Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

Lot 36

Director – Guillermo Navarro

Writers – Regina Corrado, based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro 

Stars – Tim Blake Nelson, Sebastian Roché, Elpidia Carrillo

Graveyard Rats

Director – Vincenzo Natali

Writers – Guillermo del Toro, based on a short story by Henry Kuttner 

Stars – David Hewlett, Alexander Eling, Ish Morris

The Autopsy

Director – David Prior

Writers – David S. Goyer, Michael Shea, based on the short story by Guillermo del Toro

Stars – F. Murray Abraham, Glynn Turman, Luke Roberts

The Outside

Director - Ana Lily Amirpour

Writers - Haley Z. Boston, Emily Carroll based on a short story by Guillermo del Toro

Stars – Kate Micucci, Martin Starr 

Pickman’s Model

Director – Keith Thomas

Writers - Lee Patterson, Guillermo del Toro based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft 

Stars – Ben Barnes, Crispin Glover, Oriana Leman

Dreams in the Witch House

Director – Catherine Hardwicke

Writers – Mika Watkins, Guillermo del Toro based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft

Stars – Rupert Grint, Ismael Cruz Cordova, DJ Qualls

The Viewing

Director – Panos Cosmatos

Writers – Panos Cosmatos, Aaron Stewart-Ahn, Guillermo del Toro

Stars – Peter Weller, Steve Agee, Eric André

The Murmuring

Director – Jennifer Kent

Writers – Jennifer Kent, based on a short story by Guillermo del Toro

Stars – Essie Davis, Andrew Lincoln, Greg Ellwand

‘Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities’ is a handsomely mounted series, containing many vivid, memorable performances and set pieces. It’s a much more intriguing and impressive selection than the cartoonery and scrappiness of ‘Creepshow’, and arguably more consistent (different aims, of course). Del Toro introduces each episode, pulling an item from the puzzle-box-like cabinet that triggers the story forthcoming and names the director. This generosity also acts as a badge of quality, for this is a bunch of pretty esteemed filmmakers. Ultimately, it’s a cut above as a selection. 

In the first episode, ‘Lot 36’, Tim Blake Nelson’s angry performance is all. It’s directed by Guillermo Navarro who has collaborated with Del Toro several times previously and is chiefly a cinematographer (he did ‘The Devil’s Bone’, ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, for example). The setting of a storage facility and Nelson’ abrasiveness as Nick Appleton are the hooks, but the narrative is a bit front-loaded; meaning when things take a turn for the supernatural, it seems like it hasn’t left itself enough time. The monster is the kind beset by CGI and it’s just a bit average and underwhelming, despite a superior adult tone.

Vincenzo Natali’s ‘Graveyard Rats’ is the kind of genre fare that, having established its protagonist as somewhat reprehensible, sets about gleefully putting him through the slapstick horror wringer. Rats, claustrophobia, taphophobia and more horrors are poured onto greedy, graverobbing Masson’s head (a game David Hewitt) to absurdist amounts. Natali – who established his genre credentials with ‘Cube’, ‘Splice’ and many episodes of genre series – channels his inner-Raimi and delivers one of those wild horror rides that fits just nicely in the 40 minute format. Nothing original but Natali’s direction delivers a better and more enjoyable slice of EC comic-style Gothic terror than many. The dental examination of a drowned corpse was one to make me wince.

And if corpses being messed with makes you queasy, then ‘The Autopsy’ will hit your buttons. David Prior’s ‘The Empty Man’ had plenty of genre savvy and mashing-up and ‘The Autopsy’ exhibits further his sure hand. Starts off in earnest looking like a police procedural (a serial killer tale, perhaps) and then moves into realms more … otherworldy. It helps that it has scored a seasoned veteran like F. Murray Abraham as the lead, especially when he’s working solo for the most part and can carry it all effortlessly. The tone shifts subtly and the shocks creep up accumulating in a go-for-broke gruesome ending. A full bloodied horror that gives equal attention to creeps and squirms and, wherever else it goes, has no intention of pulling punches.

It's true that this series doesn’t really try with its titles. However, Ana Lily Amirpour’s ‘The Outside’ is the one that hits something heartfelt and horrific more than any other entry, It has an almost Joe Dante feel, in that Dante was good at surface gloss and the truly creepy in equal amounts, at serving up acidic slabs of brightly hued satire. Ana Lily Amirpour hit renown with ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’, so you know you’re in safe hands with the social commentary. Kate Micucci gives a brave performance as a woman who finds the pack of pretty but vacuous work colleagues fascinating and impenetrable and just wants to belong. Martin Starr’s performance as her husband is wonderfully warm and humane, and between these actors there’s a hook that goes deep. It’s the episode that has haunted me most and has begged that I mull it over. The shock did hit hard (oh yeah, of course: taxidermy) after the surreal turns had surprised, and it eventually ends up as tragedy. 

Keith Thomas’ ‘Pickwick’s Model’ has a winning period setting as an upcoming artist stumbles upon another whose paintings, in typical Lovecraftian fashion, acts as insights or instigations into untold otherworldly horrors. Or something. A chief pleasure of Lovecraft is that much of the horror remains abstract, of the imagination, untouchable. In visual adaptations, this can be a muddle, but this, as many are are prone, goes for what gross-out it can find for an anchor. Get past Crispin Glover’s distracting accent and it’s an entertaining if undemanding creepy tale.

But Catherine Hardwicke’s ‘Dreams in the Witch House’ is a depiction of goggle-eyed Rupert Grint stumbling through a Lovecraftian mess. Period recreation, the scary and the goofy and the maudlin barely hold together, leading to an end note that we don’t really care about. But it least it can be credited with the best title. 

Panos Cosmatos’ ‘The Viewing’, however, puts things firmly back in the singular vision vain. His beautifully composed shots, the auditory immersion breaking out into synth numbers to hit the pleasure zones, his broad use of colour plus his usual tweak of psychedelia – a kind of sunburnt trippiness – gives the simmering build-up and escalation a somewhat truer sensation of Lovecraftian horror, of meddling in and unleashing unimaginable horrors. One of Cosmatos’ dodgy guru types (Weller on fine form) gathers a group of artists and scientists together to try and penetrate the secrets of something he has acquired. The last image of set free horror is one to linger long after. 

Jennifer Kent’s ‘The Murmuring’ is the nadir of the series’ titles; yes it’s alluding to the murmurations of birds as well as ghostly voices, but even so. It gets all the marks for performances of Essie Davis and Andrew Lincoln and an increasingly unsettling build-up. Kent knows that jump-scares don’t haunt, even if she knows that noises in the night do. But as with her breakthrough triumph, ‘The Babadook’ there isn’t much subtext or thematic subtlety, with all the analogies pretty upfront. If the slow burn ultimately arrives at something quite routine - horror being a way to process grief, etc - there are enough creaks and bangs, empathy and quiet ghosts to hit the mark.

FrightFest Halloween 2022

FrightFest Halloween 2022

 

Tripping the Dark Fantastic

Director: LG White.

With: Simon Boswell, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Dario Argento, LG White.

UK 2022. 93 mins.

 

Simon Boswell in concert at Earth Theatre, London in 2021, with each track coming with some backstory from Boswell and interviews with a few director cameos. I have always loved ‘Santa Sangre’ and ‘Hardware’ scores (the former being one of my all-time favourite films) and the performances here are impressive with Boswell’s 12-piece band, Caduta Massi. Stepping in for Goblin – who had to cancel due to COVID – Boswell sticks a coffin on stage and concentrates on his horror scores. I still don’t care for ‘Demons’, and there’s some dodgy lyrics, but it’s a wonderful mix of rock-out and classical approaches via circus tunes, because Boswell covers a lot of ground and styles.

 

I thought a concert film/documentary was a curious/audacious way to start the Frightfest Halloween day, but I was thoroughly entertained. LG White – Boswell’s wife – is still editing and throws in lots of overlapping visuals to try to capture the stage activity and live video backgrounds featuring cameos (Iggy Pop! Argento!) and film clips. It’s a fine presentation.

 

Freeze

Director: Charlie Steeds.

With: Johnny Vivash, Ricardo Freitas, David Lenik, Jake Watkins.

UK 2022. 90 mins

 

Starts out promising a low-budget ‘The Terror’ Lovecraftian monster movie, which is all good. There’s admirable ambition, the Norwegian ice-scapes are breath-taking, but there’s some dubious acting and, worse, the monsters are somewhat ill-served. Not only is the fun design given away immediately (no build-up here - but just look at it!), and perhaps we can step back from questioning their logic (assumedly they are amphibious monsters that get their fishy food diving under the ice? Seals? Bears?), but their squat-walking really doesn’t seem to be any sense (I mean, they’re in a cavernous environment).

 

Gnomes

Director: Ruwan Suresh Heggelman.

With: Moïse Trustfull, Duncan Meijiring.

6mins.

 

I can report that Paul McEvoy, once of the FrightFest founders, sat near me and laughed his socks off to this. The main source of humour to this swift and hilarious short is the splatter excess. The designs of the gnomes and their attack machines are delightful. It’s a show-piece kill segment that doesn’t waste time in being outrageous.

 

Mad Heidi

Directors: Johannes Hartmann, Sandro Klopfstein.

With: Casper Van Dien, David Schofield, Alice Lucy, Leon Herbert

Switzerland 2022. 92 mins.

 

A parody frontloaded with its best gags, but then gets districted by women’s prison satire and then weighed-down by increasingly leaning on plot rather than jokes. Nevertheless, agreeable enough fun, powered mostly by Casper Van Dien’s consistently funny villainous performance.

 

Outpost

Director: Joe Lo Truglio.

With: Beth Dover, Dallas Roberts, Dylan Baker, Ato Essandoh.

USA 2022. 84 mins.

 

Takes a moment to settle down and make sense, but soon settles in to a seemingly straightforward tale of a woman trying to escape a troubled past of domestic abuse by becoming a fire marshal atop a forest lookout. A film unafraid to takes its time, strong on empathy and performances – Dylan Baker as the prickly neighbour and Ato Essandoh as Kate’s taciturn boss were personal favourites.       

 

It was obvious from the Q&A afterwards that Joe Lo Truglio wanted to be as sympathetic to his approach to PTSD with a potentially conventionally conventional thriller, and it is this that distinguishes ‘Outpost’ and motivates as well as allows for its narrative surprises.

 

On The Edge

Directors: Jen & Sylvia Soska.

With: Aramis Sartorio, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, Mackenzie Gray.

Canada 2022. 114 mins.

 

Aramis Sartorio gives his all while the Soskas pose and pout their performances. Any message about female empowerment is filtered into sadism-revenge fantasy as a family man that books a dominatrix in a hotel gets more than he bargained for. This sadism-revenge agenda also guided the Soska’s far superior ‘American Mary’ but the body-horror fascination there is replaced by two-bit Catholic morals here. Anal rape is the main source of humour. But even more egregiously is the badly recorded diagetic dialogue and amateurish sound mix that makes much incomprehensible. Which is problematic for a film that is constantly talking at you. Eventually it devolves into strobe lighting and bible verse and a simplistic morality play that makes a nonsense of any of its transgressive and feminist intent.

Look to 'Promising Young Woman', 'The Beta Test' or even 'The Special' for more nuanced, troubling and fun interrogations of these themes.

 

The Offering

Director: Oliver Park.

With: Nick Blood, Allan Corduner, Paul Kaye, Emm Wiseman.

USA 2022. 93 mins.

 

Introducing the film, director Oliver Park said it portrayed beat-for-beat terrifying nightmares he’d had since he was a toddler. One can only imagine that his nightmares came with bangs and blares and musical stings. Certainly I anticipated a more surrealist, nightmare-logic to the film, but what followed was a far more conventional horror. It relies too much on jump-scares, which quickly become tiresome, despite being distinguished by its Jewish family drama and folklore context, good performances and funeral home setting. 

______

Favourites: ‘The Outpost’, ‘Gnomes’.

Surprised I liked: ‘Tripping the Dark Fantastic’.

Sad that: I ended up being a little indifferent to ‘Mad Heidi’ after the opening had been such parody bonkers and fun. 

FrightFest Halloween day 2: 'The Sacrifice' & 'The Banishing'

 SACRIFICE 

Andy Collier & Toor Mian 

2020, USA

Screenplay: Toor Milan

Originally called ‘The Color of Madness’. An American couple go to a Norwegian island to wrap up some family business concerning property there. The locals act unwelcoming and weird at first, but then… Perhaps this scenario is so familiar, especially when you throw in HP Lovecraft, that there surely needs a pay-off of distinction. Even ‘The Deep Ones’ had man-in-a-monster suit, but ‘Sacrifice’ arguably ends just when expectations are highest, resting on a feint of expectations. There’s decent playing: Sophie Stevens gives some nice no-nonsense gravity to the increasing craziness; horror icon Barbara Crampton applies an accent that occasionally seems to disappear, providing camp amusement value to an otherwise sturdy, nuanced performance. There’s a gorgeous location and a nice uneasiness (Americans: don’t go to Europe), with the linking of tradition to misogyny, but there isn’t quite enough to distinguish this from overt familiarity. 

The BANISHING

Christopher Smith 

UK, 2020

Writers: David Beton, Ray Bogdanovich & Dean Lines

A repressed Reverend moves into a manor that is tainted with scandal as much as his wife and her child. They are neither as safe from the rise of fascism or vengeful ghosts as they might believe. 

Haunted manors and ghostly monks will do it for me, and I jumped at one appearance. Actually, it had me at toy monks surrounding a toy bed. Otherwise, there is an agreeable quietude, some very eerie play with mirrors and the manor is a good old-fashioned location for hauntings. Sean Harris is there, chewing scenery whilst muttering “This place is cursed”, one of those characters who knows all the details of the plot and the haunting and can be relied upon as the font for exposition. When he says about going into the “Beyond”, it’s a little too ‘The Conjuring’ for my taste, but the film has built up a lot of goodwill by then. ‘The Banishing’ swings between agreeable understatement – therefore generating much creepiness – and obvious tropes, not quite failing either and not quite exceeding them either. There is a contemporary edge with a lot of play with the inherent blinkered faith of religion and fascism – made explicit with the character of Malachi (John Lynch) – and Marianne’s (Jessica Brown Findlay) defiance. But a definite success on such a micro-budget. Chris Smith says that his mind doesn’t work in the way of ‘The Woman in Black’, but I didn’t find this so far from that: belief, denial, period context, human frailty, angry irrepressible past... All the ingredients for a haunting are correct.

Grimmfest Day 3: "HP Lovecraft's The Deep Ones", "The Unhealer", "The Ideal Host"

HP LOVECRAFT’S THE DEEP ONES

• DIRECTOR- Chad Ferrin
• SCREENWRITER- Chad Ferrin
• 2020, USA

· Taken from Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos featuring The Deep Ones, Chads Ferrin’s film is bright and breezy but surprise-free. Of course, having Lovecraft’s name up there will pull ‘em in, and of course there is some tentacle action. It does have a defiantly retro man-in-a-monster-suit that might make some laugh, but I found it more endearing than any CGI effort. Otherwise, a sunny coastal setting, a just-less-than-serious feel and a decent cast make for an enjoyable watch that doesn’t outstay it’ welcome, even if it’s unlikely to leave a real dent.

 

THE UNHEALER

• Director - Martin Guigui
• Screenwriters - Kevin E. Moore & J. Shawn Harris
• USA, 2020

Another bullied kid gets supernatural powers to exact revenge on his relentless tormentors when they go too far. Of course this sub-genre this plays on unfairness, but 'The Unhealer' does so more than just revenge. This is built-in even more obviously when his power is that where they hurt him, they suffer the effects; meaning the extent of the revenge depends upon their brutality to him. But victims can’t catch a break, however cruel the bullies are, supernaturally empowered or not. That’s the bitterest horror and the meanest aftertaste.

Elijah Nelson makes a sympathetic lead in Kelly, the script making consistent use of his eating disorder throughout. And of course, Lance Henrickson makes a mark in his cameo. Moore and Harris’ screenplay is more concerned with the human interest than showcasing the kills, with sadness and unfairness dominating the proceedings. In this way, ‘The Unhealer’ distinguishes itself and lingers more than most.

 

AN IDEAL HOST

• DIRECTOR - Robert Woods
• SCREENWRITER - Tyler Jacob Jones
• 2020, Australia

Usually at FrightFest there’s an Antipodean crowd-pleasing genre-comedy that really stands out: ‘Deathgasm’. ‘One Hundred Acres’, Two Heads Creek’, ‘Mega Time Squad’, ‘Turbo Kid’. This is my first time at Grimmfest, and the trend continues with ‘An Ideal Host’, showing again that Australian genre-comedy is just a cut above (or at least, those that we see).

A somewhat precious couple are planning to the minute a dinner party with old friends to stage a marriage proposal, but an old, uninvited and unwanted friend also gate-crashes to upset proceedings. But she’s not the only gate-crasher…

The brevity of the credits reveal how low-budget this is: one location, few cast, director Robert Woods also co-produces, edits, is the cinematographer, etc. But Tyler Jacob Jones’ script and the ensemble cast – mostly from a comedy group Woods is part of, it seems – are consistently lively and funny without over-egging the pudding that any obvious limitations don’t come to mind. (Regarding over-egging: one of my favourite gags is when the film interrupts a cliché montage of the protagonist dressing up to kick-ass with “Enough of that!”).

Like ‘The Special’, there’s a sense that anything might be on the table until it we get some grounding, so there’s some mystery as well as the humour to spike the attention. It even throws in some proper gore. And the effects were all practical too with inventiveness coming thick and fast (the windshield-wipers-as-weapon also a favourite).

 A delight.

Color out of Space

Richard Stanley, 2020, USA

Screenplay: Richard Stanley & Scarlet Amaris

As I was leaving the screening, a guy in the lobby was beseeching his friends “But didn’t you like the motif?”, as if imploring them to find something serious about the film to like. It’s true that the audience I saw it with seemed to have come for a Nicolas Cage comedy. Someone laughed inappropriately as soon as Cage first appeared as he projected Normal Paternal Love for all he’s worth from the porch, with more-or-less a post-it-note on his forehead saying: “Just Wait For The Crazy!” It’s true that as the film progressed, he could hardly utter anything without the audience being amused, even when I could detect nothing amusing. Anything to do with the alpacas was met with laughter, and the alpaca milking caused outright hysteria. Yet to be honest, that scene played as a comedy diversion to show Daddy Cage’s lovable ridiculousness. They certainly seemed to approach Cage as a performing seal.

But therein is the dilemma. I am not sure how much to judge any seriousness or comedy in the film because the audience response was too defining. It seems that Nicolas Cage can no longer be taken seriously as an actor because an audience just wants him to do the crazzee thing. You know: Nicolas Cage turned up to 11. Any of the film’s ideas and sincerity are left in the dust. I couldn’t help wondering what the experience would have been with a different lead? Maybe I am not just one who finds entertainment in Cage overacting for its own sake – arguably, ‘Mandy’ finds Cage finding a right balance – and I couldn’t help thinking it overbalances the film here. The peaches scene turns into a comedy routine when it might have been something chilling. And sometimes Cage’s line-readings just beg to be jokes.

But it’s not helped by Stanley and Scarlett Amaris’ script which offers a hilarious line “Like you dealt with the alpacas?” (this brought the house down) and that tired trope of formerly dedicated dad psychotically rampaging and shouting about family values (it’s not one that convinces me). Or that it descends into trite horror punchlines like “Feed your mother.” I couldn’t judge if the audience was misreading, or if the film was genuinely tongue-in-cheek, or just bad, or trying for tongue-in-cheek bad-it’s good. You see, I felt the body-merging, for example, very icky and truly horrible with the resonance of themes about becoming your parents and the generation conflict laid out earlier: when it has all that, I don’t worry so much about the quality of effects. Others just laughed, although I did hear an “Ugh!” of disgust or two.

Now, as far as absurdism goes, that's inherent in HP Lovecraft where you fully embrace it for the cosmic horror. But then I was surprised to read Lovecraft's Herbert West stories and found the outrageous humour of 'Re-Animator' fully inherent in the original stories. But some of the core dreadfulness of the 'Color out of Space' seems missing here. It makes one realise that the balance of cartoonishness and straight chills and domestic involvement of Kubrick's 'The Shining' is quite an achievement and something along those lines would have best served this material. Of course, Jack Nicholson gurns his way though that one too, but that performance isn't allowed to detract from the understatement and creepiness that pervades the film.

'Color out of Space' seemed to be a film of two halves, and every time I felt the audience was misinterpreting, the film would deliver a bad line or start riffing on a deliberately outrageous Cage freak-out. On the other side the rest of the cast seemed to be taking it seriously and going through the motions of the kind of colourful, entertaining, a little bland, but not necessarily good horror of the kind that went straight to video in the eighties.

Which is where Richard Stanley made a name for himself with an excellent, atmospheric low-budget genre flick called ‘Hardware’ that far exceeded its budget with inventiveness, brio and a distinctive soundtrack (a personal favourite). His follow-up ‘Dust Devil’ was somewhat sabotaged by the studio, it seems, but still has cult appeal. His attempt to make ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ is the stuff of legend* and, it would seem, this more-or-less broke him and his career. So his return was met with a lot of cult goodwill and expectation. I guess I expected ‘Color Out of Space’ to be something like HP Lovecraft via what Panos Cosmatos has been doing: certainly ‘Hardware’ and ‘Dust Devil’ were trippy and atmospheric at the very least. What I wasn’t expecting was something average and perhaps overbalanced into parody by its lead.

·       * Chronicled in the documentary ‘Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr Moreau’ (David Gregory, 2014 USA) available to stream on Shudder.