25 Best Vampire Movies Ever Made

Before he gave us The Shape Of Water, Hellboy, or Pan’s Labyrinth, two-time Oscar-winning auteur filmmaker Guillermo del Toro made Cronos, his fist feature film. Despite the term “vampire” never being used in the entire film, del Toro’s debut proved to be a poetic and thoughtful entry into the genre.

A reimagination of the vampire legend, Cronos follows Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi), an elderly shop owner and grandfather, who discovers a strange clockwork device concealed inside a statue that bestows the user with immortality at the cost of consuming human blood. Rather than using his new-found lease of everlasting life for selfish gains, however, he uses it to help care for his young adopted granddaughter Aurora (Tamara Shanath).

In line with the filmmaker’s style, del Toro paints the “monster” in a sympathetic and morally ambiguous light (his surname is “Grey”, after all). Focusing primarily on the genuinely emotional relationship between Jesus and Aurora, Cronos is possibly the most emotional vampire film put on film.