Cronos - Will's Review

A good movie! That's actually horror!!! (Or deals horror themes at least - it doesn't induce fear, nor is it intended to). 

I'm showing my hand early again; I'm re commending this one, and I suggest you stop reading and go in cold. The only thing I will warn you about upfront is that it's a foreign language film (Spanish, on account of it being a Mexican movie) so give it a miss if you don't do subtitles. 

It gets labeled as a Vampire movie, and it's easy to see why, it deals with immortals who must drink human blood, get burned by sunlight, and can only be killed by destroying their heart; but I don't think it's strictly fair to label them 'vampires' as such - certainly it's like no version of the vampire mythos you've seen before. 

Jesus (no, not THAT Jesus; he's Mexican so it's pronounced Hayzuze) is an older chap, who lives with his wife and granddaughter, and owns an antique shop. One day he finds a strange clockwork device in the base of an angel statuette in his shop. 

At first the device seems dangerous, damaging his hand when it it activated, but he soon starts to look and feel younger. 

Things start to go badly wrong for Jesus however, when he gets mixed up with a death-fearing millionaire who wants the device for his own, and has been collecting angel statues in the hope of finding it, and only get worse when he finds that he has inadvertently made himself immortal. 

I really like Jesus' slow realisation that he was craving blood... None of that 'I've turned and shall go straight for the jugular of the first person I see' stuff here. 

Brilliantly filmed and acted, the only criticism you could level at the movie is that it's slow; however I found it to be an interesting, simple, slow-burn story, rather than the dull type of slow. 

I don't want to say too much more - if you've seen it, you already know, and if you haven't seen it (and ignored my warning to go in cold) I've said far too much already; so I'll mark this with my recommendation tag, and leave you to go rent a copy. 

Cronos (1993) - Lisa's Review

*** BIG FAT SPOILERS ***

Let me start by saying, if you haven't seen Cronos, stop right now!!  Go watch it and don't read this.  I wouldn't want to spoil your viewing experience by giving anything away.

So, with that out of the way, a good movie to watch and review!! Whooooooooooo!  It seems like it's been so long!  I originally saw Cronos a few years ago.  Like most other people, I was alerted to it when I watched the wonderful 'Pans Labyrinth' and discovered it was part of a movie trilogy (although the movies are completely unrelated) by Guillermo Del Toro alongside Cronos and The Devils Backbone.  What can I say?  I loved all 3.  The guy knows what he's doing.

This movie has at its heart a story about immortality and vampires, although it is told in a very different manner to what we're used to.  I should perhaps point out that this movie is in Spanish with English subtitles.  I often forget to point this out to people when I recommend a movie and it doesn't tend to go down too well.

It's quite hard to give an idea about this movie without giving a lot away, hence the 'big fat spoilers' warning.   We start the movie in a scene from many years previous where an alchemist has created a device which is capable of granting immortality to its owner.  Many years later we see him laying dead underneath a pile of rubble from a collapsed building with inhuman marble-white skin.

Fast Forward to the present day and we meet the star of the movie - Jesus, an antique store owner.  He comes into possession of a statue of archangel.  He notices that the base is hollow and comes upon an ancient device inside.  I can only describe it as having the appearance of a large Scarab Beetle without legs.  However, when it is held, metal legs emerge and wrap themselves around the hand of the holder, holding it fast.  The skin is pierced and it appears to inject them with something.

From then on, Jesus is driven to return to the object as he discovers it makes him appear younger, feel more energetic, he feels better than he has in years.  As is usually the case however, something good always comes with something bad.   He has an insatiable thirst for blood and even resorts to lying on a bathroom floor, ready to lick up some from the floor.  This is the first sign that rather than a secret of immortality, Jesus has actually inadvertently become a vampire.

We always have a villain alongside our hero and here it comes as a dying millionaire who has heard of the device and is willing to go to any lengths to get it.  His rather brutish nephew Angel (played by Ron Perlman) is tasked with going after it.   Angel attempts to kill Jesus by pushing his car over a cliff, while he is unconscious inside it.    It becomes clear to us that it is going to take something very big to do away with Jesus.  We witness him lying on a mortuary slab waiting to be cremated and witness his resurrection, complete with the opening of his gruesomely sewn shut mouth.

He returns home to his granddaughter who has been in on everything all along and sets to writing a letter explaining the situation to his wife.  We find out more evidence of his vampiric state in that sunlight burns his skin and he has to sleep in a box.

Needing to know a 'way out' of his situation, Jesus goes with his granddaughter to see the millionaire who is so desperate for the device and agrees to hand it over in return for answers and an escape.  I won't give away any more or how the movie ends, but this movie is well worth a watch.  If you don't mind subtitles and want to watch something a little different from usual run-of-the-mill movies, this is for you.

There is A LOT more to the movie than I have detailed, but I honestly don't want to give too much away about the storyline as I think if anyone is reading this that hasn't seen it, it is well worth watching.

I heartilly recommend it.

Week 123 - Cronos (1993)

Reviews / Author Comments due: 28/09/2013

Position on TimeOut list: 96

More Info: Wikipedia, IMDB

DVD: Link