Cabinetmakers and the exercise of horror

The actual definition of "cabinetmaker" is "a skilled joiner who makes furniture or similar high-quality woodwork." That's a pretty fair definition of the creator of Netflix's new horror series, Cabinet of Curiosities, Guillermo del Toro, since he's done some pretty high quality work in recent years, including The Shape of Water. The majority of his output has been the kind of Gothic/grand guignol style that suffuses the series and which many modern fans would also refer to as "Lovecraftian"; appropo since two of HP's short stories are adapted for this series. I watched the first three episodes last night, since it is Halloween and this is about as far as I go in terms of celebrating modern American holidays, outside of watching the best Christmas movie ever made on that day every year (Bad Santa.) I think there's some worthwhile material in CoC and I'm happy to note that this kind of horror is becoming more of a regular thing and not simply the unusual exception like del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (still probably his best film.)

Lot 36: The immediate draw to this episode was the presence of Tim Blake Nelson, always and forever a favorite since the epic O Brother, Where Art Thou? (quite possibly the Coen Brothers' best film, from a technical perspective.) Adding in the Lovecraftian elements (tentacled nightmare that can't be reasoned with and will be determined to consume the world when Eddie (Demetrius Grosse) comes to open the shop the next day) was another cool aspect. I was a bit unsure about the political angle the writers (GdT himself and Regina Corrado) were taking in making the lead character, Nick, the typical American racist and making the old man who leaves Lot 36 behind be a former Nazi. Birds of a feather, I guess? Certainly, it's valid to keep making horror stories about the fascists that are currently overrunning the American political system, but this story was set in 1991, during Bush the Elder's Gulf War. It was done so in order to give some personal motivation to Nick for why he's so outraged at society (Vietnam vet), but I'm not sure that that kind of racism needs plot support, since it's often seemingly mindless just like the creature that Nick eventually releases. The plot was also boilerplate horror (magic books discovered, leading to trapped demon discovery, leading to idiot recklessly tramping across the seal and releasing demon.) It feels like there could have been more done with Nick's character in terms of personal struggle or transformation or even just more emphasis on the greed he has for the potential payoff from the fourth book. Similarly, Emilia (Elpidia Carrillo) was left to fill the final denouement of a horror tale, descending to Nick's level to get her final petty revenge. In this respect, the whole thing turned out to be Tales from the Crypt-level, but without the stylistic high points that HBO added to the original comic stories. I liked it, but it felt like there could have been more from even just a 45-minute episode.

Graveyard Rats: When I saw some friends talking about the series on ThereWillBe.Games and saw the words "HP Lovecraft" and "rats", I thought they might be doing the The Rats in the Walls, which is one of HPL's few "standard" horror stories that don't involve otherworldly demons. It's also one of the more overtly racist works he ever completed, which is probably why they didn't use it. Instead, this episode was similar in approach, but far more direct in application. Our lead, Masson (David Hewlett), is already aware of the problem that the vermin are creating, both in his regular job as caretaker and his side job as grave robber, so we lose the "discovery" moment which is often essential to horror stories. That comes later as we discover a subterranean temple which seems totally external to the whole problem with the rats, unless we're to assume that the only way the giant mother rat was created was by the fel magic of the single-eyed, tentacled god once worshiped at said temple (WoW players will instantly draw a parallel to C'Thun, which is Blizzard's ripoff of Cthulhu; it all comes full circle!) Just like Nick in the first episode, Masson's willingness to risk the tunnels of the rats is motivated solely by the money he owes to a local criminal outfit, which felt a bit like a retread, since both of our leads were driven by identical circumstances. Masson's situation ends up being a bit more horrific, since the concept of crawling through tunnels with no way to escape anything rushing at you (like, say, a horde of rats) is a daunting concept to most people, whether they suffer from claustrophobia or not. It's also interesting to note that there were two kinds of unease mechanics employed here in the telling of the stories. Lot 36 used discovery (the unknown books, the hidden room, etc.) This episode used implacability (the inability to deal with the rats, the constant approach of the former witch, being trapped in the tunnels.) I was less impressed with this one, most likely because I've still never found a horror story about rats that's as good as Stephen King's Graveyard Shift. (While overrated as a novelist, King may be underrated as a short story writer.)

The Autopsy: Like the first episode, this was immediately a draw because of the talent on screen, with F. Murray Abraham (I don't think anyone will ever be able to duplicate his Salieri in Amadeus) and Glynn Turman (Mayor Royce in The Wire.) We went non-linear in this one, as well, seeing the strange bombing of the mine that creates the circumstances for Carl Winters (Abraham) to arrive and examine the bodies left behind. Unlike the previous two, there's a bit more of the "alien visitors" vibe here, which is still Lovecraftian (Elder Things, etc.), but a different approach from the clearly supernatural trappings of what we'd seen before. That's fine, because horror is one of the more adaptable of genres, able to pick its settings from whatever is suitable and still able to conjure the eeriness that makes a good story. However, I have to say that the pace of this one was a bit slow. The time spent searching for bodies in the woods and then the time that Winters spent examining them are great build-up exercises, but it seemed like we could have cut out a couple minutes here and there to get to the payoff which, in itself, was also kind of slow. The payoff is great, from a horrific angle, as we figure out both what the alien is, what it does, and how Winters will attempt to deal with it when his friend, Nat (Turman) discovers him. This was a horror story, not just a scare story. But it just feels like we could have gotten there a bit sooner and still had the impact required, since the development of how Winters deals with the parasite is fairly drawn out. Also, I wonder at the idea of giving Winters a terminal illness, making his choice to confine the alien more of an act of resignation than outright heroism. It seems like it makes that a less traumatic choice for the character, which is generally not what you're aiming for in a horror story. Still, writing-wise, this was definitely the best of the three, although I have to say that Lot 36 was perhaps the most interesting from a suspense and story potential angle.

Hoping to get to three more episodes (The Outside, Pickman's Model, Dreams in the Witch House) tonight and then the last two another day.