Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Review
The new Netflix horror series, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, is an eight-part horror anthology, with two episodes being released per day leading up into Halloween, helmed by a murderer’s row of directorial talent. The first two episodes, which are currently available, are Lot 36, directed by Guillermo Navarro, who has been del Toro’s cinematographer on many of his finest feature films, and Graveyard Rats directed by Vincenzo Natali, who is still, perhaps, most famous for directing the cult sci-fi horror Cube. Each new episode is introduced by del Toro himself, in fine Rod Serling style, standing next to the eponymous cabinet and teasing the themes of the episode.
In Lot 36 Tim Blake Nelson plays Nick Appleton, an embittered military veteran, who earns his living buying up the belongings of the recently dead from a storage facility, and selling any valuables that he might find. Lot 36, which was owned by a rather macabre old gentleman, needs to yield good results, as Appleton is in debt to dangerous men who are growing impatient with him. Indeed, it contains several highly valuable items, but in order to get the pay day he needs he must come into close contact with the occult and undergo a terrifying encounter with evil forces.
Graveyard Rats, by comparison is a gruesome piece of Dickensian gothic. David Hewlett plays Masson, a graveyard caretaker who earns his keep by robbing the newly buried of their valuables. Unfortunately for him, the dead haven’t been so forthcoming recently. In fact, they’ve been mysteriously disappearing from their coffins, creating a desperate situation for Masson, who, like Appleton, has fallen into debt with unforgiving men. As such, he is left with little choice but to scrabble and squeeze his way through the catacombs beneath the graveyard in search of all the lost valuables. What he finds is the stuff of demonic nightmare.
Of the two episodes, Lot 36 is the more subtly constructed. It’s a slow-burn descent into the occult which gradually wraps us in its creepy tentacles, building to a gripping climax. The second episode is more of a visceral thrill ride, which sets out its stall as a work of horror from the very first scene, as it depicts Masson prying a gold tooth from the decaying mouth of a newly exhumed dead woman. Once Masson crawls his way deep underground, Graveyard Rats becomes the kind of television that you can’t look away from, but which those easily scared, especially of tightly enclosed spaces and rodents, may have to look at from between their fingers. Most impressively, this second episode makes excellent use of practical effects, in particular in the creation of two hideous creatures that are all the more unnerving for being tangible, physical objects. This series has clearly been made with a love of old style horror.
Both episodes are tightly wound. Neither contains a wasted moment and they do not outstay their welcome, each ending at a moment of peak horror. We are captured from the start, and carried in a state of nervous tension through the to the unpleasant last. In fact, both episodes are relative short, by today’s standard, coming in at 46 and 38 minutes respectively. Both episodes have a somewhat sympathetic anti-hero as their lead, which enables us, despite their flaws, to route for the characters, and allow ourselves to hope that they make it through their horrifying ordeals and manage to pay their debts. And both episodes are handsomely designed and shot, especially, the second episode, Graveyard Rats, with its atmospheric historical setting.
With six more episodes to go, Guillermo del Toro is allowing us to gradually unwrap a darkly delectable Halloween treat. This writer can’t wait to see what nasty delights are in store.
