Jacob's 31 Days of Halloween - Day 24: Cronos

Jacob's 31 Days of Halloween - Day 24: Cronos

Guillermo Del Toro is now synonymous with monster movies, a reputation he worked for 25 years to achieve, going all the way back to his very first movie in 1993: Cronos.

Taking place in Mexico, the large majority of the film is in Spanish, with a couple of somewhat fascinating exceptions. For one, the opening Lord of the Rings-esque narration is entirely in English, which through me for a loop as I expected all of it to be in Spanish. Ron Perlman is the primary source of English in the movie, with occasional attempts at Spanish throughout.

This is a vampire movie, but only on a very technical level. The only vampire in the movie is the kindly old protagonist who slowly becomes one. He's not bitten by a person, instead he's bitten by a small device with an immortal bug in it. Pretty different. He never grows fangs or bites anyone, but he does get a taste for blood and has quite a hard time dying.

As with all of Del Toro's movies to come after this one, the set design and cinematography are gorgeous. It feels like a dark, bizarro modern fairy tale, which is kind of Del Toro's whole thing. There's a little girl who looks like every little girl in every Del Toro movie, and there's plenty of violence that juxtaposes the somewhat whimsical tone he sets up.

I would've liked the movie to be more focused and seen more happen to the likable grandfather protagonist, as well getting more wonderful creativity like the beetle device with all of the gears inside. I don't need so much of Ron Perlman and his boss, I just want to see a nice old man deal with becoming a vampire and get some more Del Toro madness.

While I do have issues with the movie, it's a great start to a career that, although riddled with both hits and misses, is undoubtedly unique and entirely his singular vision. If you're a Del Toro fan, you don't want to miss this one.