Ron Perlman tried, but Guillermo del Toro found his reading completely unusable
Scenario
A mysterious device that is supposed to grant its owner eternal life resurfaces after four hundred years, leaving destruction in its wake. In an interview included in the Criterion edition of the film, Ron Perlman talks about how Angel should speak fluent Spanish. The character is thus transformed into an American immigrant who hates being in Mexico so much that the little Spanish he does speak is deliberately spoken incorrectly. When Jesús searches for Aurora, taking Cronos, as he passes through two doors, he stops.
Some explicit nudity was added for the US video release
Behind him, reflected in the glass of the doors, are the team and equipment. [discussing why Deiter wants Cronos] Jesus Gris: He thinks it will help him live longer. Angel de la Guardia: [laughs] This son of a bitch does nothing but shit and pee all day and wants to live longer? While the primary American theatrical version includes a prologue and snippets of dialogue in English, the secondary market version will be entirely in Spanish.
It appears in the film Masters of Horror (2002)
Die Schöne Müllerin Franz Schubert Arranged by: Charlotte Georg (as Lee Ashley) BMI Publisher: Software Music BMI Courtesy of Capitol Productions Music – Ole Georg. Severely underrated on this site, Cronos is a gripping story that will captivate the viewer throughout its duration. Guillermo Del Toro’s first film is a thoughtful, heartbreaking story that manages to be above all fresh, engaging, and unique, while also managing to capture the feel of horror films in the same mold as The Shining, where it’s a film about family first and horror second. Cronos definitely doesn’t connect with the slasher side of the horror market, and it doesn’t come close to the dirty assault on meaning that the choreography provides.
There are three things that are notable about this film that undoubtedly make it worth watching
What Cronos manages to achieve is an assault on the mind and soul, which is the essence of what a horror film must do if it is to leave a lasting impression. Given that I can see where the average rating is coming from, it is not a gore fest, it does not provide scares per second, and it does not have gratuitous scenes with eyes that are measured with rusty pickaxes, but as any true horror fan knows, these are just side attractions to excellent horror films like The Shining, like The Fog, and Cronos, if not quite at the top, is very close indeed. The most subtle is the commentary on US-Mexico relations that Guillermo Del Toro sprinkles throughout the film. It provides an interesting portrait of how he, and no doubt many Mexicans, feel about their encounters with the US, which is always trying to be dominated and must stand on its own two feet to succeed.
The most obvious are the very notable Christian references and the deliberate naming
Our hero, an antiques dealer, is called Jesus for simple reasons of reincarnation, but there are many words in the film such as “my God”, “my Lord” and more similar comments, there is undoubtedly a parallel plot in the name, the director has pointed out the good that still emanates from our protagonist. Jesus’ granddaughter and wife are called Aurora and Mercedes, and knowing the meaning of their names, which are “dawn or first light” and “mercy”, gives the film’s conclusion a sense of closure. Finally, it’s worth mentioning the performance of Federico Lupi and Tamara Shanath, who provide the necessary gravitas, even in movement, if not through vocals, to convey the deep emotional bond between grandfather and granddaughter, which, when all else is removed, is the main driving force of this story and the one that will keep you coming back.