussions during a time of war. To say that The Devil's Backbone is a heart-wrenching film would definitely be an understatement.

On its surface, The Shape of Water is a supernatural love story. But the adult fairy tale works on many layers, exploring an era of American fortitude and the cracked facade of the 1960s American dream. Through a backdrop of class warfare and government corruption, the love story between the mute woman and fish man breeds an element of joyful hope that permeates the entire film. It becomes a tactile thing worth clinging to. Guillermo del Toro is at the top of his game with this one.

Hellboy II picked up the slack where the first movie failed: It put the big red guy in the spotlight. This time around, our hero led the pack and did so with a supporting gang of misfit heroes. It's got everything you'd expect from a Guillermo del Toro film: huge monsters, romance, religious conflict, and a fair share of laughs. Aside from working on a superhero level, the film explores the place for a supernatural hero in the modern human world. If the movie didn't come out the same year as Iron Man and The Dark Knight, it's possible it would've taken the world by storm.

Pan's Labyrinth is the masterpiece del Toro was born to make. It exists in the same realm as The Devil's Backbone: It's dark and brooding, heartbreaking, but hopeful. The horror fairy tale follows Ophelia, a girl displaced during the Spanish Civil War who finds salvation through a supernatural creature named Fauno (Doug Jones). He assigns her three tasks to complete, and if she succeeds, she'll be brought back as a princess. Pan's Labyrinth is a heavy film that questions authority, addresses sacrifice, and finds its heart through the wondrous imagination of a hopeful young girl.