Guillermo del Toro is one of the few genre filmmakers to be embraced by the Academy. Oscar voters usually dismiss the kind of pulpy, fantastical movies that del Toro makes, but his command of themes and visuals has made him an Academy favorite. Del Toro is a master of pushing poignant social commentary through horror stories. In The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, he used a ghost story and a fairy tale, respectively, to convey powerful political allegories surrounding the Spanish Civil War.