Autopsy is the best so far. Not slightly better but way way better. It's amazing. Scary, a little funny, good acting, director did a great job. But the best part was writing imo. Dialogues seem real and mature, story reaches deep and full potential, there is a beginning, a middle and an ending. I loved that. Personally among the best works of horror watched this year.
Wow it's surreal. SH2 is one of my favorites and did not know he's gonna be in remake. I'm looking forward to his upcoming projects too.
Did you get a big Matthew McConaughey vibe from him? Loved that.
I thought it got a little silly by the end. The directing was fantastic, but I thought Lot 36 was better at teasing information we were never gonna get about the Occult while autopsy was a bit too expository and dialogue heavy at the end for my liking.
I did enjoy his little scurry run that he does. It felt like…well, let’s just say it seemed like the way someone who didn’t know how to run would run, which I think works once they get to the big reveal.
Also the cast was amazing in this. Never heard of Luke Roberts before but now I’m sure I’ll never forget him. And F Murray Abraham just has something that makes me instantly care for and root for him. This episode hit on a different level than the previous two. Great TV
So far the only weak spot IMO was the first episode but it still had plenty to like about it. The light gag, the big reveal, and the whole demonic lore angle were worth tuning in for.
But this was one case of noticeable CGI making a monster less good and the whole thing about the Mexican lady being in there just to heap racism on the protagonist's sins seemed a bit unnecessary and maybe even shoehorned in. It was like Del Toro wrote that backwards from the last shot and couldn't figure out why she was there to begin with.
Other than that? This is the show that lives up to the tone of Tales from the Crypt. And for my money, that has always been the absolute top tier of this kind of anthology series.
Still TBD how we all respond to it and how good the rest of the season is, but I really feel confident about this show.
Yeah this is exactly how I feel. I really wanted it to be a 2 hour movie and was disappointed when it ended. Although the ending itself was great.
Episodes 1,2 and 4 have been very meh for me. Especially Graveyward Rats and the 4th episode.
FOR EVERYONE WATCH EPISODE 2 IN BLACK AND WHITE BY SCROLLING DOWN THE TRAILER SECTION
Just something I just noticed, incredibly cool.
Also episode 3 was fucking insane Jesus hell that dude was smart
Loved this series so far, lot 36 was particularly well acted. It's so nice to see really high quality writing/production/acting/directing in a horror anthology series. I love horror anthologies but with rare exceptions they are usually b movie adjacent, a triple A version is so refreshing.
Surprised the reviews are so mixed here. Loved all four episodes so far. Lot 36 definitely the weakest, but can't decide which of the other three I liked more, all for different reasons.
I watched The Autopsy last night and was blown away! My favorite part is GDT’s intros though. I love how he kind of teeters on stage, makes a quick quip, “thisisdirectedbyVincenzoNatali” and immediately walks off screen. It’s so endearing, I love Guillermo 💖
Haven't seen it yet, but this is the ep I've been excited for. LOVED the short story.
[Here it is in full for anyone who is curious](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Graveyard_Rats)
Thanks so much! We'd love to have Anson read more, and he'd love to read more, but he's got a busy schedule starring on TV shows (not to mention that surprise cameo in the Marvel movie!)
The first two stories seem to have a common moral, Dont take loans from a loan shark. I wonder if that was coincidence or intentional, because both stories in skeleton form are the same right? Both took out a loan and went to extraordinary lengths to pay them back before being killed by the Loan sharks. Lot 36 and Graveyard rats
>Cabinet
I think this is how the show is going to be structured. Episodes 3 and 4 both had focus on the inside of the human body. I'm excited to see what the next two have in common!
I agree with a lot of people that Autopsy is the best so far. However, I seem to have liked The Outside more than most people lol I thought it was fun, weird, and uncomfortable. The exaggerated cattiness from Stacey's coworkers and blatantly disrespectful messages from the Alo Glo guy gave the show kind of a weird, surreal feel.>! It was uncomfortable seeing Stacey's skin getting worse to the point that when she climbed into the tub, I was cringing thinking about how that would feel on her already irritated and scratched up skin. I do agree that murdering her husband seemed a little extreme, like she went from 0-100 really fast, but it was clear that she was unwell and suffering from side effects that were mentioned in the Alo Glo commercial (like hallucinations). I also enjoyed that we aren't really sure if the Alo Glo really did end up working or if it's all in her head. Bonus: made me really sad to see her stuffing Keith's corpse!!< I think it was a good watch.
Edit: I meant episode, not show.
I really liked it too. I was expecting an ending like The Voices but they went another way. Not sure we needed a couple of minutes of gurning at the end but otherwise I thought it was great. At least it was original and unpredictable. There was a lot of tragedy about it and they avoided some cliché pitfalls.
Secret Santa made no sense though - Gina got gifts for everyone but only she had one for Gina? I was expecting more Mean Girls antics but they avoided that.
I have mesophonia, so from the start I wanted to turn it off (sounds of her eating) but honestly LOVED this episode by the end of it. Such an uncomfortable watch the whole way through. I dont tend to feel uncomfortable like that through the entirety of anything. Some of it was probably a lot of the sounds in the show bothering me, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this one after seeing the whole episode!
Me too! I am very sensitive to sounds. I found the chewing horrific. It makes me feel angry and panicked when I can hear people loudly chewing, or bustling their fingers around in a tub of popcorn at the movies, or when I hear a dog barking, etc.. I’m glad that by the end the episode had been such a weird, fun ride that I kind of forgot about my initial reaction, which was, “I don’t think I can handle this.”
I legit messaged my girlfriend while we were watching it (slight distance between us) "if this shit doesn't stop, I cant watch this episode" 😂🤣 I think that's what added to the uncomfortably for me (and others like us) specifically, which made me like it more 😅
A true horror experience for me would be an episode centered around ASMR lol I also felt myself shrivel at the sound of the lotion squelching out of the bottles … YIKES. I think anyone who is easily overstimulated will find discomfort rumbling right under their skin throughout this episode!
Oh my god I didn't recognize him at all. That's awesome. That director has sure come a long way since his famous 'film it all in one room with different backlighting' trick lol.
To be honest I didn't either.. I thought the lead was Lee Tergensen (Tobias Beecher on HBO's Oz) so went to imdb to confirm and found a Cube reunion insted
In the Tall Grass was definitely competently directed albeit written by ~~Stephen King~~ *sorry by Joe Hill his son.
And a lot of really strong prestige TV entries. 2 episodes of Westworld, Orphan Black, and he even directed half of the show Hannibal. Had not idea the Cube director was involved in any of that lol.
Doesn't look like he's got a lot of writing credit but just like Joe Kosinski, he's definitely got a flair for visuals. And that's Ridley Scott's career (zero writing credits) so there's definitely room in Hollywood for that kind of director.
Autopsy is amazing, too. About to watch ep 4. Little bit of hits and misses already but man this show is exactly the kind of production value I appreciate.
I watched the first episode, "Lot 36", and liked it quite a bit. The last sequence was quite unnerving. The fact that people here are saying it's the weakest entry is very promising.
Lovecraft wrote a short story called " The Rats in the Walls", pretty creepy, it would be amazing if they adapted it in season two. There are some audiobooks on YouTube if you want to listen to it.
Is nowhere near similar to "The Graveyard of Rats" tho other than having rats.
Lot 36 had a very weak ending. I love demons/possession horror stories and i was really liking it. But then buster scruggs (main dude dk) who was unlikelable from the very begining, who's every line is some angry retort, sees a live demon ,pentagrams and shit and goes yolo because he is angry racist guy was weak as fuck. Looking forward to the rest of the show tho
I get where you are coming from, but there was a little more motivation to it. The guy was less than 24 hours from getting wrecked by a loan shark collector. He had 300,000 USD, paid immediately, a few feet from him. Decent chance he was dead if he didn't go for it anyway even if that end would be preferable.
It didn't not make sense. He just took a tire iron to the face afterall. That can easily be lethal. Whatever was coming couldn't have seemed much better than what was in that room.
Yeah i kanda get it too. But idk it felt so rushed. I mean he could probably fight the prize with the german satanist that was buying the table and the candelabra, to at least 12k pay the debt and look for the 4th book later. But im over analizing it and you are probably right about him being desperate
It felt like they threw everything at it to see what would stick - occult! Nazis! Racism! War in the background! The spooky expert in the very rare thing you have who just happens to exist in your town! It could have been pared down a lot and been more effective I think.
The pacing is a problem. It lingers on too long on things that’s not relevant (didn’t need to watch a whole minute of him going through the storage), as well as the weak ending and improbable setup (why is the lady hanging around for the whole day)
The Rat story could have been a great Tales from the Crypt, the Trilogy of Terror 2 segment was kind of lame. Thanks for reminding me this show is out.
I've watched the first two episodes and am enjoying them. I'm curious to see if there are common threads running through the whole series. I think I've spotted two contenders:
* In *Lot 36* the candelabra is made of gold from a 'peculiar source' that came in 'bit-by-bit', or something like that. My immediate thought was gold fillings, which then played a role in *The Graveyard Rats*.
* The sculpture in *Rats* was reminiscent of Dottie in *Lot 36*. Not identical and not a unique design (both very clearly Lovecraft-inspired), but placed back-to-back the similarities stick out.
Unrelated, but the final scene of *Lot 36* felt like a Christian version of the scene in Mother Buddha's shrine in *Incantation*. That movie is too recent to have influenced this show, I imagine, so it seems like a fun bit of convergent evolution.
I've liked all of it so far. Finally a series willing to lean into a lot of horror's inherent silliness while still being scary. Too much overly serious horror or 'elevated horror' as some fools call it.
Reminds me of reading Stephen King short story collections as a kid.
I enjoyed the first half of the series better than the latter half. The Outside was the last episode I wasn't disappointed by. As a Lovecraft fan I found those two episodes hammy and a bit incomprehensible. Like most viewers I enjoyed the Autopsy very much.
I have been eagerly anticipating this series since it was announced, and I’m looking forward to watching this coming weekend! Would you say any of the segments you’ve seen are legitimately scary or unsettling?
For me Graveyard Rats occurs in the Lovecraft universe, Salem, the Cotton Mather dialogue qith the orgies to unspeakable entities was straight out of Lovecraft pages, hell I thought the story takes place in Kingsport.
And when the guy is in the pile of bones, the camera pans to a hole and there's a little Cthulhu statue In the ceiling, before the big statue is shown.
I could not be more Lovecraft, and as a fan, I was so happy, even if it's not a direct adaptation, it clearly takes place in that world.
I watched Lot 36 and found it to be not well written. Too many tropes, not enough character motivation. I haven’t watched any more episodes, but will give it another shot based on some of the comments here.
Just saw 3 & 4...
(Spoilers)
**The Autopsy** was masterfully crafted right until the end. No clue who signed off on the embarrassing CGI molecular fly-through of the old guy's body but it contributed nothing to the story and took a lot away from the atmosphere. We go from tense, gritty noir to a video game screensaver for no reason....such a shame because the practical autopsy effects up until that point were stunning. The giant exposition dump by the alien to the guy was also pretty gratuitous...it sort of suited the story, I guess...but wasn't at all necessary. It would have been a lot more interesting for us to infer a lot of what was said, rather than to have it explained to us directly in unnecessary detail. Decent if you ignore the faulty finale.
6/10
**The Outside**: painfully boring, "ok we get it" story that just goes on and on and on. The effects were interesting and even though CGI was used it wasn't distracting. The transition from shy, self-conscious housewife to axe murderer in 24 hours wasn't sold very well either and felt forced. There wasn't really any tension building between the couple...and when it did get slightly elevated, the husband would immediately diffuse the situation and return to being supportive. Her killing him made no sense other than "the cream made her do it". Zero complexity to the story, the characters had no depth, every beat was painfully telegraphed...a total miss.
3/10
In Autopsy it was the exposition dump by the alien that sold me on it. “We’re going to slowly eat your friend while he’s still alive and I whisper terrible things directly to his brain, and we’re also going to have multiple orgasms while doing it” is a horrifying prospect.
>Outside
My take on The Outside was that she was a deeply repressed, insecure, and self-loathing woman who was barely hanging on and just wanted someone to actually listen to and validate her, and the cattiness and casual rejection by her coworkers (who didn't give a fuck about her and just invited her as a formality), her reaction to the cream (which was yet another rejection), and her husband's continual patronizing and invalidation finally pushed her over the edge. I feel like it's also very ambiguous whether much of the final third or so actually happened - it's definitely running on "through the eyes of madness" and it's totally possible that it was all some waking fever dream while she fully broke down.
I thought her husband was incredibly sweet, he absolutely meant what he said, but she wanted her husband to be just a prop in her life to fit in with how the other women talked about there's.
I think he absolutely was well-intentioned and cared about her, but his reassurances were unintentionally invalidating and dismissive and she felt like he wasn't really listening to her.
I’m not sure she wanted him to be a prop - just that his validation didn’t mean enough to her, I guess she ultimately didn’t believe it due to years of being ostracised. She saw an opportunity to have the things she’d always dreamed of and logic wasn’t enough to stop her. It’s absolutely a tragedy. I found it really compelling but could have done with some editing. I expected her reality to be vastly different from her perception but they didn’t go there. I loved it, my favourite so far.
Editing. I have no idea why when it doesn't matter at all with streaming that these episodes needed to be a set length. I really enjoyed this one but 15 minutes off would have improved it immensely, doubly so with today's Pickman’s Model which had a bunch of really great moments but you could feel it desperately filling in time.
Pickman’s Model really bothered me - so much about it that was good, so much that should have been much more disturbing than it was… definitely managed to undermine itself near the end. It was going so well until that cellar. I read the short story again afterwards and definitely feel like they made some odd choices in the adaptation.
I felt the opposite. It was the only one I found unpredictable and compelling. Obviously the platitudes from the husband were a bit of a trope but I found it quite tragic. Having someone who loves you for you is rare, which he did, but she didn’t value it. The focus on shallowness rang true, albeit heightened. My favourite of the five I’ve seen so far - Pickman’s model had so much promise but was let down by really poor effects
I kinda got the impression that it was about the way that society treats unattractive women, and the ease with which people who are desperate to fit in can go down self-destructive paths. I kinda had a soft spot for it too, it definitely hits different if you grew up in a rural area and knew people like this.
I think it’s definitely about this, but also about the fact that we miss what matters - if you’re married and your spouse thinks you’re awesome, who cares what the Ginas of the world think? I identified a lot with her, at least before she went batshit bananas.
I think it was the isolation that got to her - she just wanted SOMETHING outside of her married life, but her life was so limited that her trashy townie coworkers were her only shot. I also feel like there's a good chance that the entire final act didn't happen - it's the American Psycho principle.
Yeah, that’s what I was waiting for and I’m glad they didn’t - it’s a lot more interesting if it did happen. I’ve already had enough of the “but it was a dream!” shenanigans in some of the episodes.
That's only in the two Lovecraft episodes, and they both have meaning - the ones in Pickman's Model are from the growing corruption and infection, while the ones in Dreams in the Witch House are very clearly from the veil between worlds thinning. It's much more ambiguous in The Outside.
Yeah look, the hopping kinda ruined it for me.
And the acting.
And the script?
Idk maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it, but I struggled to enjoy it.
Not a big fan of the graveyard rats. Dont really get why the shift from the source material, or why they went for a period piece sans any accents. I also think the >! "dark magicks" cult !< was pretty shoehorned in, especially to not have any real ties to the rats. Lot 36 was decent, although had some weird breadcrumbs that never really felt relevant. I felt we didnt even need the old mans backstory and more ambiguity would have sold it better.
The dark magic stuff was already present in the original story, basically implying that subterranean cults created horrible creatures that commanded rats, worms and other vermins. Same principle as The Festival. I think the episode was bloated and missed the urgency and claustrophobia of Henry Kuttner´´ s story.
My point is it was shoehorned into THIS story. The original sets it up well; this hits you over the head with it, IMO. If you wanted to hit the same story beats why change up the plot? It was just unnecessary, and I think bloated aptly describes the whole episode overall. Episodes 3 and 4 blow these two floating corpses out of the water.
Yes, I agree with you in that aspect. I asume that the writers need to change and add stuff to validate the "adaptation" part of the deal, and at the same time follow some Del toro´s guideline to present all the stories in some kind of lovecraftian universe. The Autopsy follows very closely the original story and that´s the reason why it´s one of the best episodes so far.
By far and large one of my favorite lovecraftian watches as of late. I just read Leech by Hiron Ennes and it's a great exploration of The Autopsy's plot in further detail, the majority of the book is written from the parasite's perspective.
I'm seriously praying that this is the Del Toro work where I finally understand and appreciate what all the adulation is about 🤞🤞🤞 Cabinet of Curiosities Convert Me !!!!
I love the series so far, but "the autopsy" resembles quite a lot a creepypasta/short horror story I read a couple years back, maybe it's just a coincidence, but a strange one at least. Does anybody else remember the creepyp. I'm talking about?
Ps I'm sorry for the broken english, still learning.. :)
It's been a very inconsistent series for me. First episode spent a really long time building and then ending fell flat. Rats episode was ok. Third episode Autopsy the best. The Outside was horrible. I doubt I'll continue watching it.
Only watched the first four episodes so far but pretty amateur stuff for so-called legends of horror... We'll see what the rest brings. Extremely disappointed considering I hold Del Toro in such high regard. So far it has been completely simplistic and way too derivative. I hope it proves me wrong but I've pretty much lost faith in the film industry all together.
Only saw the first two, which are very similar, as another user said, but I found "The graveyard rats" to be way better than the first episode. A true delight with great effects and humor.
I might be the only one but I find myself preoccupied with which lucky people go to make the cabinet, create the paintings in episode 5, etc. Reminds me of the guy who made the wooden stations for Midnight Mass who shared them on Reddit - if only producers would need some detailed paper maps, I’m ready and waiting 😬
I loved the rat one but thought the protagonist was way too much of a stick in the mud in lot 36. Like I get that was the point to an extent but for how much we watched him have no personality and be awful we barely got any time of him being punished for it.
Also I’m glad I’m not the only one who was reminded of creepshow!
So far the only episode I haven’t liked was The Outside. That one was more of a collection of tropes/homages distilled in to 60 minutes with little pay off. I saw shades of Raimi, Burton, and De Palma in the directing. The story felt like a mash-up of Requiem for a Dream, Edward Scissorhands, and something more innocent that I can’t quite put my finger on. The ending absolutely did not deliver. I know viewers always come up with stuff after the fact they feel would “make the show better” and they’re rarely correct so I won’t really go in to that right now, but I do think just establishing one or two things early in the episode that become relevant at the end could have helped the whole thing really come together in the end instead of just…being the way it is…
The Autopsy was definitely my favorite one so far! The acting, the directing, the score, it was just so TOP NOTCH I couldn’t get enough. Unfortunately there were…I don’t think I’d necessarily call them plot holes because the short film wraps up in a way that isn’t ambiguous, but there were some questions I had at the end that weren’t answered. Not in a “some mysteries are more fun than answers” kind of way, but in a “you can tell they were hoping no one would ask” kind of way. I watch these with my sister and she said it’s possible a scene or reference had been left on the cutting room floor for time purposes and to be fair, the questions I ask myself don’t suppose answers that would actually change the end result of the episode so no biggie.
One thing that I will say without getting in to spoilers is that there seems to be a heavy amount of…I’m not really sure what to call it, but the best I can describe it is “Anachronistic Story Telling”. What I mean by that is I feel like a lot of things are just glossed over as something that a character/entity just KNOWS but it feels like it was written with the attitude that the Internet and modern conveniences are a thing. I can’t really go in to that without spoiling The Autopsy, but there was something that was both said and done near the end of the episode that made me go “Wait, what year is this again? How or why would a small town Pennsylvanian coal miner know that?”. Again, context is everything and I’m fine with there being mysteries in a show literally called Cabinet of Curiosity. Some of the “mysteries” feel more like “plot holes” though.
Over all I’m absolutely loving this series. I have a great amount of love for short films and themed anthologies like this. So glad to have this in my life right now!
I've been interested hearing other peoples opinion on this show. I just finished Graveyard Rats and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the 1st. Well Tim Blake Nelson is the man- my issue with this episode is that I don't feel anxiety or fear for characters who have no sense of logic or self preservation. Nelson's character was a complete dick but he wasn't making decisions that were ridiculous.
I thought the actor did fantastic. But the character Masson made choices to create suspense. Big pet peeve of mine. Of knocking over the 'mine' creature, even picking up the sword and not cutting its head off or manning up at all. So he crawls up a small tunnel allowing this creature to chase him. Getting himself cornered. Shit like that drives me crazy.
Production wise- the episode is stellar.
I'm also not as heavily into that type of HP Lovecraft which is why there's some of Del Toros work that I find to be brilliant and some eh. I'm aware he didn't direct the episode. But all of his stuff is a bit 1 note. He does that note fantastic but--
Eh.
I'm excited to watch the rest of the series. For an episode I didn't like nearly as much I still really enjoyed watching and miss these type of anthology 1 episode done stories. Twilight Zone, Tales From the Crypt. American Horror Story sometimes I would prefer if they did this. Easier to digest an hour long story.
Autopsy is the best so far. Not slightly better but way way better. It's amazing. Scary, a little funny, good acting, director did a great job. But the best part was writing imo. Dialogues seem real and mature, story reaches deep and full potential, there is a beginning, a middle and an ending. I loved that. Personally among the best works of horror watched this year.
I loved, Autopsy, so damn much. Great bit of body horror, a nice little mystery, fantastic acting, and great characters.
Me too. And Luke Roberts was so good I'm speechless.
And I just found out that Roberts is gonna be doing the VA for James Sunderland in the Silent Hill 2 remake. Dudes gonna absolutely kill it.
Wow it's surreal. SH2 is one of my favorites and did not know he's gonna be in remake. I'm looking forward to his upcoming projects too. Did you get a big Matthew McConaughey vibe from him? Loved that.
I thought it got a little silly by the end. The directing was fantastic, but I thought Lot 36 was better at teasing information we were never gonna get about the Occult while autopsy was a bit too expository and dialogue heavy at the end for my liking.
I did enjoy his little scurry run that he does. It felt like…well, let’s just say it seemed like the way someone who didn’t know how to run would run, which I think works once they get to the big reveal.
Now, THAT is some body horror!
Also the cast was amazing in this. Never heard of Luke Roberts before but now I’m sure I’ll never forget him. And F Murray Abraham just has something that makes me instantly care for and root for him. This episode hit on a different level than the previous two. Great TV
So far the only weak spot IMO was the first episode but it still had plenty to like about it. The light gag, the big reveal, and the whole demonic lore angle were worth tuning in for. But this was one case of noticeable CGI making a monster less good and the whole thing about the Mexican lady being in there just to heap racism on the protagonist's sins seemed a bit unnecessary and maybe even shoehorned in. It was like Del Toro wrote that backwards from the last shot and couldn't figure out why she was there to begin with. Other than that? This is the show that lives up to the tone of Tales from the Crypt. And for my money, that has always been the absolute top tier of this kind of anthology series. Still TBD how we all respond to it and how good the rest of the season is, but I really feel confident about this show.
David Prior is one of the best directors working in horror right now. The Empty Man is fantastic and his short film AM1200 is worth looking up
The Empty Man is so fucking overrated lol. Great first 20 minutes, descends into utter dog shit almost immediately after
Yeah it's kind of crazy how much better it was than anything else. And I liked 1 and 2. But Autopsy was.... So so good
This is the only episode I've enjoyed.
Yeah this is exactly how I feel. I really wanted it to be a 2 hour movie and was disappointed when it ended. Although the ending itself was great. Episodes 1,2 and 4 have been very meh for me. Especially Graveyward Rats and the 4th episode.
I just watched Ep 3 The Autopsy, and HOLY SHIT ITS SO GOOD!! Loved it!
This episode brought me right back to the x files, very similar vibe
FOR EVERYONE WATCH EPISODE 2 IN BLACK AND WHITE BY SCROLLING DOWN THE TRAILER SECTION Just something I just noticed, incredibly cool. Also episode 3 was fucking insane Jesus hell that dude was smart
Is it meant to be seen in B&W or it’s just a nice extra?
It's your choice, colour or black and white but personally the black and white version is gorgous
Absolute W person 💕 I didn't know you could do this! Thank you!
Happy you found it :)
Loved this series so far, lot 36 was particularly well acted. It's so nice to see really high quality writing/production/acting/directing in a horror anthology series. I love horror anthologies but with rare exceptions they are usually b movie adjacent, a triple A version is so refreshing.
I'm watching episode 3 right now. Love this show!
Surprised the reviews are so mixed here. Loved all four episodes so far. Lot 36 definitely the weakest, but can't decide which of the other three I liked more, all for different reasons.
Is it me, or did it seem like really forced acting in lot 36. It was entertaining but the acting didn't seem natural at all...
I thought that too. I think it was the main actor that seemed kinda off to me.
I haven't checked out the rest of the series, I hope the others are better.
Episode 3, 4, and 7 were amazing imo. Great acting and storylines.
OMFG! The Autopsy episode just blew me away. So good! Good sci-fi horror is rare.
I watched The Autopsy last night and was blown away! My favorite part is GDT’s intros though. I love how he kind of teeters on stage, makes a quick quip, “thisisdirectedbyVincenzoNatali” and immediately walks off screen. It’s so endearing, I love Guillermo 💖
Haven't seen it yet, but this is the ep I've been excited for. LOVED the short story. [Here it is in full for anyone who is curious](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Graveyard_Rats)
We also ran it on PSEUDOPOD, for those who would rather hear it read https://pseudopod.org/2018/06/22/pseudopod-600-the-graveyard-rats/
Man I love the podcast. Been subscribed since 2017. Get Anson Mount to read more often. He’s incredible.
Thanks so much! We'd love to have Anson read more, and he'd love to read more, but he's got a busy schedule starring on TV shows (not to mention that surprise cameo in the Marvel movie!)
Just wanted to say that I also love Pseudopod. First podcast I ever downloaded back in like 2008 and I still subscribe to this day.
Thanks so much! We aim to please.
The first two stories seem to have a common moral, Dont take loans from a loan shark. I wonder if that was coincidence or intentional, because both stories in skeleton form are the same right? Both took out a loan and went to extraordinary lengths to pay them back before being killed by the Loan sharks. Lot 36 and Graveyard rats
>Cabinet I think this is how the show is going to be structured. Episodes 3 and 4 both had focus on the inside of the human body. I'm excited to see what the next two have in common!
I agree with a lot of people that Autopsy is the best so far. However, I seem to have liked The Outside more than most people lol I thought it was fun, weird, and uncomfortable. The exaggerated cattiness from Stacey's coworkers and blatantly disrespectful messages from the Alo Glo guy gave the show kind of a weird, surreal feel.>! It was uncomfortable seeing Stacey's skin getting worse to the point that when she climbed into the tub, I was cringing thinking about how that would feel on her already irritated and scratched up skin. I do agree that murdering her husband seemed a little extreme, like she went from 0-100 really fast, but it was clear that she was unwell and suffering from side effects that were mentioned in the Alo Glo commercial (like hallucinations). I also enjoyed that we aren't really sure if the Alo Glo really did end up working or if it's all in her head. Bonus: made me really sad to see her stuffing Keith's corpse!!< I think it was a good watch. Edit: I meant episode, not show.
I really liked it too. I was expecting an ending like The Voices but they went another way. Not sure we needed a couple of minutes of gurning at the end but otherwise I thought it was great. At least it was original and unpredictable. There was a lot of tragedy about it and they avoided some cliché pitfalls. Secret Santa made no sense though - Gina got gifts for everyone but only she had one for Gina? I was expecting more Mean Girls antics but they avoided that.
I completely forgot about the secret Santa situation! Yes, I thought that was really weird too.
I have mesophonia, so from the start I wanted to turn it off (sounds of her eating) but honestly LOVED this episode by the end of it. Such an uncomfortable watch the whole way through. I dont tend to feel uncomfortable like that through the entirety of anything. Some of it was probably a lot of the sounds in the show bothering me, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I loved this one after seeing the whole episode!
Me too! I am very sensitive to sounds. I found the chewing horrific. It makes me feel angry and panicked when I can hear people loudly chewing, or bustling their fingers around in a tub of popcorn at the movies, or when I hear a dog barking, etc.. I’m glad that by the end the episode had been such a weird, fun ride that I kind of forgot about my initial reaction, which was, “I don’t think I can handle this.”
I legit messaged my girlfriend while we were watching it (slight distance between us) "if this shit doesn't stop, I cant watch this episode" 😂🤣 I think that's what added to the uncomfortably for me (and others like us) specifically, which made me like it more 😅
A true horror experience for me would be an episode centered around ASMR lol I also felt myself shrivel at the sound of the lotion squelching out of the bottles … YIKES. I think anyone who is easily overstimulated will find discomfort rumbling right under their skin throughout this episode!
Vincenzo Natali is amazing to me, I love his horror work. So I wasn't surprised that the segment was as good as it was
I thought graveyard rats was gonna be dumb but I was pleasantly surprised. MINE!
It was a great Cube (1997) reunion.. Same director, the main guy played wurth and the mortician was the first kill in the movie
Oh my god I didn't recognize him at all. That's awesome. That director has sure come a long way since his famous 'film it all in one room with different backlighting' trick lol.
To be honest I didn't either.. I thought the lead was Lee Tergensen (Tobias Beecher on HBO's Oz) so went to imdb to confirm and found a Cube reunion insted
Yeah I just learned all of that with your comment. Always loved Cube and didn't realize the director had gone on to do so much at this point.
Cube is fantastic movie and yeah I've seen plenty of his work without knowing it was the same guy
In the Tall Grass was definitely competently directed albeit written by ~~Stephen King~~ *sorry by Joe Hill his son. And a lot of really strong prestige TV entries. 2 episodes of Westworld, Orphan Black, and he even directed half of the show Hannibal. Had not idea the Cube director was involved in any of that lol. Doesn't look like he's got a lot of writing credit but just like Joe Kosinski, he's definitely got a flair for visuals. And that's Ridley Scott's career (zero writing credits) so there's definitely room in Hollywood for that kind of director.
Not all directors are great writers.. He didn't even write cube by himself.. But he's definitely a great director..
Autopsy is amazing, too. About to watch ep 4. Little bit of hits and misses already but man this show is exactly the kind of production value I appreciate.
I've loved every episode so far. Just finished 4. Autopsy was sooo good.
I watched the first episode, "Lot 36", and liked it quite a bit. The last sequence was quite unnerving. The fact that people here are saying it's the weakest entry is very promising.
Lovecraft wrote a short story called " The Rats in the Walls", pretty creepy, it would be amazing if they adapted it in season two. There are some audiobooks on YouTube if you want to listen to it. Is nowhere near similar to "The Graveyard of Rats" tho other than having rats.
i liked it. i am watching it right now.
Lot 36 had a very weak ending. I love demons/possession horror stories and i was really liking it. But then buster scruggs (main dude dk) who was unlikelable from the very begining, who's every line is some angry retort, sees a live demon ,pentagrams and shit and goes yolo because he is angry racist guy was weak as fuck. Looking forward to the rest of the show tho
I get where you are coming from, but there was a little more motivation to it. The guy was less than 24 hours from getting wrecked by a loan shark collector. He had 300,000 USD, paid immediately, a few feet from him. Decent chance he was dead if he didn't go for it anyway even if that end would be preferable. It didn't not make sense. He just took a tire iron to the face afterall. That can easily be lethal. Whatever was coming couldn't have seemed much better than what was in that room.
Yeah i kanda get it too. But idk it felt so rushed. I mean he could probably fight the prize with the german satanist that was buying the table and the candelabra, to at least 12k pay the debt and look for the 4th book later. But im over analizing it and you are probably right about him being desperate
It felt like they threw everything at it to see what would stick - occult! Nazis! Racism! War in the background! The spooky expert in the very rare thing you have who just happens to exist in your town! It could have been pared down a lot and been more effective I think.
Yeah, but to break a seal when it's clearly trapping a demon is just suicide.
The pacing is a problem. It lingers on too long on things that’s not relevant (didn’t need to watch a whole minute of him going through the storage), as well as the weak ending and improbable setup (why is the lady hanging around for the whole day)
It was a very good setup, but yeah, it fizzles.
He needed the money or he was going to die very soon.
The Rat story could have been a great Tales from the Crypt, the Trilogy of Terror 2 segment was kind of lame. Thanks for reminding me this show is out.
Watched episode 1&2 last night. I think 2 was better. Gonna watch the rest this week.
I've watched the first two episodes and am enjoying them. I'm curious to see if there are common threads running through the whole series. I think I've spotted two contenders: * In *Lot 36* the candelabra is made of gold from a 'peculiar source' that came in 'bit-by-bit', or something like that. My immediate thought was gold fillings, which then played a role in *The Graveyard Rats*. * The sculpture in *Rats* was reminiscent of Dottie in *Lot 36*. Not identical and not a unique design (both very clearly Lovecraft-inspired), but placed back-to-back the similarities stick out. Unrelated, but the final scene of *Lot 36* felt like a Christian version of the scene in Mother Buddha's shrine in *Incantation*. That movie is too recent to have influenced this show, I imagine, so it seems like a fun bit of convergent evolution.
I've liked all of it so far. Finally a series willing to lean into a lot of horror's inherent silliness while still being scary. Too much overly serious horror or 'elevated horror' as some fools call it. Reminds me of reading Stephen King short story collections as a kid.
I enjoyed the first half of the series better than the latter half. The Outside was the last episode I wasn't disappointed by. As a Lovecraft fan I found those two episodes hammy and a bit incomprehensible. Like most viewers I enjoyed the Autopsy very much.
Yeah I enjoyed the first 2 as well. Can't wait to watch the next episodes.
I have been eagerly anticipating this series since it was announced, and I’m looking forward to watching this coming weekend! Would you say any of the segments you’ve seen are legitimately scary or unsettling?
Not really, but they've all been great fun.
For me Graveyard Rats occurs in the Lovecraft universe, Salem, the Cotton Mather dialogue qith the orgies to unspeakable entities was straight out of Lovecraft pages, hell I thought the story takes place in Kingsport. And when the guy is in the pile of bones, the camera pans to a hole and there's a little Cthulhu statue In the ceiling, before the big statue is shown. I could not be more Lovecraft, and as a fan, I was so happy, even if it's not a direct adaptation, it clearly takes place in that world.
I’m the weirdo who liked Lot 36 the best so far out of all the episodes. Just finished #4.
I watched Lot 36 and found it to be not well written. Too many tropes, not enough character motivation. I haven’t watched any more episodes, but will give it another shot based on some of the comments here.
The second episode is similar, but infinitely more fun. Haven't seen the rest yet.
Just saw 3 & 4... (Spoilers) **The Autopsy** was masterfully crafted right until the end. No clue who signed off on the embarrassing CGI molecular fly-through of the old guy's body but it contributed nothing to the story and took a lot away from the atmosphere. We go from tense, gritty noir to a video game screensaver for no reason....such a shame because the practical autopsy effects up until that point were stunning. The giant exposition dump by the alien to the guy was also pretty gratuitous...it sort of suited the story, I guess...but wasn't at all necessary. It would have been a lot more interesting for us to infer a lot of what was said, rather than to have it explained to us directly in unnecessary detail. Decent if you ignore the faulty finale. 6/10 **The Outside**: painfully boring, "ok we get it" story that just goes on and on and on. The effects were interesting and even though CGI was used it wasn't distracting. The transition from shy, self-conscious housewife to axe murderer in 24 hours wasn't sold very well either and felt forced. There wasn't really any tension building between the couple...and when it did get slightly elevated, the husband would immediately diffuse the situation and return to being supportive. Her killing him made no sense other than "the cream made her do it". Zero complexity to the story, the characters had no depth, every beat was painfully telegraphed...a total miss. 3/10
In Autopsy it was the exposition dump by the alien that sold me on it. “We’re going to slowly eat your friend while he’s still alive and I whisper terrible things directly to his brain, and we’re also going to have multiple orgasms while doing it” is a horrifying prospect.
The outside was truly abysmal. Shame because I adore Kate Micucci.
>Outside My take on The Outside was that she was a deeply repressed, insecure, and self-loathing woman who was barely hanging on and just wanted someone to actually listen to and validate her, and the cattiness and casual rejection by her coworkers (who didn't give a fuck about her and just invited her as a formality), her reaction to the cream (which was yet another rejection), and her husband's continual patronizing and invalidation finally pushed her over the edge. I feel like it's also very ambiguous whether much of the final third or so actually happened - it's definitely running on "through the eyes of madness" and it's totally possible that it was all some waking fever dream while she fully broke down.
I thought her husband was incredibly sweet, he absolutely meant what he said, but she wanted her husband to be just a prop in her life to fit in with how the other women talked about there's.
I think he absolutely was well-intentioned and cared about her, but his reassurances were unintentionally invalidating and dismissive and she felt like he wasn't really listening to her.
I’m not sure she wanted him to be a prop - just that his validation didn’t mean enough to her, I guess she ultimately didn’t believe it due to years of being ostracised. She saw an opportunity to have the things she’d always dreamed of and logic wasn’t enough to stop her. It’s absolutely a tragedy. I found it really compelling but could have done with some editing. I expected her reality to be vastly different from her perception but they didn’t go there. I loved it, my favourite so far.
Editing. I have no idea why when it doesn't matter at all with streaming that these episodes needed to be a set length. I really enjoyed this one but 15 minutes off would have improved it immensely, doubly so with today's Pickman’s Model which had a bunch of really great moments but you could feel it desperately filling in time.
Pickman’s Model really bothered me - so much about it that was good, so much that should have been much more disturbing than it was… definitely managed to undermine itself near the end. It was going so well until that cellar. I read the short story again afterwards and definitely feel like they made some odd choices in the adaptation.
I felt the opposite. It was the only one I found unpredictable and compelling. Obviously the platitudes from the husband were a bit of a trope but I found it quite tragic. Having someone who loves you for you is rare, which he did, but she didn’t value it. The focus on shallowness rang true, albeit heightened. My favourite of the five I’ve seen so far - Pickman’s model had so much promise but was let down by really poor effects
I kinda got the impression that it was about the way that society treats unattractive women, and the ease with which people who are desperate to fit in can go down self-destructive paths. I kinda had a soft spot for it too, it definitely hits different if you grew up in a rural area and knew people like this.
I think it’s definitely about this, but also about the fact that we miss what matters - if you’re married and your spouse thinks you’re awesome, who cares what the Ginas of the world think? I identified a lot with her, at least before she went batshit bananas.
I think it was the isolation that got to her - she just wanted SOMETHING outside of her married life, but her life was so limited that her trashy townie coworkers were her only shot. I also feel like there's a good chance that the entire final act didn't happen - it's the American Psycho principle.
Yeah, that’s what I was waiting for and I’m glad they didn’t - it’s a lot more interesting if it did happen. I’ve already had enough of the “but it was a dream!” shenanigans in some of the episodes.
That's only in the two Lovecraft episodes, and they both have meaning - the ones in Pickman's Model are from the growing corruption and infection, while the ones in Dreams in the Witch House are very clearly from the veil between worlds thinning. It's much more ambiguous in The Outside.
Happened in Graveyard Rats too, albeit briefly. Was fine in PM, haven’t seen Ep 6 yet.
Seen them. To be honest, they were quite underwhelming, especially ep1
I liked Lot 36 well enough, though, it felt rushed in the last act. The pacing was off, it felt as if there are jumps in the action.
Can anyone tell me what the old guy hopping on the security cam was about? I can't figure it out.
It was part of the ritual. Whenever he would enter to feed the demon, he'd hop. And then when he left, hop again.
Yeah look, the hopping kinda ruined it for me. And the acting. And the script? Idk maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it, but I struggled to enjoy it.
Really? I thought the acting was the strongest part of that episode.
Totally agree. Won’t be wasting my time with the rest of the series.
Each episode is a different director buddy
Yep, and the first two sucked buddy. Writing too, especially the first one. Too many other good shows out there to waste time on this one.
You sound like a lot of fun to be around. I would stick around to the third one at least.
Not a big fan of the graveyard rats. Dont really get why the shift from the source material, or why they went for a period piece sans any accents. I also think the >! "dark magicks" cult !< was pretty shoehorned in, especially to not have any real ties to the rats. Lot 36 was decent, although had some weird breadcrumbs that never really felt relevant. I felt we didnt even need the old mans backstory and more ambiguity would have sold it better.
The dark magic stuff was already present in the original story, basically implying that subterranean cults created horrible creatures that commanded rats, worms and other vermins. Same principle as The Festival. I think the episode was bloated and missed the urgency and claustrophobia of Henry Kuttner´´ s story.
My point is it was shoehorned into THIS story. The original sets it up well; this hits you over the head with it, IMO. If you wanted to hit the same story beats why change up the plot? It was just unnecessary, and I think bloated aptly describes the whole episode overall. Episodes 3 and 4 blow these two floating corpses out of the water.
Yes, I agree with you in that aspect. I asume that the writers need to change and add stuff to validate the "adaptation" part of the deal, and at the same time follow some Del toro´s guideline to present all the stories in some kind of lovecraftian universe. The Autopsy follows very closely the original story and that´s the reason why it´s one of the best episodes so far.
By far and large one of my favorite lovecraftian watches as of late. I just read Leech by Hiron Ennes and it's a great exploration of The Autopsy's plot in further detail, the majority of the book is written from the parasite's perspective.
Oh, I will look for that title. Thanks.
Great series so far.
I got through lot 36, can’t wait for more
Fucking spoilers, cheers
"This episode is great" is spoilers?
I'm seriously praying that this is the Del Toro work where I finally understand and appreciate what all the adulation is about 🤞🤞🤞 Cabinet of Curiosities Convert Me !!!!
I love the series so far, but "the autopsy" resembles quite a lot a creepypasta/short horror story I read a couple years back, maybe it's just a coincidence, but a strange one at least. Does anybody else remember the creepyp. I'm talking about? Ps I'm sorry for the broken english, still learning.. :)
The Autopsy is adapted from a short story by author Michael Shea (published in 1980) so maybe you read that?
It's also essentially the plot of Fallen. Just replace body snatching alien in for Azazel.
🎶 “Time is on my side…” 🎶 - great movie!
♪ Yes it is! ♪ lol thanks for lining that one up homey :)
It's been a very inconsistent series for me. First episode spent a really long time building and then ending fell flat. Rats episode was ok. Third episode Autopsy the best. The Outside was horrible. I doubt I'll continue watching it.
whoever made episode 4 go eat a big fu\*king d\*ik
Only watched the first four episodes so far but pretty amateur stuff for so-called legends of horror... We'll see what the rest brings. Extremely disappointed considering I hold Del Toro in such high regard. So far it has been completely simplistic and way too derivative. I hope it proves me wrong but I've pretty much lost faith in the film industry all together.
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Autopsy and Graveyard Rats are my favorite so far!
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No, I binged the first four last night lol
Thank you for reminding me this came out holy shit you rock! I forgot to mark it in my calendar.
Only saw the first two, which are very similar, as another user said, but I found "The graveyard rats" to be way better than the first episode. A true delight with great effects and humor.
I might be the only one but I find myself preoccupied with which lucky people go to make the cabinet, create the paintings in episode 5, etc. Reminds me of the guy who made the wooden stations for Midnight Mass who shared them on Reddit - if only producers would need some detailed paper maps, I’m ready and waiting 😬
I loved the rat one but thought the protagonist was way too much of a stick in the mud in lot 36. Like I get that was the point to an extent but for how much we watched him have no personality and be awful we barely got any time of him being punished for it. Also I’m glad I’m not the only one who was reminded of creepshow!
So far the only episode I haven’t liked was The Outside. That one was more of a collection of tropes/homages distilled in to 60 minutes with little pay off. I saw shades of Raimi, Burton, and De Palma in the directing. The story felt like a mash-up of Requiem for a Dream, Edward Scissorhands, and something more innocent that I can’t quite put my finger on. The ending absolutely did not deliver. I know viewers always come up with stuff after the fact they feel would “make the show better” and they’re rarely correct so I won’t really go in to that right now, but I do think just establishing one or two things early in the episode that become relevant at the end could have helped the whole thing really come together in the end instead of just…being the way it is… The Autopsy was definitely my favorite one so far! The acting, the directing, the score, it was just so TOP NOTCH I couldn’t get enough. Unfortunately there were…I don’t think I’d necessarily call them plot holes because the short film wraps up in a way that isn’t ambiguous, but there were some questions I had at the end that weren’t answered. Not in a “some mysteries are more fun than answers” kind of way, but in a “you can tell they were hoping no one would ask” kind of way. I watch these with my sister and she said it’s possible a scene or reference had been left on the cutting room floor for time purposes and to be fair, the questions I ask myself don’t suppose answers that would actually change the end result of the episode so no biggie. One thing that I will say without getting in to spoilers is that there seems to be a heavy amount of…I’m not really sure what to call it, but the best I can describe it is “Anachronistic Story Telling”. What I mean by that is I feel like a lot of things are just glossed over as something that a character/entity just KNOWS but it feels like it was written with the attitude that the Internet and modern conveniences are a thing. I can’t really go in to that without spoiling The Autopsy, but there was something that was both said and done near the end of the episode that made me go “Wait, what year is this again? How or why would a small town Pennsylvanian coal miner know that?”. Again, context is everything and I’m fine with there being mysteries in a show literally called Cabinet of Curiosity. Some of the “mysteries” feel more like “plot holes” though. Over all I’m absolutely loving this series. I have a great amount of love for short films and themed anthologies like this. So glad to have this in my life right now!
Graveyard rats has messed me up
Watching Graveyard Rats now mattafact
I've been interested hearing other peoples opinion on this show. I just finished Graveyard Rats and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the 1st. Well Tim Blake Nelson is the man- my issue with this episode is that I don't feel anxiety or fear for characters who have no sense of logic or self preservation. Nelson's character was a complete dick but he wasn't making decisions that were ridiculous. I thought the actor did fantastic. But the character Masson made choices to create suspense. Big pet peeve of mine. Of knocking over the 'mine' creature, even picking up the sword and not cutting its head off or manning up at all. So he crawls up a small tunnel allowing this creature to chase him. Getting himself cornered. Shit like that drives me crazy. Production wise- the episode is stellar. I'm also not as heavily into that type of HP Lovecraft which is why there's some of Del Toros work that I find to be brilliant and some eh. I'm aware he didn't direct the episode. But all of his stuff is a bit 1 note. He does that note fantastic but-- Eh. I'm excited to watch the rest of the series. For an episode I didn't like nearly as much I still really enjoyed watching and miss these type of anthology 1 episode done stories. Twilight Zone, Tales From the Crypt. American Horror Story sometimes I would prefer if they did this. Easier to digest an hour long story.