I’m sure everyone in the world has heard of IMDB the Internet Movie Data Base. I’m on it several times a day ( sometimes there’s just nothing to do at work) and look up tons of different things.   One day I was looking at Ron Perlman‘ profile and a movie popped up that I have looked over many times at the movie rental hut, but never actually rented. I thought this might be a perfect movie for one of my  “Forgotten Movies” columns and  decided to go out to find it.  All I can say is that this is truly a forgotten film, I had to literally hunt for it but in the end it was well worth the chase.  The movie that I speak of is Cronos.

Jesus Gris an elderly antique dealer stumbled across a golden scarab that is more than 400 years old. Trying to figure out exactly what it is, Jesus becomes injured when the device becomes active and strikes him.  Soon Jesus falls under the spell of the scarab and begins to feel the effects of its powers. Unknown to him  a very rich, powerful but dying man is searching for  the artifact as  rumors abound that the Cronos will grant eternal life.

If you are not huge fans of Guillermo del Toro, but are really into his work (like I am), you might not know that this is both, his first full length film as well with this being his first time working along side the then unknown Ron Perlman.  The second time these two got together was when del Toro was commissioned to direct the supernatural action blockbuster Hell Boy, in which Ron Perlman starred as the comic icon Hellboy.

The story is one of the most refreshing tales I have ever seen.  I wish I could go into more detail but it would certainly ruin the feeling of self discovery as you watch it. What I can say is that while you are discovering what is going on, the story takes what’s happening and goes with it, never telling you directly on exactly what is transpiring.

Being a Spanish film you might not consuider it a big deal, but it helps give us a break from standard Japanese and American supernatural films, that seem to be dominating the movie shelves and theaters these days. Del Toro does a wonderful job marrying both an English and Spanish sound track on the film, but who ever did the subtitles (this occurred only when people were speaking Spanish) seemed to say that since the scene wasn’t in English that every little needed to be explained to us. To me this seemed like it was speaking down to English only speaking people as if we were some little kid wondering whats going on.

One disappointing note is Ron Perlman’s acting, this was definitely not his best work out there. The part of nephew turned muscle doesn’t really suit him and doesn’t really seem like the type you could actually be afraid of. The only actor that really stood out for me was Ferderico Luppi who played  Jesus Gris, even though I haven’t seen any other movie with him in it and I don’t know any other actors that were considered for the part but he seemed to really fit the role for me, I just wish the actress that was playing his wife,should have been a little bit older or have more gray hair, she just seemed to young looking for my liking. Sorry, Margarita Isabel, you were good but could have done better.

Sure this movie looked like it was done on a much smaller budget than most, and because of this I fear it also lacked the proper outdoor environment, but makes it all up with both the intriguing story and interesting characters. I highly suggest finding a copy and at least renting it if you can, and if your a Guillermo del Toro, there is going to be a Blu-Ray version coming out with tons of extras.

I just hope this film doesn’t find a re-make.