Guillermo del Toro likes recommending things

Guillermo del Toro wants you to watch good movies, look at good art, and read good books. GDT posts all of these brilliant recs on his Twitter. I'm just a humble fan who wants to help spread the joy.

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War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoi’s War and Peace. (Constance Garnett’s translation- which scholars dislike) a life-changing classic I re-read passages often. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Mervyn Peake

English. Writer & illustrator. His gauzy nightmarish art is not as well-known as his amazing books. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Worthy useless link. 100% a thing you must see. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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A Dreamer’s Tales by Lord Dunsany

Contains “The Sword and the Idol” - the ancient origin of military power and religion. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Strangers on a Train

Strangers on a Train by Alfred Hitchcock. One of his top five masterworks. A complex moral dilemma and a great antagonist at its core.

–Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Rolling Thunder (1977)

An amazing exploitation/social shocker of a film. Suicidal Glory tale by Schrader and Gould. William Devane is a strong lead but Tommy Lee Jones is simply amazing. While being audience tested it provoked riots. Now a revered cult film. Written before TAXI DRIVER but filmed after. Produced by the mythic Larry Gordon. QT loves it.

Best lines on ROLLING THUNDER:

Devane: “I found him. The man who killed my son...” / TLJ: “I’ll just get my gear.”

As TLJ assembles shotgun: “What the fuck are you doing?” / TLJ: “I’m gonna kill a bunch of people.”

After his wife tells Devane she has been with another man: Devane: “I’m just gonna sit here.”

Larry Gordon also said that one of the heads of FOX told him: “We just previewed the best film ever (STAR WARS) and now, the worst.”

–Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Marco Beltrami. American. Raised by Goldsmith. Check out his scores for Homesman, 3:10 to Yuma, Mimic, Hellboy, etc. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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A Simple Plan (1998)

The spirit of the Coens hovers above the waters of this chronicle of greed turning the meek into beasts. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Schwartz & Gammell

Allegedly a Y.A. book retelling of campfire tales. Gammell’s art is scary as fuck. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Rififi (1955)

Dassin is a master of filmic construction and staging. The entire third act (not just the heist) is edge-of-your-seat –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

Minutely researched. Inspired by Poe’s Pym Juxtaposes dry science with cosmic dread & scale. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Kwaidan (1964) 

Painterly beauty combined with a tremendous sense of loss. Femininity haunts Kobayashi. Perfect Takemitsu score –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Favorite composer: Randy Newman. Amazing songwriter and composer. Poet of Pixar. His scores for Ragtime, Avalon and The Natural move me so... –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Últimos días de la víctima (1982)

THE LAST DAYS OF THE VICTIM by Adolfo Aristarain. Tense, elegant, cerebral and purely visual thriller w Federic Luppi as a contract killer. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) 

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The Witches by Roald Dahl

My favorite of his. Tender, terrible and vivid. Dahl understands the complexity & fears of a child’s mind. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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José Segrelles

Spanish artist of Universal fame. Adored by John Howe, Wm Stout and many others. Master of light. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)

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Time Bandits (1981)

Perhaps one of the very best “children’s story” films ever made. Dazzling imagination and poignant humanism. –Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT)