Cronos (1993)

 "You're going to Heaven covered in make-up. Your wife will think you've been with a whore."

'Tis the weekend before Halloween, so a horror film seems appropriate. And it's been a while since I've blogged a film by the great Guillermo del Toro, so here's an early film of his, indeed his first. And... yes, it's bloody good.

This is, at heart, a vampire movie. Yet it takes the simple idea, puts it among real people with real emotions and relationships in a very real Mexico City, and explores it from a new angle, as a type of immortality invented by a late Renaissance alchemist who fled to Mexico in 1536.

Unusually, the protahonist, Jesus Gill, is an elderly grandfather who sells antiques and dotes on his little grandaughter who, as the film progresses, becomes increasingly creepy through no fault of her own. His path to vampirism is both real and moving, because of both his love of family and his religiosity.

The baddies are believable too- a desperate old man seeking rejuvenation before his cancer kills him, and his put-upon thug of a nephew played superbly- if not really in Spanish- by Ron Perlman. Yet this is, at heart, despite the effective horror set pieces and ideas- I love the use of insects- this is a film with a lot of heart, above all about the bond between a grandad and his orphaned grandaughter.A unique, excellently shot and inspired debut from a director who will go on to do other great things.