Ranking Every Guillermo Del Toro Film From Worst To Best

Del Toro's debut film holds up incredibly well and sees him bursting onto the cinematic scene in a way that only he could.

It is a film immersed in the dark fairy-tale, fever-dream logic of the majority of del Toro's work that also showcases his early fascination for creepy, crawly creations. Del Toro also comes out of the fate swinging in terms of the biblical allegories that adorn the best of his works, with this film in-particular playing that aspect up to tantalizing heights.

The main character's name is Jesús, for crying out loud.

When he discovers an ancient, scarab-shaped artifact from a long-lost time, he makes the wondrous discovery that it has the ability to prolong life. Naturally, things don't exactly go well from there. The film plays out as a horrific and affecting morality tale and it is certainly not hard to trace a line straight from the tale of del Toro's beloved Frankenstein, to the tale of Cronos.

As always, del Toro wears his inspirations proudly on his sleeve and it pays off in spades here, with the film truly able to offer a meta-commentary on the narrative of recreation itself.

Perhaps the most impressive feat del Toro accomplishes in this debut is just how immersive the film feels. When a del Toro film is firing on all-cylinders, it is hard to deny its power and Cronos offers up an early taste of just how powerful the mind of the maestro could be.