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“I don't know how much movies should entertain. To me I'm always interested in movies that scar. The thing I love about Jaws is the fact that I've never gone swimming in the ocean again.” --- David Fincher ::::::::::::: MY CRITERIA FOR DISCUSSION ENCOMPASSES THE HORROR GENRE AND BEYOND, SO I USE THE TERM "NIGHTMARE MOVIES". SPOILERS CAN OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT WARNING. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Cronos

January 20th 2010 23:40
Cronos movie poster
Guillermo Del Toro’s feature debut, Cronos (1993), is a peculiar and arresting diversion on the vampire mythology with a stunning lead performance, fantastic production design, and a deliciously macabre sense of irony; up there in the pantheon of great vampire movies.

In 1536 an alchemist builds an extraordinary mechanism that encapsulates a truly exotic scarab, an insect capable of providing its user (parasite) with eternal life, as long as they continue to abide by its demanding usage. The Cronos Device, as its known, survives its maker until 1997 where it ends up in the antique store of aging Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi). Later, Jesus with his granddaughter Aurora (Tamara Shanath) as witness discovers the device’s gift of youthful vigor and is immediately addicted. Meanwhile a wealthy, greedy, but dying tycoon, Mr. De La Guardia (Claudio Brook), knows of the Cronos Device’s existence and he sends his disgruntled nephew Angel (Ron Perlman) out to fetch it, at any cost, before the blood congeals.
Cronos Tamara Shanath and Federico Luppi
Tamara Shanath as Aurora and Federico Luppi as Jesus
Apparently Del Toro first started work on his tale in 1984. When the movie was completed it was the most expensive Mexican movie ever made. It went on to win Best Picture International Critics Week at Cannes, and has become a cult favourite amongst dedicated vampire movie fans. It’s a languid, but not long, tale spiked with adult intrigue and danger, yet infused with a childlike sense of wonder. Nearly all of Del Toro’s movies feature the perspective of a child.
Cronos Ron Perlman
Ron Perlman as Angel
Federico Luppi is superb as the mustachioed, bespectacled Jesus, who after dabbling with the Cronos Device finds himself becoming a younger man, both physically and psychologically. His eyesight is repaired and he shaves off his facial hair, he feels and looks revitalized. Aurora reserves her judgement, but she keeps an eye on her grandfather.
Cronos Claudio Brook
Claudio Brook as De La Guardia
Cronos Federico Luppi
Jesus succumbs to the thirst
The always reliable Ron Perlman gets to speak a little Spanish and certainly seems to be having fun playing the thuggish gofer. I’d completely forgotten he was in this movie and obviously he formed a strong bond with the director. At times he threatens to chew the scenery, but no actor ever gets to chew Del Toro’s scenery, the scenery usually chews the actors. Cronos might not be anywhere near as elaborate in its design as Del Toro’s later movies, but there is a definite stylistic on display, with wonderful symbolism (De La Guardia hobbling along on dual crutches like a praying mantis, Jesus’s olive skin peeling off to reveal an alabaster insectoid metamorphosis).

Cronos Ron Perlman and Claudio Brook
Angel is reprimanded by his determined uncle
There is a curious morality play at work in Cronos; the desire for youth perversely exposed and cruelly toyed with, juxtaposed with Angel hostility toward his uncle and his own evil agenda. I enjoyed the mystique surrounding the scarab, and of Del Toro’s fascination with mechanisms (which continues in all his movies, especially Hellboy II: The Golden Army), that while fate twists and turns unexpectedly there is the perpetual “ticking” of a deeper destiny, that supposedly everything happens when it’s supposed to … “Suo tempore”.
Cronos Federico Luppi
In flagranti
There is a delicate creepiness that exudes from the pores of Cronos, an unctuous fragility, a morbid curiousity, an immortality that extends beyond the pale … The final scene suggesting Jesus has achieved something that was denied the alchemist, a state of being that transcends the living, but is anchored by the dead. Cronos is a play on words; referring to the origin of the word “time” (Chronos), but also a reference to Zeus’s father (Kronos), and so a truly powerful deity, and eternal life would be a Godlike gift from the Cronos Device.
Cronos Federico Luppi and Tamara Shanath
Aurora watches Jesus deliberate over the Cronos Device
Cronos is essential viewing for all vampire fans who find their thirst unquenched on the current anemic fare. Don’t expect shocks; prepare to be unsettled, moved, transformed, and even occasionally tickled.
Cronos DVD cover art
The misleading DVD cover art


Here's the trailer:


NB: If you’re purchasing don’t buy the Lionsgate 10th Anniversary Special Edition it has forced English subtitles for the hard of hearing, apparently Criterion Collection are bringing out a new edition later this year.

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews
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1 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by JohnDoe

January 21st 2010 18:46


Film & TV on DVD
Fantastic review Bryn,

I totally agree this one ranks very high in the reinvention of vampire lore.

i was obsessed with the film the first time I saw it and everytime I revisit it there is so much detail that draws me back in.

Astounding atmosphere and an inventive concept mined for all its goodness.

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