Writer/director Guillermo del Toro takes the Rod Serling's Night Gallery route in Netflix's Cabinet of Curiosities.
The titular contraption is rather like a Hellraiser Lament Configuration, and what it reveals constitutes its gallery and as such, its tales.
Ala Serling, Del Toro introduces each triggering item, after he saunters into a dark chamber where the cabinet stands. There are eight episodes in all:
"Lot 36", directed by Guillermo (Cocaine Godmother) Navarro/written by Regina Corrado and Del Toro (based on his short story): The kickoff is engrossing, but often lopsided, due to its caricatured views of conservatives, mounting much in the way of Guillermo's polarizing The Shape of Water. The concept offers a jaded veteran who bids on abandoned, warehouse lots. When he comes upon a Nazi-heaped compartment and begins selling its "treasures", a Lovecraftian berserker is summoned. Tim Blake's performance is memorable and carries the episode to a memorable do-unto-others twist.
"The Autopsy", directed by David (Am1200/The Empty Man) Prior/written by David S. (The Dark Knight Trilogy) Goyer (based on Michael Shea's short story): This one is a cross between Alien, Alien: Covenant and John Carpenter's The Thing, as filtered through old-time Mary Shelley. F. Murray Abraham plays a coroner who discovers an alien lifeform in a corpse (that of a man who had discovered a hairy "meteorite"), but the specimen revealed coerces the doc to perform a demented operation that would make him coexist with the creature. Abraham emerges as slow-burn brilliant, and Glynn Turman gives him solid support as an empathetic sheriff in this Outer Limits-smacking thriller.
"Graveyard Rats", directed by Vincenzo (Splice/Cube) Natali/written by Natali (based on Henry Kuttner's short story): For this excursion, we're treated to a period piece reminiscent of Bram Stoker's "The Burial of the Rats", joined by Of Unknown Origin, Deadly Eyes and Nightmares' "Night of the Rat", with a graverobber at its hub, played with slippery panache by David Hewlett. The deeper the robber digs, the deadlier the mischief becomes, revealing an infinite pack of tenacious rodents that might just wish to consume him in a full-blown, Creepshow-ish homage (hint hint). This one is as wry as it's creepy, and the effects are as spellbinding as they are grimy.
"The Outside", directed by Ana Lily (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) Armirpour/written by Haley Z. Boston (based on Emily Carroll's webcomic): This entry is, beyond any debate, the series' most Twilight Zone influenced, referencing Charles Beaumont's "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" (though one could argue that Creepshow's "Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" is also detectable). Kate Micucci stars as an underappreciated, bank teller (sideline taxidermist) who hopes to gel with her "hip" coworkers. Though her caring, law-officer husband (Martin Starr) assures her that she's fine as is, she obtains a beauty package of gooey proportions (further promoted by Dan Stevens' charismatic tv-info host), which plunges the hapless milquetoast into an addictive dilemma. The set-up, represented by an ever worsening rash, makes our protagonist's progression both tragic and sardonic. Micucci's humble, Jekyll/Hyde performance ensures the circumstances morph with precision.
"Pickman's Model", directed by Keith (The Vigil/Firestarter '22) Thomas/adapted by Lee Patterson (based on H.P. Lovecraft's short story): This episode is, in actuality, a remake of The Night Gallery classic (which Serling adapted), expanded here with a devilish, period-piece backdrop and ferocious imagery. Crispin (Back to the Future/Willard'03) Glover plays the eponymous artist who captures a monster from the beyond, not only artistically, but in the full-fledged, frightening flesh. Pickman's illustrations turn up on display, and madness ensues. (Ben Barnes and Oriana Leman are effective costars).
"Dreams in the Witch House", directed by Catherine (Twilight) Hardwicke/adapted by Mike Watkins (based on H.P. Lovecraft's short story): This is another remake, rendered previously by director Stuart Gordon for Masters of Horrors. For this redo, we get comparable chills (with Rubert Girnt, Gavin MacGiver-wright, DJ Qualls, Daphne Haskins, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Tanika Davis and Nia Vardalos involved in the spooky surrealism), as a brother dares to retrieve his sister's spirit from the vexing Forest of Lost Souls. Lize Johnston's witch is most unsettling, as is her human-faced rodent.
"The Viewing", directed by Panos (Mandy/Beyond the Black Rainbow) Cosmatos/written by Cosmatos and Aaron Stewart-Ahn: A masterpiece of a 1980s homage, wherein Peter (RoboCop/Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) Weller's uber-affluent curator presents an armored, not-of-this-earth "rock" to a group of celebrities, portrayed by Steve Agee, Eric Andre, Charlyne Ye and Michael Therriault. Saddai Siddiqui acts as Weller's valet/bodyguard and Sophia (Star Trek Beyond/The Mummy '17) Boutella is the mogul's exotic cohost. What unfolds is philosophical, foreboding and demonic, possessing (like "The Autopsy") an Outer Limits slant, but with a decent dose of Michael Mann's The Keep, Ken Russell's Altered States, David Cronenberg's The Fly and Chuck Russell's The Blob. This one will prove hard to shake; in fact, I'm still entranced by its glutinous finale.
"The Murmuring", directed by Jennifer (The Babadook) Kent/written by Kent (based on Del Toro's short story): This capping tale calls upon such ghost stories as The Haunting (either version), The House That Wouldn't Die and director J.A. Bayona's The Orphanage (which Del Toro produced), but with birds bracketing the sorrowful circumstances. The story deals with a couple of ornithologists, played by Essie Davis and Andrew (The Walking Dead) Lincoln, who come to terms with their child's death when they encounter the intervening spirit of another during a research stint. This installment is the most subdued of the series (and a tad misleading for its bird-themed inclusion, which alludes to something Hitchcockian or in the least, the hodgepodged Zombie 5), but is no less rattling for its restraint, leaving the birds' "murmuring" patterns a nice novelty.
The perturbing material (enhanced by eerie effects, photography and music) is varied yet linked, perceptible yet phenomenal, and even when the tales aren't official, Lovecraft entries, they ooze of the author's sinister saturation, with results that rip right at the soul.
I love anthology shows, and I'm glad that one of this quality has descended upon the dry scene. I look forward to another macabre season, but even if one shouldn't manifest, what exists will satisfy for many wicked returns.
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