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Stars:
Federico Luppi, Ron Pearlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel, and Tamara
Shanath
Writer:
Guillermo Del Toro
Director:
Guillermo Del Toro
Feature
length: 92 minutes
Extras:
Director’s Commentary, Producers’ Commentary, Featurettes, and Galleries
Languages:
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and Spanish and English Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 24
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1992/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: October Films
Home
Video Distributor: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
have been sort of boasting for the last few weeks of not being bothered by any
of the horror films I have reviewed for this year’s Halloween DVD coverage,
but I have to admit I found Guillermo Del Toro’s “Cronos” to be a
thoroughly disturbing take on the vampire myth that is quite insightful too. A
victim of the inquisition centuries ago, an alchemist created a biomechanical
device that gave him extended life, but cursed him with an addiction to it.
Changing his appearance to a pasty marble white skin tone, he lived on the blood
of others, draining them ritualistically in between the fixes of the
“Cronos” device he built. A strange insect is melded within the machine that
gives the user venom and eventually turns them into a zombie like blood junkie.
The alchemist died in a collapse in 1937 and although the items of his home were
kept out of the press, rumors and items from his home have found their way into
the hands of greedy industrialist who seeks to live forever if he can find the
Cronos device. Tragically, a shop owner and grandfather discover it within a
roach infested statue and becomes infected and addicted. Soon he is as desperate
to find a way out of his predicament as the industrialist is ruthless to posses
it.
Guillermo
Del Toro gives an excellent feature length audio commentary that reveals much of
his own upbringing that got him interested in the macabre as well as the plight
he undertook to make the film and his own view on the nature of fairy tales and
their relationship to horror or dark fantasy and I think he makes some great
points in the process. The Producers’ commentary is a mix of Spanish and
English requires subtitles unless you speak Spanish and despite my last name, I
don’t speak a word of it. However it is still a nice compliment to Guillermo
Del Toro’s commentary and focuses more on the nature of the production than
Del Toro’s varied approach on his commentary track. Extra value video features
include a video interview with Guillermo Del Toro discussing his perspective on
the film ten years later (14:56), a short behind-the-scenes video with an
interview with Star Federico Luppi (5:27), two still galleries, and the
theatrical trailer (1:37) as well as a trailer reel (5:47) containing previews
for “Cabin Fever,” “Godsend,” and “Intacto.”
The
picture quality is quite nice, especially for an independent film with an
anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) presentation and a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Soundtrack and Dolby Surround Soundtrack too. English Closed Captions
for the hearing impaired and Spanish and English Language Subtitles are encoded
onto the DVD as options too.
The
interactive menus are haunting in nature, but easy to navigate. “Cronos: 10th
Anniversary Special Edition” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and
offline from Lions Gate Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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