Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2022 12:24 am
This is a "TV" series (the term is quite obsolete already, I know) of individual horror stories with different directors, curated by Guillermo del Toro. The presentation seems to pay tribute to my favourite form of horror genre: literary anthologies of short stories. Short stories often manage to catch a glimpse of an essence, a fleeting moment, without streching the ideas too much, and the usual form of publication in anthologies touches this collective buzz of creative powers teeming with all these different sides of the underworld of shadows to be revealed.
If you have not been a fan of del Toro's work in the past (I have disliked his too technical use of mythological creatures which seems to attach quite clumsily to the depth axis of things, although this is partly only an aesthetic preference), I advice not to miss on this one on that account.
I suggest you watch the show before reading my following introductions and notions of some of the episodes.
My favourite episodes were:
1. Lot 36
A fantastic tale in the vein of Lovecraft, whose inspiration and mythos usually provides a rare formula allowing handling themes of ritual magic with a literal sense without feeling shallow or superimposed in falsifying manner.
3. The Autopsy
&
8. The Murmuring
Perhaps the most realistic portrayal of horror elements in real life I have seen on movies and the potential beauty behind them. Also the alchemical potentialities of the empty vessels that are abandoned houses, as well as unresolved pshychic knots and their fiery pressure housed in these vessels were masterfully portrayed. I tip my hat to the director Jennifer Kent, whose movie The Babadook has also been praised on these forums some years ago. I must go and find her The Nightingale soon!
If you have not been a fan of del Toro's work in the past (I have disliked his too technical use of mythological creatures which seems to attach quite clumsily to the depth axis of things, although this is partly only an aesthetic preference), I advice not to miss on this one on that account.
I suggest you watch the show before reading my following introductions and notions of some of the episodes.
My favourite episodes were:
1. Lot 36
A fantastic tale in the vein of Lovecraft, whose inspiration and mythos usually provides a rare formula allowing handling themes of ritual magic with a literal sense without feeling shallow or superimposed in falsifying manner.
3. The Autopsy
&
8. The Murmuring
Perhaps the most realistic portrayal of horror elements in real life I have seen on movies and the potential beauty behind them. Also the alchemical potentialities of the empty vessels that are abandoned houses, as well as unresolved pshychic knots and their fiery pressure housed in these vessels were masterfully portrayed. I tip my hat to the director Jennifer Kent, whose movie The Babadook has also been praised on these forums some years ago. I must go and find her The Nightingale soon!