Cabinet of Curiosities

2022 - 10 - 26

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Image courtesy of "CNN"

'Cabinet of Curiosities' review: Guillermo del Toro shows off his ... (CNN)

As a horror maestro and auteur, Guillermo del Toro has earned the right to his moment in the spotlight -- in this case presiding on camera, Alfred Hitchcock ...

Yet even with those disclaimers, “Cabinet of Curiosities” feels stocked with stories lacking in heft – throwing open its doors with del Toro’s buoyant enthusiasm, and too often finding its shelves looking a little bare. The episode that perhaps most exemplifies that, “The Viewing,” certainly starts well enough, with a wealthy recluse (Peter Weller) assembling a group of professionals accomplished within different spheres to see a strange artifact in his possession. Netflix will try something a bit different by premiering back-to-back episodes of “Cabinet of Curiosities” over four successive nights, which turns out to be more inventive, or at least distinctive, than most of the stories.

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Image courtesy of "IGN Southeast Asia"

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities: Images and Episode ... (IGN Southeast Asia)

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities is a horror anthology show in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Del Toro himself offers introductions for all ...

Thankfully, most of the eight episodes are entertaining. There’s also the notion of being this genre-defying collection – a group of stories that’ll somehow reshape how fans view horror. Kate Micucci’s awkward depiction of The Outside’s Stacey is memorable not only because of her solid acting, but also because she’s given the time to lean into her character; who she is at the start vastly differs from the person she becomes towards the end. Del Toro himself offers introductions for all eight episodes, stepping out of the shadows to provide hints of what’s to come, with the actual Cabinet of Curiosities also present. This desired outcome proves elusive, though, as the Cabinet of Curiosities struggles to deliver a cohesively nightmarish experience. Leaning into the pageantry of it all, it’s apparent that del Toro is enjoying himself as the host.

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Image courtesy of "Digital Mafia Talkies"

'Cabinet of Curiosities' Episode 3 'The Autopsy' Ending, Explained ... (Digital Mafia Talkies)

Sheriff Nate Craven (Glynn Turman) brings in his old friend and pathologist, Dr. Carl Winters (F. Murray Abraham), for the post-mortem examination of the dead ...

He says that the ball was his ship, and he destroyed it to preserve his anonymity and the mystery surrounding his species. The last few minutes are just the two of them playing a game of wits, and everything from the dialogue mixing to the choice of shots is dialed up to eleven to make us focus on what these two guys are saying. Carl assures him that he’s going to die in his body and that the fact that he and his kind exist won’t be a mystery anymore. When Carl realizes that Allen is going to cut himself open to make it look like an autopsy and then transfer his alien form into his body, he begins to stall until Nate arrives. Allen even says that he can “smell” Carl’s cancer and lets him know that he’s going to inhabit his body next and “love” it. That’s when the hair on the back of his neck stands up, and he hears his conscience telling him to leave the mortuary and run away. However, when he does go to the refrigerator unit to take out Allen, he gets the shock of a lifetime. I’ll even go as far as to say that “The Autopsy” is a great companion piece to Prior’s “The Empty Man” (which is a film you should definitely watch if you haven’t already). After reaching the makeshift mortuary, he tells Nate to rest up and meet him in the morning. The Sheriff first talks about finding a dead body in the woods that was butchered in a way that only a surgeon could. What he finds over the course of a few hours makes him (and us) question everything he knows about the known universe. And it is a life-long wish of mine to be alive at the time when we make (or someone else makes) first contact.

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