Cronos is the directorial debut from Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro is better known for films such as Pans Labryith, Hellboy and Blade 2. Cronos won the critics week award at the 1993 Cannes Festival, and also won 9 Mexican Academy Awards. The film has a running time of 92 mins and a 18 certificate. Cast members include Federico Luppi, Tamara Shanath, Claudio Brook and Ron Perlman (Hellboy). It has a mixture of English and Spanish speak, however the spanish parts have English subtitles so this isn't a problem.

Plot- The film follows antique's dealer Jesus Gris and his grandaughter. Jesus comes across a Cronos device which belonged to a 16th century alchemist. The device is said to grant eternal life.
Jesus uses it for the 1st time by accident. He soon becomes vampire like, making him sensitive to the daylight and he gains a hunger for human blood.
The film also follows a dying millionaire and his nephew who are looking for the device. They realise Jesus has the device and the Nephew kills him. However Jesus doesn't stay down for long and comes back to life and grows new skin.
Jesus heads to the millionaire's house looking for the instruction manual for the device. He is followed by his Grandaughter. The whole thing results in a graphic bloodbath.
Jesus finally realises what the device is doing to him and he smashes it.

Verdict- It isn't the usual kind of film I would go for, but that being said I did enjoy it. The effects were good. One thing that caught my attention was, at the start of the film the film is almost black and white, but after the cronos device is used there is more colour to it, this also coincides with Jesus beginning to look younger. The film is a little graphic for me, I'm not one for blood, however I think horror lovers will love it. Its also a good film for those who are into different cultures/foreign films. Not one for the girly girls. It has a very different take on a vampire legend and unlike modern vampire films the feasting scenes almost seem real. I was glued to the film and had to keep watching even if it was through my hands. The relationship between Grandfather and daughter is shown weel, as although she has seen him do horrible things she still loves and fights for him. The film begins to show Del Toro's style of film, he has a magical and unique take on things i.e vampires. However as I have seen some of Del Toro's later films first, I feel this isn't as well polished. However that been said I still feel this is an impressive debut.