Cronos

An early low-budget Mexican horror-fantasy from Guillermo Del Toro, one of the genre's (future) masters. Cronos takes the well-worn vampire mythos and re-imagines them with a new back story and context. In this film a vampiric-like condition becomes a side effect of an incorrectly-used alchemic device from the middle ages. This device is a golden scarab beetle-like instrument that houses a rare insect capable of administering 'fountain of youth'-like properties via its venom. However, its use comes with certain rules that, if disobeyed, can lead to bloodlust and an undead-like state of existence.

The hero of the film is Jesus (Federico Luppi), an elderly antique dealer who gets accidentally stung by the cronos device. He is the guardian of a young grandaughter, Aurora (Tamara Shannath); the veritable apple of his eye. When the cronos device causes him to get younger her finds himself tempted to use it further in order to get a second lease on life... he will be able to see his grandaughter grow up and rekindle a passion with younger wife. But there are others who seek the device, a terminally ill businessman (Claudio Brook) and his brutish nephew (Ron Perlman) who understand its properties and side effects, and a stand off will arise between the themselves and Jesus.

Unlike Hollywood horror films where the protagonists are young people with motivations tied to lust or love, Cronos takes on a fairytale quality in that the protagonist is an old man with a 6 year old grandaughter. This reflects the nature of the story and its motifs of age vs. youth - the presence of antiques and characters preoccupied with their impending deaths. It also contains the dark fantasy aspects that characterise most of Del Toro's work - the gallows humour, offbeat characters, and truly horrifying contrasts of the regular with the abject (such as the scene where Jesus develops a taste for blood). The emergence of a vampiric subtext is also slow and understated... it's an epic story told in a small way, with no direct reference to the hallmarks of the vampire genre and with its own self-contained mythology. The gradual transformation of Jesus is presented as a curse, and he never stops being the film's hero (albeit a flawed one).

HIGHLIGHT: Ron Perlman is the grumbling Angel de la Guardia, a more regular guy then he usually gets to play. His character is obsessed with getting plastic surgery, which plays into the film's themes of vanity and tampering with nature.

DIRECTOR: Guillermo Del Toro
WRITER/SOURCE: Guillermo Del Toro
KEY ACTORS: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel, Tamara Shanath

RELATED TEXTS:
- Guillermo Del Toro continued his exploration of dark fantasy in The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth.
- David Cronenberg's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone has a similar tone and atmosphere to Cronos.
- For other 'sideways' looks at vampirism, check out the TV show Ultraviolet and the films The Hunger, Let the Right One In, Martin and The Addiction.

AWARDS
Cannes Film Festival - won Mercedes-Benz award.