Cronos (1993)

Overall Rating From 1 to 100: 65

Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Federico Luppi / Ron Perlman / Tamara Shanath
94 min. Drama / Horror
MPAA: R (for horror, violence and for language)

Review by Jason Pyles / March 21, 2007

“Cronos” is noteworthy because of its original spin on vampires and is an effective (though probably unintentional) metaphor for the downward spiral of drug addiction.

“Cronos” was written and directed by the capable hands of Guillermo del Toro, who is perhaps better known for last year’s masterful “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

A 16th-century alchemist/watchmaker constructs a bio-mechanical beetle called “the Cronos device.” This golden scarab is designed to grant its user significantly extended life, if not immortality.

This device is most intriguing. Only we, the viewers, are able to see the bug’s inner workings. It contains spinning gears of brass and a peculiar inhabitant: a grotesque, pulsating, bloody, bug-like larva.

I will not reveal the unsettling manner in which the Cronos interacts with its user; this uncomfortable oddity is one of the movie’s pleasures.

Four-hundred years later, when the alchemist is mortally wounded by architectural ineptitude, his possessions are sold. A kind grandfather and shopkeeper, Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi), eventually has the alchemist’s archangel statue for sale in his store.

Gris and his quiet granddaughter, Aurora (Tamara Shanath), discover that the statue hides the Cronos device within it. Soon, Gris is addicted to the Cronos’ seemingly symbiotic wonders and its horrors.

The evil is twofold. A disturbed old man named Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook) and his bizarro-Will-Ferrell-look-alike nephew, Angel (Ron Perlman), seek the Cronos device with ferocity. Their determination to possess it gets ugly.

Besides an inconvenient craving for blood, Cronos users eventually take on a periwinkle skin color that’s reminiscent of “Faker” from the “He-Man” toys — minus the orange hair. (Here’s a tip: If you want to be a “faker” and pass yourself off as some white guy, you can’t have blue skin.)

Vampires are typically pitiful beings, but never have I seen a movie that made me feel as much compassion as I did for Gris.

“Cronos” is sufficiently weird and creepy to merit a viewing, even if you have an aversion to subtitles. Its macabre plot approaches dark comedy but is mostly ghoulish, gruesome and grim.

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
X Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don't watch (1-29)

Copyright 2007.
JP0059 : 339