Cronos (1993)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Faced with his own mortality, an ingenious alchemist tried to perfect an invention that would provide him with the key to eternal life. It was called the Cronos device. When he died more than 400 years later, he took the secrets of this remarkable device to the grave with him. Now, an elderly antiques dealer has found the hellish machine hidden in a statue and learns about its incredible powers. The more he uses the device, the younger he becomes...but nothing comes without a price. Life after death is just the beginning as this nerve-shattering thriller unfolds and the fountain of youth turns bloody.
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What critics compared Cronos to
…está en Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi) convertido en un monstruo de piel desgarrada en Cronos (1992)…
Elordi, buried under nearly unrecognizable prosthetics and a creature design reminiscent of the marbled vampires from del Toro’s Cronos or Blade II…
A Catholic tableau come to fiery life, she’s a classic del Toro image, reminiscent of the winged seraphs in “Cronos” (1992) and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (2008).
Guillermo del Toro’s been talking about it since his 1992 feature debut, Cronos.
Del Toro has been mulling this project over for about 50 years, and his love of monster movies has been clear ever since his first film, 1992’s Cronos.
…del Toro – a director with a back catalogue that includes Cronos (1993) and The Devil’s Backbone (2001)…
…or seeking to control and even conquer death in Cronos…
The design of Frankenstein pulls heavily from del Toro’s earlier works, most notably Cronos, which shares a lot of common DNA with this classic horror tale.
I’ve loved all of del Toro’s movies since “Cronos”…
When he isn’t directing stylish tales of the supernatural (Pan’s Labyrinth, Cronos), he produces the frivolous, forgettable work of others (Kung Fu Panda 2).
All three directors have previously filmed in their native Mexico, bequeathing us works such as “Amores Perros,” “Y Tu Mamá También,” and “Cronos,” but the urge to see the world, or to elaborate on the angle at which they see it, seems lately to have consumed them.
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While Frankenstein shares thematic DNA with Pinocchio, there are shades of Crimson Peak, Cronos, The Shape of Water, and Nightmare Alley, making the film feel like a culmination of del Toro’s cinematic obsessions.
In del Toro’s work, from Cronos to Pinocchio, from ghosts to gillmen, the monsters are indisputably the heroes.
Guillermo del Toro ( The Devils Backbone , Cronos ) directed and co-wrote Hellboy with devout faithfulness to Mignolas vision.
The unexpected casting of Perlman, a mid-level star who previously teamed with del Toro in his breakthrough 1993 Mexican film "Cronos," is actually quite inspired and not simply because of Perlman's renowned ability to act through many layers of makeup.
His other movies, from his low-budget vampire classic Cronos (1993) to the studio-mangled Mimic (1997) to the tragic Spanish Civil War ghost story The Devil's Backbone (2001) to Blade II are set in subterranean caverns and dank, rusting subway tunnels that evoke a morbid spiritual dislocation.
Even “Cronos,” his groundbreaking Mexican film that put him on the Hollywood map, bogged down in parts.
The movie, based on comics by Mike Mignola and directed by the Mexican-born horror master Guillermo del Toro (" Cronos ," " Blade II "), opens with a scene involving Nazis, those most durable of comic book villains.
He's got the action part down pat, he even comes up with moments of poetic poignancy and humor, but his prior work (vampire device in "Cronos"; giant cockroach in "Mimic", and the technically accomplished but superficial "Blade 2") can be said to be emotion-challenged.
And in much of his work — from Cronos and Hellboy to Pinocchio — Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been an undeniable presence.