CRONOS (1993)

On the seventeenth Lynchian day of Christmas, we present acclaimed Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro's first feature film Cronos (1993). Set during Christmastime through New Year's Eve, an aging antiques dealer discovers a device that grants its user immortality at a terrible cost. The Lynchian blend of comedy and drama mixed with his own unique blend of fantasy and horror set apart Del Toro's movies from any other. This signature mixture of genres is again seen in his popular Hellboy (2004) franchise and was perfected later in the Academy Award nominated Pan's Labyrinth (2006).

Ron Perlman is Frequently Cast in Del Toro's Films, Most Prominently
as the Title Character in Hellboy and its Sequel

Guillermo Del Toro's films place a lens on human nature and how many human monsters are far more frightening than the supernatural variety. Whatever the fantasy conceits are in his films, Del Toro never shortchanges the complexity and conflicted nature of his characters. So while Del Toro's later films would be more dynamic and visually stimulating than Cronos, his first feature film is in some ways his most human. Cronos manifests all the themes that would resurface in Del Toro's later films, including the beauty of people willingly sacrificing themselves to save their loved ones.

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18TH DAY: THE GODFATHER (1972)

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