Cronos (1993)
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
The debut feature of the great Guillermo Del Toro is a vampire tale like no other. There are moments of violence and fear but overall this is a quiet, melancholy story with, perhaps, the most unassuming vampire in the history of movies.
When gentle, elderly antique dealer Jesus Gris is injured (well, bitten really) by a strange device he finds hidden in the base of a statue, he begins to feel younger and more energized than he has in years. Unfortunately, this new vitality comes with strange and disturbing cravings. To complicate things, a dying millionaire and his thuggish nephew (a marvelous Ron Perlman in his first collaboration with Del Toro) suspect what Gris has found and will stop at nothing to acquire it. For all it's genre and thriller trappings however, it is the relationship between the old man and his granddaughter that provides the real soul of the story and elevates it to the level of tragedy.
Inconsistent in tone and maybe a bit too leisurely paced, this is still a startling and original debut from one of modern cinema's great fantasists.
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