Sunday 7 December 2008

Cronos [1993]



-->Cronos was the movie that didn’t just introduce Mexican auteur Guillermo Del Toro to cinegoers, but also his freakish story-telling skills. Cronos is more of a psychological horror movie than a physical one. It is a unique and innovatively concocted reversal of the classic vampire tales. An elderly owner of a curio shop chances upon a device that grants one of mankind’s greatest desires – eternal life to those who use it. However, it also has its cons as the benevolent Mexican soon discovers after his ‘death’. To complicate matters a dying megalomaniac, too, is after it, with his thuggish nephew in tow. Having earlier watched his two masterpieces The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, Cronos is an indication of an extremely talented director’s fast growing maturity and signature touch. Be it through the subtle ironies of human existence, the pathos of the curse that is immortality, or the undying devotion of the little girl towards her grandfather even through his pathetic after-life – this is a tender and imaginative movie that forms an important preamble to Del Toro’s subsequent works.





Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Genre: Horror/Psychological Horror/Vampire Movie
Language: Spanish
Country: Mexico

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, for a second I thought it would be the ROn Fricke film I've been struggling to get my hands on. But anyway, I'd like to see it someday but not before Devil's Backbone.

Shubhajit said...

I'd suggest you watch Cronos before Devil's Backbone, and not make the mistake I made by watching them in the other way round,.

Anonymous said...

oh,thanks for the warning. Are they both related or is it just the experience?

Shubhajit said...

Well, the curve starts at Cronos, takes a dizzying turn for the sky at Devil's Backbone, and peaks at Pan's Labyrinth. However, I ended up following the curve in the reverse direction. And hence my suggestion.

Cronos, I felt, is a decent movie. But it also happens to be a terrific starting point for what followed. So, for your question my answer would be the 2nd choice, i.e. 'experience'.