Cronos

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Movie
German title Cronos
Original title La Invención de Cronos
Country of production Mexico / USA
Publishing year 1993
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Guillermo del Toro
script Guillermo del Toro
production Bertha Navarro , Arthur Gorson
music Javier Álvarez
camera Guillermo Navarro
cut Raul Davalos
occupation

Cronos is a Mexican horror film from 1993, which takes up vampire and zombie motifs, but focuses less on shock elements and more on the relationship between the protagonists. Directed by Guillermo del Toro .

action

Jesus Gris is an antique dealer. He lives with his wife Mercedes and granddaughter Aurora, who never speaks a word. There is little activity in his shop, so he has time to play with his granddaughter. Obviously only one customer is looking for a particular statue. Shortly afterwards, cockroaches crawl out of an angel statue examined by this man . Jesus looks and discovers in its base a mysterious, about the size of a fist, beetle-like, gold-colored device. When he pulls it up on a feather, the latter claws and stabs Jesus in the hand. Jesus takes the beetle home with him and, having become addicted, puts it on several times. It makes him feel younger and more dynamic, but develops a desire for blood.

The next morning he finds his antique shop searched and devastated. On the table is the business card of Angel, the coarse nephew of the terminally ill industrialist De la Guardia. Angel had previously bought the now empty angel statue for his uncle and was obviously looking for the device. This industrialist got hold of an alchemist's notebook from the 16th century some time ago , and now he's desperately looking for Cronos, the life-extending device.

Jesus Gris visits De la Guardia and is informed of the existence of the notebook. But he doesn't want to give up Cronos. That's why he is knocked down by Angel, dying in a car and rolling down a cliff. Shortly before his cremation , Jesus comes to life again due to the action of Cronos. He sees his own obituary and tries in vain to contact his wife. Aurora lets Jesus into the house and hides him in her toy chest during the day.

During the night the two go to get the alchemist's notebook. They are caught by De La Guardia, who is eventually knocked down by Aurora. Jesus greedily drinks the leaking blood. The alarmed Angel pursues the two. It comes to a fight on a factory roof. Jesus plunges into the depths with Angel. Aurora can resuscitate Jesus by applying Cronos to him. After waking up, he feels his thirst for blood again and is about to attack his granddaughter. But at the last moment she starts to speak, she says "Grandpa". Thereupon Jesus destroys Cronos and without its life-extending effect he dies soon afterwards.

budget

At the time, this was the most expensive Mexican film. The budget was increased from $ 1.5 million to $ 2 million; and so that the expenses do not increase immeasurably, Ron Perlman agreed to a cut in his fee.

background knowledge

  • The name of the alchemist is borrowed from the pseudonym Fulcanelli , under which numerous alchemical writings were published in the 1920s.
  • The movie's props have been stolen. The director only has copies.
  • The role of "Jesus Gris" was originally written for Max von Sydow .
  • The mechanical objects and special effects were made by the company "Necropia", then owned by Del Toro.
  • Del Toro had started the script back in 1984. The working title was Vampire of the Gray Dawn .
  • At the beginning of the film, there is a no-parking sign that was originally made for the 1968 Olympic Games. The scene was shot on a large boulevard in Mexico City , the "Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas".
  • Perlman's Spanish was so bad that the director felt compelled to change the script on one point. From then on, Spanish was no longer Angel's mother tongue. He was now an American emigrant. Perlman also starred in Del Toro's later films Blade II , Hellboy , Hellboy - The Golden Army, and Pacific Rim .

Source:

Cameo

Del Toro's wife can be seen briefly in one scene. She is walking a dog.

criticism

Lexicon of international film : Grippingly staged and well-acted horror film in the form of a modern vampire variant, which tries to expand the subject with the dimension of the "Faust" material .

Awards

The film won 20 different awards, including a Saturn Award in the Best Genre Video Release category . Director Guillermo del Toro received the Golden Ariel and the Mercedes-Benz Award .

swell

  1. ↑ a b c http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104029/trivia
  2. ↑ Cronos. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

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