The devil’s backbone plant (Euphorbia tithymaloides) is a succulent that gets its name from the crooked growth pattern of its upright stems. Because the stems alternate direction as they grow, it’s ...

Devils Backbone grew big, maybe too big, fast, maybe too fast, but it’s hard to fault a company for coming up with a product that the market wants and then spinning it off into something bigger.

Director Guillermo del Toro’s best asset in “The Devil’s Backbone” is his sense of realism. When abandoned 10-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve) comes to Santa Lucia School to live with ...