Starring: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

I’m often told that Cronos is one of the most unique takes on the vampire genre, but the truth is it’s not really a vampire film. You certainly shouldn’t expect any of the fangs, bats, capes, and stakes (or, shudder, glitter) you’ve come to associate with the genre of late – because even though Cronos does feature a man with a thirst for blood, it is about as much a vampire film as Hellraiser is. That doesn’t take anything away from Guillermo Del Toro’s 1993 directorial debut, however, as it remains an imaginative and engaging film with the director’s trademark peculiarity pumping through its veins.It follows the story of an antiques shop owner (Federico Luppi) who stumbles upon a strange object called the ‘cronos device’, a scarab-shaped thingy-ma-bob that offers the user eternal life in return for frequent access to the life-juice running through his veins. After accidentally operating the device, he finds himself becoming dependant on the device to quench a thirst building inside him. Also appearing is frequent Del Toro collaborator Ron Perlman as the put-upon nephew of a dying man obsessed with retrieving the device to prolong his life. Perlman is simply a delight as he swears and rages his way through the film, and small character traits like his preoccupation with the size of his nose add to the wholly bizarre atmosphere of the film.

While this is an entertaining film with plenty to praise, it seems to spend a little too much time dealing with introspective dialogue and the numerous attempts by Perlman to retrieve the device, ignoring the much more interesting dilemma of the kindly old man’s transformation into something not quite human. There are plenty of opportunies for tense run-ins with family and friends, who slowly witness Luppi’s descent into monstrosity, but nothing really comes of it other than some vaguely sad dialogue.

Del Toro clearly draws some inspiration for his titular object from the ‘Lament Configuration’ puzzle box featured in Hellraiser , although the cronos device is a little bit lighter on gangs of demon sex gimps than Clive Barker’s odd antique. Small elements of the devices creation are revealed throughout the plodding storyline, but it’s not enough to satisfy the fans of Del Toro’s usual vastly high-concept worlds and characters. What exactly is the creature trapped inside the device? Where did it come from? Who was the man who created the device, other than just ‘a 16^th century alchemist’? These questions remain unanswered, and that’s sort of disappointing coming from the man who gave us such rich worlds as Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth.

Still, what is on offer here is a strong, well-written dip into myth and mystery – it’s no Blade II in the blood-sucking department, but it more than holds its own as a uniquely odd glimpse at Del Toro’s future genius.