Cronos is a 1992 Mexican independent vampire/body horror/drama film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Federico Luppi and Ron Perlman. Cronos is del Toro's first feature film, and the first of several films on which he worked with Luppi and Perlman.
The film was selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 66th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. A stand-alone sequel, We Are What We Are, was released in 2010, with the only connection being Daniel Giménez Cacho reprising his role as Tito the Coroner
Plot[]
The alchemist Humberto Oganelli who fled the intellectuals landed at Veracruz Bay in Mexico. In the year 1536, when the alchemist was appointed as a watchmaker by the governor, he decided to make a perfect invention to give the governor eternal life, and named it Cronos after he invented it.
400 years later, in 1937, a collapse of the building ceiling occurred one night. Among the victims, a man, had bizarre skin and skin color like marble, with a chest that was severely wounded, was found. His last words were "Suo Tempore". He was an alchemist. Jesus Gris, who runs the antique awards, finds the Cronos in a plaster cast that was kept in the warehouse. He used Cronos by chance and without realizing how to use the Cronos, and not figuring out the identity of his youth, he becomes increasingly addicted and turns into a vampire.
Gris is chased by the Guardia, who holds the diary of the alchemist that invented Cronos, with the instructions on how to use Cronos. Eventually, Gris kills Guardia, but after he knows the secret of Cronos, he falls into the dilemma of this final choice. The final choice is, will Gris live forever as a vampire with Cronos, or will Gris give up his life as a vampire and die as a human being.
Cast[]
- Federico Luppi as Jesús Gris
- Ron Perlman as Angel de la Guardia
- Claudio Brook as Dieter de la Guardia
- Tamara Shanath as Aurora Gris
- Margarita Isabel as Mercedes Gris
- Daniel Giménez Cacho as Tito the Coroner, a character that also appears in the 2010 horror film We Are What We Are.
- Mario Iván Martínez as Alchemist
- Farnesio de Bernal as Manuelito
- Jorge Martínez de Hoyos as Narrator
Main Characters[]
Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi)
- Gris accidentally discovers information about an alchemist created by the immortal machine 'Cronos' in the 16th century and becomes a little younger by using it. However, he did not know how to use it, and eventually he starts to dislike the sun and begins to covet blood.
Aurora (Tamara Shanath)
- Aurora is Gris’s granddaughter, who is devoted to helping her grandfather even though he keeps changing and becomes more and more different.
De la Guardia (Claudio Brook)
- A wealthy and sick old man who knows the secrets of Cronos. He had been looking for Cronos for a long time, and when he finds out that Gris has the Cronos, he proposes a deal with Gris in exchange for the alchemist's diary, which contains the instructions on how to use Cronos.