CRONOS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1994 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This is genuinely a cutting-edge art
house monster movie. It is visually striking, has a real
"what-happens-next?" plot, and some intriguing human
relationships. It has been a long time since a new monster
movie has played to art film audiences, but this one is worth
it. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4)
Sometime I say "don't trust me on this one because it is not my kind of film. On this one I say don't trust me because it *is* my kind of film. From an early age I have loved the horror film. But I have to say that the horror film rarely likes me. Too often the horror film just feeds off films made earlier. It has sequels that are really remakes and even films in which each ten minutes is a remake of the last ten minutes. The sort of thing you see is "Another teenager is fooling around for nine minutes, then Jason attacks and kills him." What changes from film to film is the prosthetic makeup, the special effects, and very little else. The feeling I most prize in a horror film is not chills but curiosity. There are far too few films that make me wonder what the heck is going to happen next. Horror films that do that include CARNIVAL OF SOULS, LIFEFORCE, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT, TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER, CRONOS, and not nearly enough other horror films. What makes CRONOS a particular surprise is that it comes from Mexico, a country whose horror films have so often lacked style and originality. Occasionally there will be an atmospheric scene in a Mexican vampire film, but by and large there has not been a whole lot to interest foreign markets. Now Guillermo Del Toro has made what may have been for me the most enjoyable and creative horror film of the 90s.
In 1536 an alchemist fleeing the Inquisition came to Mexico where he continued his work on immortality until his death in the 1930s. The authorities were shocked by what they found in his rooms, sold off his belongings, and considered the matter closed. In 1996, an antiques dealer, Jesus Gris (played by Federico Luppi) finds a strange antique clockwork mechanism hidden in the base of a statue. It looks like a very large pocket watch, the size of a bar of soap, crossed with a mechanical scorpion. Wind it up and it sprouts legs and stings the hand that is holding it. It is a nasty trick, but that is just the beginning. Roughly speaking I will say that it does fall into an overly-familiar horror genre, but it presses buttons that genre rarely approaches.
This is a film of stylish images and delightful subtle humor. Little visual images like the monster walking the streets of Mexico in what looks like a tuxedo worn back to front (don't worry, in context it makes perfect sense) spice the film and make it a pure pleasure to watch. Del Toro, who both wrote and directed, has an impressive visual sense without ever letting the special effects or the makeup take over the film. Also to be treasured are the few looks we get inside the Cronos Device itself.
Del Toro is a well-known film fan in Latin America having grown up on United States and British horror films, OUTER LIMITS, and TWILIGHT ZONE. He wrote the definitive Latin American study of the works of Alfred Hitchcock (which he calls a 540-page love letter to Hitchcock made public). Now he is making his own horror films to compete in Mexico with those made in the United States and if this first film is any indication he is exceeding his goal. Sr. Del Toro, please continue to make original films like this one.
CRONOS is one of the most enjoyable horror films I have seen since I was a teen, I would rate it a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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