If anyone knows me, then you know I champion Criterion and their releases. They’re usually some of the best of the best, bar none to any other release in terms of quality of release (and quality control) and features. While the latter half of that sentence is a hard claim to make on their newest 4K, the 4K itself is impeccable and deserves to be seen for how clean and masterful it looks. But the questions have to be asked, is it leaps and bounds better than the previous two Blu-ray releases and, if so, is it then worth paying full MRSP for Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos on 4K or is it best to wait for the inevitable 50% off sale to snag this presumably incredibly personal film for arguably one of the most creative and inventive minds we have today?
Federico Luppi as Jesús Gris in CRONOS. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
Okay, so before we dive into Cronos as a movie, I want to talk about the transfer and the inevitable conversation that is going to be had about whether people should get the Criterion or the BFI edition of the film. I’ve never seen the BFI Blu-ray, so I can’t speak to how that looked compared to the Criterion Blu-ray, but the 4K starts with acknowledgement that this 4K was “restored by Les Films du Camelia and the British Film Institute, with the support of Cartier. The 4K restoration used the original camera negative scanned at FotoKem. Special acknowledgements to Guillermo del Toro for supervising the color grading. The restoration work was carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2024.” So, all this is to say that if you’re debating between Criterion or BFI, the real question comes down to encoding (if there is a difference, I don’t have the BFI so I cannot say) and special features, which BFI seems to have the better supplements for. If you just want to own Cronos in 4K and don’t already own it in any shape or form, then the Criterion is the way to go, but if you want all the bells and whistles in terms of supplements and new writings and interviews (they’re not new per say on the BFI but they’re not included on the Criterion), then maybe the BFI edition is for you. Regardless though, the 4K digital restoration that was supervised by del Toro is spectacular, and legendary Hellboy artist Mike Mignola provides the artwork again (the same as the Blu-ray art).
Ron Perlman as Angel de la Guardia in CRONOS. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
The movie starts with an English voice over (which has been altered from its original, but the original Spanish voice over is available; the English auto plays) and has origins similar to Hellraiser — a 14th century Spanish scientist creates a gold device that can open and inject its claws into the holder and give them a thirst for blood and immortality (it is never explicitly stated that it turns them into vampires, but, essentially, vampires). Centuries later, an earthquake unveils this corpse and the gold creation that ends up being purchased by a local antique dealer who is named Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi). He investigates what the object is and discovers, by toying with it, its powers and devastating cost to himself as an individual. A dying industrialist, De la Guardia (Claudio Brook), uncovers the journal of the 14th century scientist and enlists the help of his American nephew Angel de la Guardia (long-time collaborator with del Toro, Ron Perlman) to find the gold trinket and bring it to him. While it is a game of mortal vs. newly immortal to obtain the trinket, Cronos is much more than that, and that is where the beauty and ingenuity lies within the film.
A scene in CRONOS. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
A simpler man, a simpler vision could tell the story of someone dying wanting to obtain something — at any cost — for immortality, even if that meant prying it from someone else. But the character studies between both Guardia and Gris creates something so much more interesting and passionate as a story that truly grabs the audience and makes this vampire-inspired story something more heartfelt than monstrous. Cronos is a special film while also marking Guillermo del Toro’s first time writing and directing a feature, kicking off and cementing the illustrious career he has had, with further explorations of grief, hardship, and the groundwork for his more graphic and monstrous films later on (Pan’s Labyrinth; Hellboy; to an extent Blade II; The Shape of Water; etc).
Federico Luppi as Jesús Gris in CRONOS. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
4K UHD Cronos is a beautiful restoration that has been supervised by Guillermo del Toro himself and boasts the subtlety and beauty that are captured in his films, marking arguably one of his most personal outings. In terms of extras and bonus content, there is nothing new between the Blu-ray releases (the solo release and his trilogy that is now out of print) and this edition. The essay is even the same across the board, so the only difference between the existing Cronos Blu-ray and this new 4K of Cronos (from Criterion) is that of the 4K presentation.
Cronos 4K + Blu-ray Special Features:
- New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Guillermo del Toro, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Optional original Spanish-language voice-over introduction
- Two audio commentaries, one featuring del Toro, the other producers Arthur H. Gorson and Bertha Navarro and coproducer Alejandro Springall
- Geometria, an unreleased 1987 short horror film by del Toro, finished in 2010, alongside an interview with the director
- Welcome to Bleak House, a tour by del Toro of his home office, featuring his personal collections
- Interviews with del Toro, cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, and actors Ron Perlman and Federico Luppi
- Stills gallery captioned by del Toro
- Trailer
- An essay by film critic Maitland McDonagh and excerpts from del Toro’s notes for the film
Available on 4K UHD Blu-ray February 25th, 2025,
For more information, head to the official The Criterion Collection Cronos webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Recommendation
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