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Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel, Tamara Shanath ... see more see more... , Daniel Jiménez Cacho , Robert M. Martinez , Juan Carlos Colombo , Farnesio DeBernal , Luis de Icaza , Jorge Martinez De Hoyos , Laurencio Cordero , Francisco Sanchez , Farnesio de Bernal , Mario Ivan Martinez , Daniel Gimenez Cacho

This surreal variant on the classic vampire tale is the directorial debut of Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who garnered international acclaim and several awards. The film tells the story of el... read more read more...derly antique dealer Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi, in a role originally written for Max Von Sydow) who, with his eight-year-old granddaughter Aurora (Tamara Shanath), discovers an ancient artifact secreted within a statue obtained from the estate of a 16th-century alchemist. Unbeknownst to Gris, the device -- which resembles an ornate, gilded mechanical beetle -- houses an immortal parasite which will grant eternal life to its host. Naturally, there is a terrible price for this gift, which Gris is doomed to discover after the object anchors itself to his body. He begins to develop an extreme aversion to daylight, as well as an agonizing thirst for human blood. To compound matters, dying millionaire Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook) has learned of the device's existence -- thanks to an occult tome obtained from its inventor -- and wishes to obtain it for his own use. To this end he employs his vain, brutish nephew Angel (Ron Perlman) to retrieve it for him. Angel's techniques are less than subtle, and he inevitably winds up killing Gris in his futile search for the artifact... but death is not permanent for the host of the Cronos, and he rises from the mortuary slab to reunite with the long-suffering Aurora. Together they confront de la Guardia and his nephew one last time, hoping to find a way to reverse the horrible process before Gris suffers the same monstrous fate as the device's creator. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

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67% liked it

10,248 ratings

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91% liked it

43 critics

R, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro, Guillermo del Torro

Release Date: June 1, 1994

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DVD Release Date: October 26, 1994

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Flixster Reviews (967)

  • Deano78
    March 25, 2012
    Deano78
    A strange debut horror story for Guillermo del Toro. It has a certain charm to it, bringing a new idea to a vampire tale. Character driven rather than over the top shock and gore. Still it looks rather dated now due to the low budget.
  • FilmFanatik
    December 24, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    Guillermo Del Toro's first feature film Cronos was one that I'd been meaning to get my hands on when a Criterion Blu-ray was first announced way back when. I finally managed to snag myself a copy, and I feel like I was rewarded quite well. I'm always pleased when I find a genre t... read moreurned on its head and told in a completely new and refreshing way. Now, this isn't an obvious vampire tale - they actually don't use the word once in the film, nor do they even refer to the undead. That's not really what the story is about anyway, and that's why it makes for a compelling story. If you're in tune with the story at all, you realize that it's about an old man coming to terms with old age, dealing with his young niece who he's very close to, and having his morbid curiosity get the best of him. At least, that's the film I saw. You might have a different take it on than me, but that's how I saw it. The film does tend to be too slow at times without winding up the tension in certain areas. The tone also wavers a bit with Ron perlman's performance during certain scenes. Other than those minor errors, it's a goregous film with a bold color palette and beautiful photography. It also has, as previously stated, a refreshing take on the vampire film, and I'm glad that I waited as long as I did to see it. Ah, refreshing.
  • itsjustme2004
    November 21, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    Strangely done film. Different take on the vampire lore. Dark, brooding, and slow paced. Not really horror, but really more "supernatural". You gotta love Guillermo Del Toro for his unique take in this genre of "horror" films..
  • fb1664868775
    October 23, 2011
    fb1664868775
    Endlessly imaginative.
  • fb1216165431
    September 9, 2011
    fb1216165431
    Cronos is a Guillermo del Toro debut feature that conjures ancient alchemy to prey on immortality. Cronos is an aesthetic and thematic exploration of dark aspirations, insatiable desires, and famished greed. Sinister, but tender. Eerie.
  • stevenecarrier
    August 3, 2011
    stevenecarrier
    "Cronos" is an uncommonly assured and emotionally resonant directorial debut from Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro understands what makes a true fairy tale work and how frightening, beautiful and engaging they can be. The film boasts some creative, non-pretentious directorial flouris... read morehes and a warm, respectful visual rhetoric. What ultimately made "Cronos" so unique is that it's most certainly a genre picture, but it's focus is on it's characters. The film is about moments of light and dark, not about gore or kills. I was enthralled during del Toro's personal, beautiful first feature.
  • blkbomb
    May 31, 2011
    blkbomb
    I'm sad to say I didn't like Cronos. It was Guillermo del Toros first film and he has obviously improved a great deal. Cronos wasn't necessarily bad but I just couldn't get into it and enjoy it. I didn't care for any of the characters as they all seemed a bit flat. Was interestin... read moreg to see del Toros directorial debut and his first collaboration with Ron Perlman.
  • fb732260458
    May 12, 2011
    fb732260458
    A creative debut from a great adult-fantasy director, Guillermo del Toro's Cronos blends inspired direction with some pretty intelligent screen-writing.
  • mumby1988
    April 30, 2011
    mumby1988
    Well before the 'abstinence porn' of Twilight began to hit our screens, a whole wave of vampire films in the 1990s returned to the deep well of sex which had become the lifeblood of vampire fiction. We had Anne Rice's AIDS allegory Interview with a Vampire, John Landis' uneven cr... read moreime drama Innocent Blood, and of course Francis Ford Coppola's bonkers version of Dracula.

    But in the midst of these hypersexual offerings, a small Mexican film from a first-time director was helping to radically reshape the genre. Cronos, the debut by Guillermo Del Toro, demonstrated that vampire fiction could explore themes far more varied than sex, such as the fear of death, the loneliness of old age and the relationship between Mexico and the USA. A hugely influential work of horror cinema, it is every bit as striking and significant as Let The Right One In.

    When I reviewed The Usual Suspects, I remarked that one test of a good filmmaker is being able to take a hackneyed series of conventions, and create something which is both memorable and mindful of its genre origins. On this level alone Cronos is a triumph, since it is able to fulfil all the requirements of being a bona fide vampire film which approaching all the key plot points and characters arcs from distinctively unusual angles.

    Cronos may have a backstory about the origins of the vampire, followed by the introduction of our protagonists to said bloodsucker which results in quite a lot of gore. But Del Toro manages to achieve this while removing from the story all connotations of sex or lust. In place of Hammer's heaving bosoms and phallic fangs, he gives us skin peeling like wallpaper and the intricate clockwork of the Cronos device. The closest the film comes to anything sexual is a scene of Federico Luppi licking a nosebleed off a bathroom floor, which is shot with such clinical precision that there can be no room for erotic thoughts.

    By refocusing the story around ageing and the fear of death, Cronos hits on the central dilemma in vampire fiction: would you rather live forever but lose your soul, or stay pure and human but live in constant fear of death? Both the elderly characters in the film choose the former, albeit for different motives and by entirely different means. Dieter, the dying businessman, makes a conscious decision to pursue the device: he owns the manual needed to operate it and believes it is the only thing that can keep him and his empire alive (and out of his nephew's hands).

    Jesus, on the other hand, is 'bitten' accidentally, and only comes to use the device frequently through observing its physical benefits. His desire, in the form of addiction to blood, is every bit as strong as Dieter's desire to possess the device himself, but it is not motivated by selfishness or a desire for power. Like Dracula, Jesus becomes weary of eternal life: he is worn down not by an army of brides, but by the constant torment of those who are jealous of his powers. In the end his remaining sense of self triumphs over the vampire he has become, and he sacrifices himself to protect his beloved granddaughter.

    The theme of ageing is also conveyed in the visuals of Cronos. Guillermo Navarro's cinematography is very washed-out, with dark woods and fading reds to indicate how everything around the characters is very slowly dying or decaying. Even the brightest scenes in the film, like the New Year's party, are filled with pale colours and make use of shadows wherever possible.

    Beyond its direct connections with the vampire genre, Cronos is connected to other key figures in horror. The design of the Cronos device itself, with its peculiar blend of biology and mechanics, resembles the work of Clive Barker: its design as is intricate as the puzzle box in Hellraiser and there is the same suggestion of great evil being contained in or brought forth from something of great beauty.

    There are also connections with John Carpenter in the film's elaborate and highly convincing make-up. Del Toro's training under make-up artist Dick Smith shines through in his pursuit of organic, physical terror, and the work of his make-up artist M. Carrajal rivals anything which Rob Bottin achieved on The Thing. There is a further connection with Carpenter contained in a line where the device is dismissed as "just a toy". Like Carpenter in Hallowe'en, Del Toro is taking an aspect of horror which had become institutionalised and accepted, and proving that it could still scare you to death.

    Cronos is a deeply religious film, in its use of iconography and its exploration of the meanings to both life and death. Again, this is drawing on a classic trait in vampire fiction, namely that the act of being or becoming a vampire is a rebellion against the laws of nature (including death), which it was believed were set in stone by God. Though there is no scene of Jesus declaring war on heaven, as happens in the Coppola version, his faith is counterpointed by his growing dependence on the device, as demonstrated by him reciting the Lord's Prayer while allowing it to stab him a second time.

    There are other indications of these religious themes as well. The Cronos device was created by an alchemist, someone who brought the material and spiritual worlds together, using what became the scientific method to find the divine substance which could cure all disease and prolong life. The images of cockroaches bursting out of angels, or the device being hidden in said statues, hints at the threat which such a device poses to Christianity. By removing the certainty of death, it undermines the corresponding fear of death and damnation, and therefore makes it less necessary either to repent or to live a moral life.

    To add to its theological wrangling, Cronos also has political connotations. The film is a rich allegory for US-Mexican relations, in which America is the bloodsucker which takes without asking and refuses to yield. Dieter, the American, is determined not to let the Mexicans (in the shape of Jesus) get one over on them - the second they come up with something useful, the Americans want it for themselves and won't take no for an answer. There is a contrast between Federico Luppi's sympathetic, caring grandfather and Ron Perlman's aggressive and ambitious nephew. Perlman may slip in and out of Luppi's language, but he is only interested in himself - it is not communication, only giving orders in a language he thinks they can understand.

    The performances in Cronos are mostly of a high quality. Luppi is a great screen presence, seeming frail and vulnerable while coming across as a strong and determined character. Perlman, in his first of several collaborations with Del Toro, is a very fine match for him. His versatility with language is matched only by his desire to throw himself physically into the role. The only weak link is the young girl, played by Tamara Shanath. It isn't so much her performance as the limited extent of her character's development; we don't feel as strongly connected to her as we do with her counterparts in The Devil's Backbone or Pan's Labyrinth.

    Cronos is a great debut feature from one of horror's greatest directors. While not as perfectly formed as Pan's Labyrinth, it contains all the hallmarks of Del Toro's genius, from its powerfully unique visuals to its constant invention and intelligence even in the most trivial of moments. It's a top-notch chiller and a welcome shot in the arm for vampire fiction, proving that the genre is still able to stimulate as well as scare. It's not Let The Right One In, but it should be welcomed into anyone's collection.
  • ythelastman89
    March 28, 2011
    ythelastman89
    I really tried to enjoy this as much as I could since i'm a fan of Guillermo del Toro's other work, but there's just nothing to take from it. From a visual and creative standpoint it is little better than a made-for-tv movie. Now this could have been used to their advantage; ther... read moree's plenty of cases in which small budget movies can have some of the best results. It seems that this plugged along like some kind of vissionary work when it's just not. The only thing interesting here is seeing some of the tools that del Toro has since perfected in recent works.

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Critic Reviews

September 24, 2007
Variety

This is a wonderfully baroque, gleeful subversion of the days of Hammer. A unique, terrifying mini-masterpiece. Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
September 24, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

You have to admire the style, sincerity, and overall sense of craft even if you don't fancy the comic-book gore. Full Review

Janet Maslin
August 30, 2004
Janet Maslin, New York Times

A very stylish and sophisticated Mexican variation on some age-old themes. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Cronos is not really about plot. It is about character. Full Review

Richard Harrington
January 1, 2000
Richard Harrington, Washington Post

It's also an amazingly assured feature debut for the 29-year-old del Toro, who is both its writer and director. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

An enormously enjoyable gothic yarn from Mexico. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

There were no unnerving images in Cronos. There's a lot of blood and gore -- but that's rather routine. Full Review

October 17, 2011
Film4

A charming horror movie, if such a thing is possible. Full Review

Christopher Lloyd
August 29, 2011
Christopher Lloyd, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

A low-budget horror/fantasy with some rough edges, Cronos reveals the dark genius of Guillermo del Toro's fecund mind. Full Review

Simon Foster
January 31, 2011
Simon Foster, sbs.com.au

Many of the aesthetic qualities and thematic devices that Mexican director Guillermo del Toro would employ in later movies are already on the boil in his debut feature, Cronos. Full Review

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Cronos Trivia

  • Horror story of an elderly antiques dealer who finds a gilded device that gives the gift of youth?  Answer »
  • Who directed Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, the Devil's Backbone and Cronos  Answer »
  • The director of "Blade II", Guillermo Del Toro, has made another, rather different vampire film. Name it:   Answer »
  • The director of "Blade II", Guillermo Del Toro, has made another, rather different vampire film. Name it:   Answer »
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