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Cronos
Directed by	Guillermo del Toro
Produced by	Arthur H. Gorson Bertha Navarro Alejandro Springall
Written by	Guillermo del Toro
Starring	Federico Luppi Ron Perlman Claudio Brook Margarita Isabel Tamara Shanath
Music by	Javier Álvarez
Cinematography	Guillermo Navarro
Editing by	Raúl Dávalos
Distributed by	Fondo de Fomento Cinematográfico, Vetana Films
Release date(s)	1993
Running time	94 min.
Country	Mexico
Language	Spanish English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Cronos is a film written and directed by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro in 1993 and starring veteran Argentine actor, Federico Luppi and American actor Ron Perlman, the first of several films that del Toro, Luppi, and Perlman have collaborated on.

An old antique dealer, Jesús Gris, finds a 450 year old mechanical device in the base of a statue. He later discovers that the device - a beautifully crafted, gilded metallic container - if placed on any part of the body - uses an internal clockwork mechanism to exude spider-like "legs" to grip tightly, then inserts a needle into the skin and delivers a payload of (presumably) some kind of solution.

The viewer later "sees" that inside the device lurks an entombed, yet living insect that is meshed with the internal clockwork, and is the horrific originator of the solution. Gris is unaware of these details, however.

Eventually, he discovers that his health and vigour is returning with a vengeance, as is his youth. His skin loses its wrinkles, and even his hair thickens, as does his sexual appetite. Unfortunately, it also imparts a thirst for blood, which at first disgusts him, but he eventually succumbs to the temptation. Later, he dies, but returns to life - in one of the more gruesome episodes of the movie, he revives in an undertaker's establishment, his mouth sewn shut, and dressed in funeral clothes.

A rich, dying businessman, Dieter de la Guardia, has been aware of the existence of the device for many years, and has amassed a lot of information about it, at considerable expense. He finally finds out that it has been hidden in a statue, and has his thuggish nephew, Angel, scouring the world for it. This is much to Angel's disgust, as he hates his uncle with a passion, and can't wait until he dies so he can inherit his fortune.

The elderly antique dealer is not willing to give it up, as he has obviously developed a need for it, and senses that a man like de la Guardia would use it to the world's great disadvantage, and he endangers his young granddaughter in his fight to keep it.

• Cronos at the Internet Movie Database
• Cronos at Metacritic

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