The Fantastic Creatures of Guillermo del Toro

'Pan's Labyrinth' director Guillermo del Toro offers us more outlandish creations in his new horror film, 'Crimson Peak,' out October 16. Here's a look at some of his most memorable creatures. 

Del Toro's ghosts in his new gothic horror film aren't the usual ghostly white, but “bright crimson” thanks to the red clay they're buried in. Everything red in the film is somehow tied to the ghosts, the director told IGN.

Del Toro was finally able to use his idea for the “head splitting open like a fan” here. “I thought that was a relatively cheap effect to do, but one that would be incredibly shocking. And no one had ever seen a vampire like that,” he told the DGA.

Del Toro changed the comic book Kroenen into a “mechanical clockwork zombie Nazi,” as he described it to Collider. Presumed dead in a grenade blast during World War II, he rebuilt himself with a prosthetic mechanical hand and a clockwork heart, becoming a formidable, nearly undefeatable steampunk assassin.

This ghoul “came out of a really dark, primal place,” del Toro told the ‘New Yorker.’ “I had lost weight, and I saw my belly sagging.” He was also inspired by a statue of St. Lucy he saw as a kid. “She had the eyes on a little plate. That was pretty freaky.”

Inspired by vivid nightmares del Toro had as a child, the Faun magically transforms from young to old the more Ofelia visits the underground. Del Toro and conceptual artist Sergio Sandoval collaborated on his design.

Del Toro wanted the stick insect that transforms into a fairy to be “very girly.” In fact, the stand-in for the digital fairy was a Bratz doll, painted green, with its hair cut off. But he also wanted them to look like “little monkeys that scratch all the time” [USA Today].

Unlike traditional tooth fairies, these critters want to eat your teeth – and possibly all of you! They're cute, until they bare their teeth and attack in swarms. “Guillermo outdid himself on the cuteness scale with the tooth fairies, but they’re nasty little things,” Selma Blair said in an interview with MoviesOnline.

This troll masquerades as a sweet, elderly Scottish lady so it can feed on kittens. Hellboy forces it to show him the entrance to the troll market, which is packed with more trolls than you can shake a canary at (the one thing this creature fears). 

This hideous cave troll packs a mean punch, thanks to a giant, retractable metal fist. Since he's only got one good eye, he was, naturally, named after Selma Blair's one-eyed dog.

King Balor's door keeper is eight feet tall and has ridiculously long arms and fingers, which filmmakers moved with servos and actor Doug Jones wore as extensions of his own hands.

Who else could dream up a creature whose head is literally a cathedral, with stained glass windows that light up for eyes? This curious character is a proprietor of a map shop in the Troll Market.

This angel, who's referred to as “her,” is played by Doug Jones, who also plays the Chamberlain and Abe Sapien. Jones told Empire Online, “There's a certain sadness about her,” and calls her “creepy, but nurturing.”

This beast – and all the alien monsters – were inspired by the epic scale of Goya's painting 'The Colossus.' This one ravages San Francisco, forcing the military to nuke the city.
 

This monster attacks Hong Kong with electro-magnetic charges. Del Toro wanted a “brawler with this sort of beer belly,” so Industrial Light & Magic drew on gorillas for their inspiration. “There’s no better designer than the Great Creator,” del Toro told the ‘New York Daily News.’

This is the “Swiss army knife of a Kaiju,” because it's packed with features including wings, multiple jaws and a neck sack filled with acid. It's an homage to the dragons of Chinese mythology.