Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet Of Curiosities (Netflix series)

[Neil]

[JDP]

Well, well, well... now we finally know what happened to Rick Grimes. He ended up in this anthology series. No wonder no one can find him over at TWD.

[Neil]

[shootemindehead]

Looks ok. But I've always found Del Toro a thoroughly underwhelming film maker. I spotted what seems to be a statuette of Cthulhu in there. So we could be getting some Lovecraft tossed into this.

[MinionZombie]

Looks ok. But I've always found Del Toro a thoroughly underwhelming film maker. I spotted what seems to be a statuette of Cthulhu in there. So we could be getting some Lovecraft tossed into this. I'm hot and cold with GDT. I've not seen all of his stuff, to be fair, but I didn't particularly gel with the Hellboy movies ... meanwhile the likes of Pacific Rim and The Shape Of Water really captured me. I liked a fair bit of Crimson Peak, too. I'll give Nightmare Alley, or whatever it's called, a spin sometime soon as I see it's on Disney+.

[shootemindehead]

The only thing that I can say that Del Toro has done (and I've been watching his stuff since 'Cronos') that has truly satisfied me has been the sections of 'Pan's Labyrinth' that deal with Ofelia's fantasy world. But the whole preponderance on the Spanish Civil War was absolute junk and it dragged the movie down dreadfully, especially because of the ridiculous character of her step dad, who was such an absurd monstrous fascist movie cliche that it spoiled my enjoyment of the film completely. I also consider 'The Shape of Water' to be one of the most thoroughly undeserving Oscar winners that I can remember. I've always been kind of cut between wishing to see his effort on 'At the Mountains of Madness' and being thankful that it never materialised, because I believe that he has it in him to produce a faithful adaptation, but also that he'd bugger it up too.

[MinionZombie]

Four episodes deep (out of eight) and I'm really enjoying it. Think Creepshow, but minus the overt comic book humour, with a splash of the Twilight Zone, and a far more handsome budget than AMC's Creepshow series. Even for a seasoned horror hound such as myself, I have found myself wincing at various moments of gruesome gore, some of it really quite icky in a very pleasing way. The stories are good and well written (an increasing rarity these days, sadly!!!) with great performances. Production quality is also great. About the only stumble was in the first episode where the central character was a comically stereotypical Trumper, but during the early 1990s. The character is so over-the-top right wing in his selfish, racist outlook on the world that it really is over-egged, but Tim Blake Nelson is a high quality character actor and brings more depth and talent to an otherwise blunt character. Other than that I've had no complaints at all. Episode two was thoroughly entertaining and had some really icky moments, while episode four, which I've just seen, was like Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Stuff with a bit of Cronenberg thrown in for good measure (and a terrific central performance from Kate Micucci). Very much worth getting into!

[Neil]

Well, generally enjoyed it. Some very good episodes like "The Autopsy", and then some very frustrating episodes like "The Viewing", where the art style, music and atmosphere was blood epic, only to be let down with a build up to a truly self indulgent weak let down of an ending. Andrew Lincoln makes an appearance in the final episode which is a pretty nice episode if only that most of the time you hate the lead character of the wife as such a cantankerous selfish hurtful b*itch, it's hard to root for her

[MinionZombie]

Well, generally enjoyed it. Some very good episodes like "The Autopsy", and then some very frustrating episodes like "The Viewing", where the art style, music and atmosphere was blood epic, only to be let down with a build up to a truly self indulgent weak let down of an ending. Andrew Lincoln makes an appearance in the final episode which is a pretty nice episode if only that most of the time you hate the lead character of the wife as such a cantankerous selfish hurtful b*itch, it's hard to root for her I really enjoyed "The Viewing". It maybe didn't have quite the amount of payoff you'd be hoping for, but on the other hand I wasn't really knowing what to expect, so I didn't feel too let down, especially as I'd enjoyed the journey there so much. Weird, really, because I didn't know quite what to make of the Nic Cage movie "Mandy", which is also by Panos Cosmatos. I must re-watch that some time. I did enjoy Mandy, but maybe wasn't quite dialled-in to it at the time. "The Viewing", on the other hand, I was so into from the jump and loved it the whole way. I disagree on "The Murmuring" and the wife character - she is dealing with a horrible loss, and different people deal in different ways. The episode shows not only her journey through that, but them as a couple as well. Tragedy and turmoil can bring out the best as well as the worst in people, and when confronted by such painful horrors they can sometimes lash out at those closest to them. I didn't think she was "selfish", she was lost in her grief, and that's a very different thing. I struggled a bit with "Dreams in the Witch House", partly because it was the second Lovecraft adaptation in a row, so the deliberate pacing of two episodes in a row kinda made this episode flag a bit for me. It had excellent set design and so on, and was strong visually, but I did find it a smidge plodding.

[Neil]

I really enjoyed "The Viewing". It maybe didn't have quite the amount of payoff you'd be hoping for, but on the other hand I wasn't really knowing what to expect, so I didn't feel too let down, especially as I'd enjoyed the journey there so much. Weird, really, because I didn't know quite what to make of the Nic Cage movie "Mandy", which is also by Panos Cosmatos. I must re-watch that some time. I did enjoy Mandy, but maybe wasn't quite dialled-in to it at the time. "The Viewing", on the other hand, I was so into from the jump and loved it the whole way. I loved the whole vibe of it... Right up until the bizarre up-its-own-rear vague vapid ending I disagree on "The Murmuring" and the wife character - she is dealing with a horrible loss, and different people deal in different ways. The episode shows not only her journey through that, but them as a couple as well. Tragedy and turmoil can bring out the best as well as the worst in people, and when confronted by such painful horrors they can sometimes lash out at those closest to them. I didn't think she was "selfish", she was lost in her grief, and that's a very different thing. Yep, she may well have been dealing with the horrid loss of a child. But she was still being a total b*tch to our poor old Rick I struggled a bit with "Dreams in the Witch House", partly because it was the second Lovecraft adaptation in a row, so the deliberate pacing of two episodes in a row kinda made this episode flag a bit for me. It had excellent set design and so on, and was strong visually, but I did find it a smidge plodding. Yeh, the Lovecraft aspects to bits I disliked. I've never really enjoyed that sort of style.

[shootemindehead]

It's a peculiar series this one. I suppose like all series of this type there's going to be hits and misses. So far the only real dud was 'The Outside', which bored the shite out of me. It's story was just too anaemic to fill the hour runtime. I do like how they set the Lovecraft stories in the proper time period though. Frankly, Lovercraft in the modern era is always crap and it never works. But, why the hell did they have to change the stories so much when there's nothing wrong with the originals? The best so far has been 'The Autopsy'. Just a nice, satisfying, yarn all round. Just two more to go.

[MinionZombie]

It's a peculiar series this one. I suppose like all series of this type there's going to be hits and misses. So far the only real dud was 'The Outside', which bored the shite out of me. It's story was just too anaemic to fill the hour runtime. I do like how they set the Lovecraft stories in the proper time period though. Frankly, Lovercraft in the modern era is always crap and it never works. But, why the hell did they have to change the stories so much when there's nothing wrong with the originals? The best so far has been 'The Autopsy'. Just a nice, satisfying, yarn all round. Just two more to go. Huh ... "The Outside" was probably my favourite of all eight. I had a totally different reaction to it than you, it seems. I didn't find it at all anaemic. Loved the style and tone, too. Really enjoyed the story and characters. I'm not familiar with the Lovecraft stories those two episodes were based on - can you fill us in on some of the key changes/differences? "The Autopsy" was deliciously gooey and weird, wasn't it? Great performances, too. Speaking generally, I loved how all the stories were, in one era or another, period-set. Great that they had the budget and quality writing and directing to pull off such a good selection, too. Even the ones you don't connect with so much personally, there's something to impress you one way or another. It's a shame when you look at Creepshow, especially the most recent season (three, I think), and how the majority of stories were either poor to very poor in terms of writing and/or story quality, and the budgets are still evidently quite limited. There were literally only about 3, maybe 4, tales in the latest season of Creepshow that I genuinely enjoyed. The rest were a real, disappointing slog.

[shootemindehead]

'The Outside' I just found rather dull. I can see what they were trying to go for, but it ended up as meh for me and too over long. As for Lovecraft, 'Dreams in the Witchhouse' has nothing to do with a guy looking for his sister in the Lovecraft story. I've no idea why that hook was introduced. Completely unnecessary IMO. Keziah Mason and Brown Jenkin are in the story, but in the show she's rendered a bit on the ridiculous side. Jenkin was great though. But in the story there are far more Lovecraftian elements involved such as a dream trip to the city of the Elder Things, references to Azathoth and Nyarlathotep. In short, Walter's dreams are more to do with Lovecraft mythos and nothing to do with a dead sister. 'Pickman's Model' is closer to the original story, but again suffers from unnecessary bloat that distracts from the narrative. In the story, there are really only three characters, the narrator, the guy he's talking to and Pickman, and most of the story is concerned with the narrator's interactions with Pickman and his hideous art which is slowly driving the narrator insane - a staple in Lovecraft stories. All the junk with the lead character, his family etc were, again, unnecessarily added elements the producers of the show saw fit to include. The ending remains pretty much the same as the narrator finally realises that the art that Pickman has been producing has been rendered using real life interactions with monsters and not merely something that's come from his head. Both stories are much better as the author originally wrote them. 'The Autopsy', thus far, has been the best effort in the show...easily. Disgusting, creepy, and actually a bit scary. Which is not something I get to say much these days. The idea that some parasitic creature can keep your senses alive, while your clinically dead is quite chilling. Strangely enough, the story is closer to Cthulhu Mythos stuff than the Lovecraft stories in the show. The reason being that the original author was heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft and has penned some Mythos stories himself. It also has shades of 'The Thing' as well, itself heavily influenced by Lovecraft. As to 'Creepshow', well, it's been largely harmless, as was the Romero's cinematic efforts as well, it has to be said. But that's mostly down to the more juvenile thrust of the comic source material than anything else and a penchant to mix comedy with horror which rarely, if ever, works on a truly satisfying scale.

[shootemindehead]

Just finished the last two there. They're not very good. 'The Viewing' was the better effort of the final episodes, but ends up a poor result. 'The Murmuring' is just flat out tedium. Move over 'The Outside', your position has been taken. So, all in all, a series well worth watching. But, as is usually the case with these things, it's very hit and miss. 'The Autopsy' still retains the top spot by a country mile though and if there's just one episode that I'd recommend to anyone it'd be that one. Wouldn't mind seeing a second series, but they might need to focus on better stories.

[MinionZombie]

"The Murmuring" was the 'most quiet' of the episodes and also considerably less gory/gruesome, so it was quite a change of pace, but I did quite enjoy it. Much more of a character piece and, ugh, "elevated horror", as fart-sniffers would call it. There's a place for it, but "elevated horror" is barely "horror" most of the time, and really more "dark drama with a splash of added violence and/or the supernatural". Anyway, despite being quite different from the rest - and not necessarily the best note to conclude the season on - I still dug it. Would I be in a rush to re-watch that episode? Well, that's another thing... "The Viewing", even though the ending was a bit 'soft', I kinda sunk into the whole thing so much I just enjoyed the ride and the whole vibe of it and never knew what to expect, so the aforementioned squidgy close to the episode didn't bother me too much.