Vampires and villains rule the roost in this thriller that tells the tale of the "Cronos Device," a 14th century golden scarab that holds the key to eternal life. Nightmarish and surreal, the film, directed by Guillermo Toro, nonetheless manages to score on the tongue-in-cheek humor meter as its characters (Margarita Isabel, Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman and Tamara Shanath) battle for control of the insidious device.