Most people who watch del Toro's movies don't remember or have never seen his first feature film. I saw it when I was already a dedicated fan of him. And I can say that I found the film strangely and oddly captivating with a clear and certain touch of the macabre. Apparently this is a vampire movie, but most certainly a quite different vampire movie. The thing that stayed with me after the movie was the atmosphere. So dark, so sinister, so stuffy. All the obsessions that we later see and admire in Guillermo can be found also in his first movie. When someone makes this kind of movie as a first one, then you clearly understand that this man is meant for huge things. I would compare Cronos with another astonishing film debut, Duel by Steven Spielberg. Both films show that the people who are behind them have a clear and passionate talent to offer to the art. And more than that both films tend to be simple and yet ingenious.
Cronos is the story of an old man who finds a device that makes him younger and at the same time wakes up a lust for blood inside him. Quite simple and quite generic if you think about it. The way that it's presented though and the directing style of the movie, levitate the film to a glorious level. Cronos might not be the catchy movie that will win armies of audience, but it's the B-side of a horror movie, the odd cousin of a vampire film and the bastard son of fantasy cinema. For those who are not used to darkly emotions, low lit frames and a slow pace the film will certainly won't appeal. You must carry an authentic, deep love for the art of cinema to fully tune with that movie. It doesn't have the classic Hollywood "success" recipe. In its own way I would call it an arthouse horror movie. For the people who like the combination of the wicked and the innocent, the day and the night, the shocking and the loving, cinema and literature.
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