225. 31 Days of Halloween '25: CRONOS (1992) dir. Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro has yet to find any boundaries when it comes to intimacy within a story or the scope of its telling. He uses genre like a stained palette, leaving residue of fusions and clear-cut influences.

So it makes sense that his debut, CRONOS, is no different. Del Toro reinvents the vampire using alchemy, entomology, Gothic principles, the mixture of Medevial and Renaissance periods. But anchoring this smattering of ideas is the simplest one: the unconditional love between a grandfather and granddaughter.

Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) is a Mexican antique shop owner raising his granddaughter Aurora (Tamara Xanath). One day, they discover a golden egg-shaped device hidden in one of the shop's archangel statues. After fumbling with the device's dial, Jesus is wounded when the Cronos machine pops out sharp, insect-like legs and latches itself into his hand, Facehugger-style.

What starts as mere accident lingers in Jesus' mind as he finds himself not only drawn to the device but also its method of doling out pain. The more Jesus uses the Cronos device, the more vivacious and young he feels. But this newfound rejuvenation comes with an aching appetite for flesh, for blood.

CRONOS introduces many of the subjects found throughout Del Toro's 30+ year career: death, fatherhood, the clash between an archaic past and promising future, Ron Perlman. It sometimes feels as though the movie is incapable of holding all the thought that went into its world's development but that's part of what I enjoy about Del Toro. His movies are never complete after first viewing. In a way, they're the amuse bouche to the boundless mind that hides beneath, a mere foyer to a curious mansion.

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