Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)

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   Siskoid

   In his introductions to his Cabinet of Curiosities, I find Guillermo del Toro a little stiff and missing his twinkle, which possibly wasn't necessary to mention except that it mirrors the lack of energy of many of the anthology's pieces. There's a general sameness since most of the stories have a Lovecraftian feel, monsters, 1920s setting, etc. - two of them are even adapted directly from Lovecraft short stories, and it does them no favors to be presented back to back. Lovecraft need some added fizz to work on the screen, because so much of it about things that can't and shouldn't be described, so it's often a bit disappointing. Several tales start out pretty great, have name directors, cool actors, etc., but then fail for lack of a good twist (or punch) ending. Most of them are slow burns that die down to embers rather than flash satisfactorily. But there are some blazing successes. Graveyard Rats is a fun creature feature. The Autopsy (easily my favorite) fires on all cylinders. The Outside (by A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night's Ana Lily Amirpour) is a comedy outlier and shines by its being completely different. The Viewing (by Mandy's Panos Cosmatos) has a great 70s New Age vibe. And that's half of them! Pickman’s Model is really the only one that outright bored me. My summation: They suffer from being watched in sequence, but one episode every once in a while when you only have an hour to consume a one-off story should stretch out the lack of diversity until you don't notice it. 1 year 5 months ago

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