Cronos

Guillermo del Toro – 1993 – Mexico

Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos is one of those rare debut features that perfectly crystalizes everything that its creator is about and foreshadows his entire career.  It’s all there; insects, clockwork devices, embryonic motifs, Catholicism, ancient supernatural forces, and even actor Ron Perlman.  Federico Luppi plays Jesús Gris, the elderly owner of an antique shop who one day discovers a curious contraption hidden in a wooden statue of an angel.  We learn that this so-called “Cronos Device” was created by a medieval alchemist for the purpose of obtaining eternal youth.  The price, though, is a thirst for blood along with various other symptoms associated with vampirism.  The device is powered by an insect  trapped inside it that secretes the rejuvenating serum; (an idea based by del Toro on the short-lived and cruel fashion trend in the early 70s of affixing live beetles to necklace chains).  As Jesús regains his vitality, he is also harassed by a comical but violent goon; the nephew of a reclusive rich man who wants the device for himself.  Like George A. Romero’s Martin (1978), Cronos is at once a revisionist vampire film and a fresh examination of how vampire legends have started and evolved.