Cronos

We begin in the 16th century in Veracruz where an alchemist (who else), in search of eternal life, is busy developing a method which will enable him to achieve precisely that. Well, he doesn’t come up with some magic elixir, instead, he comes up with some odd-looking device which resembles a golden scarab… a metallic scarab, that is. Forward to 1937 and when an ancient building collapses, a sinister looking man wearing medieval garb is found under the rubble. No prizes for guessing that the man who, in addition to medieval clothing, also sports a rather eerie looking marble-white skin, is said alchemist and if it weren’t for the fact that a piece of falling debris penetrated his heart and killed him, he would indeed be still alive… Although his former abode is thoroughly investigated, no one ever revealed what they discovered, namely basins filled with blood from a corpse - a particularly unsettling sight.

Forward again to the present and Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi), an elderly antique dealer, is excited that some of the artefacts from the collapsed building, which revealed the alchemist’s former abode, are brought to him. He is particularly intrigued by the statue of an archangel, reason being that the base seems hollow and several beetles (or cockroaches, rather) escape from it. Jesús’ mute, 12-year old granddaughter Aurora (Tamara Shanath), has no qualms squashing one or the other cockroach with a fly flap. Aurora lives with her grandparents since her own parents (Jesús’s son), died in a car accident though she gets on better with Grandpa than with Grandma Mercedes (Margarita Isabel), a dance teacher specialising in tango. Curious and disgusted at the same time about the cockroaches, Jesús inspects the archangel statue further and discovers the centuries old, heavily ornate device inside the figurine. Realising that the mechanical scarab has a wind-up mechanism, he winds the device when, completely unexpected, metallic, spider-like legs spread out of the scarab and grip the antique dealer tight around his hand. Then another spider-like leg, longer and sharper than the others, unfurls and - needle-like - pricks the man’s skin. Unbeknownst to Jesús, a living insect (it looks like chunks of offal piled on top) is entombed inside the mechanical device and filters the blood which is sucked from the man via the metallic spider-like leg.

Although horrified and terrified at first (and who could blame the man), he soon changes his opinion upon realising that his looks begin to change… for the better! He begins to look younger and his wrinkles begin to fade, not to mention other benefits that come with young age. However, there’s a downside to it all as Jesús soon discovers, namely an uncanny thirst for blood. Still, he soon is won over by the mechanical ‘fountain of youth’ and uses the strange device more and more, much to the worry of Aurora.

Things take a more sinister turn when a short time later, an American by the name of Angel (Ron Perlman) enters the antique shop and expresses an interest in the archangel statue, which Jesús is only too happy to sell to the stranger. What he doesn’t know is that thuggish and bad-tempered Angel is the nephew of Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook), a wealthy businessman who is terminally ill with cancer and treats Angel like a dogsbody. In his ultra-sterile large room, countless archangel statues covered in transparent plastic and dangling from hooks on a rail can be found - what’s with all these archangels? Turns out that Dieter, in his quest to cheat death, has been searching for that one particular archangel which contains the apparently life-saving device for years… so far, without success. But somehow, he seems to know that Jesús has the ‘one’ he’s been after… Imagine his disappointment when Angel returns with the statue but no device inside.

It’s left to Angel to sort it out and get the device, no matter what it involves. Of course, Angel would only be too happy if Dieter succumbed to his cancer, if only so he can get the inheritance. Suffice to say, nothing goes according to plan and soon, it’s not only Jesús who finds himself in a mess and has a hard time concealing his increasingly vampiric behaviour from his wife (in contrast, his granddaughter becomes more attached to JesúsJesús than ever before) but Angel too messes up more and more the harder he tries to get the device….

CRONOS is a fascinating oddity filled with pathos, melancholy and the occasional gore, though Jesus’ decaying skin looks at times more like cheap latex it must be said. Unusual for a horror film, the story offers plenty of human emotions and the relation between Jesus and his mute granddaughter, who is without prejudice towards his changing appearance, is particularly touching. By the way, Ron Perlman’s character Angel was made an American purely because the actor couldn’t speak any Spanish - nonetheless, director del Toro, a huge fan of Perlman’s work years before they first met, insisted on Perlman for the part and no one else.

The 2-Disc set includes a plethora of Bonus Material, including various audio commentaries, various interviews, BFI Screen Talk with del Toro from 2017 (74 min), ‘Making of Cronos’ with Federico Luppi, del Toro’s 1987 hilarious horror short ‘Geometria’ (7 min) and more.