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This month, director Ryan Coogler gives the vampire genre some fresh blood with his absolutely fantastic action-horror-musical "Sinners." There have been several vampire movies released recently, and to be honest, the majority of them have been rather disappointing. Thankfully, "Sinners" changes all of that — it's one of the best movies of the year. In honor of "Sinners," this month's horror streaming column is rounding up some great vampire movies you can watch right now. So bust out your plastic fangs, tie on your cape, and get ready to suck some blood!

Read more: The 10 Best Stephen King Books, Ranked

Blacula

Streaming on Tubi, Kanopy, Pluto TV, Prime Video.

"Blacula" is one of those movies everyone knows about even if they've never seen it. I mean, it's called "Blacula," and that's the type of title you pay attention to. This blaxploitation horror flick begins in the late 1700s and introduces us...

Stars: Federico Luppi, Claudio Brook, Ron Perlman, Tamara Shanath, Margarita Isabel, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Farnesio de Bernal | Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos is a striking debut that foreshadows the filmmaker’s signature blend of horror, fantasy, and emotional depth. Though often overlooked in favour of his later works like Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) or The Shape of Water (2017), Cronos is a vital piece of his filmography, demonstrating his fascination with monsters, morality, and the intersection of beauty and decay.

At its core, Cronos is a vampire film, but unlike conventional entries in the genre, it eschews many of the traditional tropes. The film tells the story of Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi), an elderly antique dealer who stumbles upon a mysterious golden device hidden inside an ancient statue. This device—the Cronos mechanism—contains an insect-like creature that grants its user eternal youth but at a terrible cost.

Silvia Pinal, the revered film and television actress who left an indelible mark on Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema, has died. She was 93.

Mexico’s culture secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, as well as the Asociación Nacional de Intérpretes announced Pinal’s passing on social media. The Associated Press reported that Pinal had been hospitalized for a urinary infection several days ago.

During a prolific acting and producing career that spanned seven decades, Pinal gained international fame for toplining three 1960s classics written and directed by Luis Buñuel: the Palme d’Or co-winner Viridiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962) and Simon of the Desert (1965).

Pinal got her start in the theater in the late 1940s working with Cuban-born director Rafael Banquells, who would become the first of her four husbands. Her breakthrough in cinema came in 1950 when at 18 she landed back-to-back leading roles opposite two of Mexico’s biggest film stars,...

The search is over. Cronos will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on February 25 via The Criterion Collection.

Writer-director Guillermo del Toro supervised the new 4K digital restoration, presented in Dolby Vision Hdr with 2.0 surround DTS-hd Master Audio.

Del Toro made his feature debut on the 1993 Mexican vampire film, which stars Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel, and Tamara Shanath.

Special Features include:

Optional original Spanish-language voice-over introduction Audio commentary by Guillermo del Toro Audio commentary by producers Arthur H. Gorson and Bertha Navarro and co-producer 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 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...

Guillermo del Toro’s directorial debut, Cronos, is arriving on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the first time in February 2025. More here.

It’s been a little while since Oscar-winning filmmaker and all-round good egg Guillermo del Toro reveals that 4K remasters were ongoing for a bunch of his films. Here’s evidence of one of them, with the announcement of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray debut for his 1992 feature, Cronos.

Written and directed by del Toro, Cronos is his directorial debut, and it arrives on 4K disc on 10th February 2025. Our 4K release list has been updated accordingly.

You can find the listing for Cronos on 4K disc here, where you can also order a copy.

The BFI is putting the movie out in the UK, and it’s clearly gone to town on the new release. There’s a huge bunch of extra features (one or two of...

Del Toro's works have always had a soft humanist undertone, with some of his most powerful films being rooted in anti-fascist rhetoric. Pinnochio in particular subverts the typical trappings of the original story to speak to the horrors of war and the banal evil of fascist groupthink. It's an element that's become more pronounced in modern society, and it's one of Del Toro's strengths as a creator to make those points so clear.

One of the things that makes Guillermo Del Toro so exciting as a filmmaker is his capacity to shift in terms of genre and tone. Many of his films feature the exploration of "monsters." His films often follow themes of finding humanity in the inhuman and shining a light on the more monstrous qualities of people. This is best showcased through his exploration of genre as a filmmaker, his work often experimenting with different tones and styles while retaining core elements.

One, two, three into the four: Snoop Doggy Dogg is at YouTube Kids‘ door.

The hip-hop icon and longtime YouTube content creator has launched Doggyland, a new channel that offers “Kids Songs & Nursery Rhymes” to YouTube’s youngest viewers. Doggyland videos reimagine classic children’s songs, such as ‘Wheels on the Bus‘ and ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,’ by infusing them with hip-hop beats and rapped lyrics.

Doggyland is available on both YouTube Kids and the standard version of YouTube. The channel is the latest kid-friendly endeavor from a celebrity who is known for uplifting America’s youth. Since 2005, he has run the Snoop Youth Football League, which is designed to keep inner-city youths off the streets.

In a video introducing his new channel, the D-o-Double G explained that his desire to create videos for children comes from his personality. “I’m one of the biggest kids you’ll ever meet,...

Will somebody explain the sheep and the bear? Luis Buñuel really knows how to disturb people. This, his most characteristic surreal drama proposes an impossible, irrational situation – which isn’t all that different from the reality we know. Petty social rules, jealousies and bitterness make life hell for group of dinner guests stuck with each other, caught in an existential trap.

The Exterminating Angel

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 459

1962 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 93 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 6, 2016 / 39.95

Starring Silvia Pinal, Jacqueline Andere, Augusto Benedicio, José Baviera, Antonio Bravo, Claudio Brook, Rosa Elena Durgel, Lucy Gallardo, Tito Junco .

Cinematography Gabriel Figueroa

Film Editor Carlos Savage

Original Music Raúl Lavista

Based on a story by Luis Alcoriza, Luis Buñuel

Produced by Gustavo Alatriste

Written and Directed by Luis Buñuel

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

That intransigent rebel imp Luis Buñuel never mellowed — after ten or so...

Do you like my choice of leading image?  'We're the Glory Guys! Eee-Yow!' What is surely the most generic cavalry western of all time is actually from a screenplay by Sam Peckinpah. Twilight Time's extras have a lot to say about that, and so does Savant. The Glory Guys Blu-ray Twilight Time 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113 min. / Street Date September 6, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95 Starring Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan, Andrew Duggan, Slim Pickens, Peter Breck, Jeanne Cooper, Michael Anderson Jr., Adam Williams, Wayne Rogers, Michael Forest, Paul Birch, Stephen Chase, Claudio Brook. Cinematography James Wong Howe Cinematography Ernst R. (Tom) Rolf, Melvin Shapiro Original Music Riz Ortolani Written by Sam Peckinpah from the novel by Hoffman Birney Produced by Arthur Gardner, Arnold Laven, Jules V. Levy Directed by Arnold Laven

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The Glory Guys is as generic and standard-issue...

I love it when a plan comes together. One day after casting Mia Maestro as the lead for an intense little FX network pilot called The Strain, now the masters behind the vampire thriller, Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse, select two more actors, choosing Titanic‘s Jonathan Hyde and Inglourious Basterds‘ Richard Sammel.

Who is who? Well, Hyde, who acted the part of Ismay in James Cameron’s massive and enduring blockbuster, Titanic, has been cast in the series regular role of Eldritch Palmer. Palmer is described as an elderly gentleman, the THR report calls “the third-richest man in the world” and “an invalid since childhood”. Where’s the kicker? Brace yourself, because here it comes. The goal our rich friend will stop at nothing to obtain is immortality.

Yikes! Right about now I’m remembering Cronos, Del Toro’s brilliant 1993 vampire film, which is perhaps one of the...

De la Guardia (Claudio Brook), the villain of Guillermo Del Toro’s first movie Cronos, sits in his room like a spider in a web. When he walks, it is with two sticks. Around him hang statues of archangels; part of his obsessive quest. He is Sidney Greenstreet, and they are his Maltese Falcons, and he still hasn’t found the right one. Meanwhile an elderly shopkeeper called Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) finds hidden in just such a statue a gold, oval, meticulously designed artefact. A prologue has already hinted at its purpose; hundreds of years ago an alchemist designed it as a means of eternal life. We are not sure how it works, exactly, until metallic legs shoot out and bury their way into Jesus’s hand. Of course: it’s an insect.

The eternal life comes at a cost, as Jesus soon discovers. In one of the best scenes Del Toro has filmed,...

The Film:

Today, Guillermo del Toro is considered one of the best storytellers in film. What he does with a mixture of live action and special effects is really ahead of its time. One just has to look at his recent films like Hellboy, it’s sequel and the Oscar nominated Pan’S Labyrinth. Every filmmaker has a beginning, and del Toro’s was 1993′s Cronos. Cronos is an interesting film to say the least. Del Toro has put together one of the most interesting vampire movies to date. In most vampire films you know what you are to expect. A vampire has two long teeth that will suck blood to survive. Here, there are no long teeth. To stay alive the blood of the vampire must be sucked by an insect looking mechanism. It is very hard to take an idea that is as old as a vampire and make it your own.

Cronos Written and Directed by: Guillermo del Toro Starring: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman and Claudio Brook Lately it seems devout fans of The Criterion Collection have been divided by the inclusion of some of the more modern entries into the series. The works of Wes Anderson, Nobuhiko Obayashi's Hausu (not technically modern but definitely an unusual choice), and most notoriously, Michael Bay's Armageddon and The Rock, have all been called out as either cash grabs or minor works that dilute the otherwise classy collection. I was expecting the same reaction to their release of Guillermo Del Toro's Cronos, but there's no denying that he's had a strong impact on genre filmmaking over the last decade and a half. His ability to elevate horror and fantasy stories have hit a note with both genre fans and critics. Cronos is certainly a worthwhile debut that deserves the Criterion treatment. Del...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader – Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley

The Tourist – Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany

Movie of the Week

The Tourist

The Stars: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany

The Plot: An American tourist (Depp) finds his life in danger when a female Interpol agent (Jolie) uses him as a dupe to flush out an elusive criminal.

The Buzz: I’m having a hard time answering the following question: who would I rather spend a day with, Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie? Sure, change the “day” to “night” and the situation would be simplified by hormonal trappings — but in all seriousness, these are two of the most alluring, charismatic, iconic “beautiful people” working in Hollywood today. Depp is mystifyingly cool, and a brilliant actor. I feel Jolie is about twelve steps below Depp in acting prowess,...

It's been seventeen years since Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed the unique and terrifying vampire tale Cronos, starring Federico Luppi as an antique dealer who stumbles upon a mysterious mechanism designed by a 16th century alchemist to bestow the gift of eternal life. A rich tycoon (Claudio Brook) on the verge of death will stop at nothing to attain the device, aided by his spiteful American nephew (Ron Perlman), a colorful character more interested in remaining in the old man's will than helping to prolong his life.  At the time of its release, Cronos was one of the most expensive Mexican features ever produced; an impressive feat for a 28 year-old first time feature director. In the years since, Del Toro...

It is a very light week for horror DVDs with a few re-releases on Blu-ray of newer classics, starting with the "New Flesh" that is Videodrome as well as Guillermo del Toro's Cronos.

Other releases this week that are worthy of any mention include a blood-soaked whale-watching trip, an entomologist who started a human collection instead, and a television mini-series about exorcism.

Videodrome (Criterion Collection) (1983)

Directed by David Cronenberg

Starring James Woods, Deborah Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky, Leslie Carlson

When Max Renn goes looking for edgy new shows for his sleazy cable TV station, he stumbles across the pirate broadcast of a hyperviolent torture show called Videodrome. As he unearths the origins of the program, he embarks on a hallucinatory journey into a shadow world of right-wing conspiracies, sadomasochistic sex games, and bodily transformation. Renn's ordinary life dissolves around him, and he finds himself at the center of...

Guillermo del Toro's name seems to pop in relation to a new project every week, but he hasn't actually directed that many movies. Instead of picking up whatever comes along, he has generally chosen projects that appeal to his very specific interests. del Toro's first film Cronos (1993) -- which is now available on Blu-Ray from The Criterion Collection -- lays out the stylistic and thematic approach that del Toro still follows to this day. Cronos is a good movie -- not a great one -- that paved the way for superior works like The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth.

An antiques dealer named Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi) lives with his wife Mercedes (Margarita Isabel) and young granddaughter Aurora (Tamara Shanath). One fateful day, he comes across a mechanical gold scarab. The ancient device, which yields mysterious powers, slowly transforms Gris into a new being with strange uncontrollable passions. Gris'...

Release Date: Feb. 9

Director: Luis Buñuel

Writer: Buñuel; Buñuel and Luis Alejandro

Cinematographer: Gabriel Figueroa

Starring: Sylvia Pinal, Enrique Rambal; Pinal, Claudio Brook.

Studio/Run Time: The Criterion Collection, 93 mins., 45 mins.

Decades before Lost or even The Twilight Zone, director Luis Buñuel was creating hallucinatory experiences out of mundane reality, deranging the commonplace to sly, subversive effect. The peripatetic Spaniard invented surrealist cinema with his friend Salvador Dali in 1929, claiming a place in art history via the eyeball-slicing scandal of Un Chien Andalou. But the filmmaker drifted after that, failing to gain a foothold in either New York or Hollywood before finally establishing a middle-aged career shooting often melodramatic—and overlooked—commercial fare in Mexico.