Category: Z-View

“Three Little Pirates” (1946) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Three Little Pirates (1946)

Director:  Edward Bernds

Screenplay: Clyde Bruckman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Christine McIntyre and Vernon Dent 

Tagline: The Stooges’ newest tickler.

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are sailors who washed ashore on Dead Man’s Island.  After Curly flirts with Rita (McIntyre), the island’s ruler’s fiancée, the boys are sentenced to death.  Lucky for Larry, Curly and Moe, Rita has a plan to help the boys escape by dressing them as travelers from a strange land.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The highlight of Three Little Pirates is Curly and Moe performing the “Maharaja” routine.  Sadly this is the last short that features Curly throughout the whole production.  He had suffered a serious of small strokes and his health was in decline.  Larry gets in on the laughs when Curly and Black Louie have a knife-throwing contest.

Three Little Pirates earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Three Pests in a Mess” (1945) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Three Pests in a Mess (1945)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay: Del Lord

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Christine McIntyre, Vernon Dent and ‘Snub’ Pollard

Tagline:  Three screwballs on the loose!

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are inventors who become enamoured with a gold digger who thinks the boys are loaded. When she finds out they’re not, she calls in her partners to rough up the boys.  While making their escape Curly accidently shoots a mannequin.  Thinking that Curly has killed a man, the boys put the “body” in a bag and take it to a cemetery to bury it.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Three Pests in a Mess is another Stooges classic.  Curly’s interactions with the gold digger and his shirt “preparedness” are priceless.  The cemetery scenes at night with Larry, Curly, Moe and the folks from the masquerade party (A devil, skeleton, and mad magician) are classic.  Curly shines when carrying the bag containing the mannequin and with each step he takes gets slapped in the head by the mannequin’s hand.  Three Pests in a Mess is another great example of how comedy and “horror” work so well together.

Three Pests in a Mess earns 5 of 5 stars.

Blonde Dynamite (1950) starring The Bowery Boys / Z-View

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Blonde Dynamite (1950)

Director:  William Beaudine

Screenplay:  Charles R. Marion

Stars:  Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Harry Lewis, Murray Alper, Bernard Gorcey, Jody Gilbert, William ‘Billy’ Benedict, John Harmon, Michael Ross and Karen Randle

Tagline:  THE ESCORT BUREAU’S GOOFIEST GIGOLOS! They’re professional Romeos…to a gang of glamorous gun-girls!

The Plot…

When Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Satch (Hall) are unable to get jobs as male escorts, Slip decides to open his own escort service.  Slip convinces Louie (Bernard Gorcey) to take a long vacation.  As soon as Louie is gone, Slip turns the sweet shop into a male escort service using himself, Satch and the rest of the gang as escorts.

Gangsters have a plan to rob the bank next to the sweet shop.  They’ll go in at night since they’ve got the combination to the safe.  The mobsters use some of the women they work with to hire the boys as escorts so they can break through the sweet shop wall into the bank.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The Bowery Boys as male escorts has a lot of potential for laughs.  I wish the movie was as good as the premise.

Blonde Dynamite earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Alligator” (1980) starring Robert Forster / Z-View

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Alligator (1980)

Director:  Lewis Teague

Screenplay:  John Sayles from a story by John Sayles, Frank Ray Perilli

Stars: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger, Sydney Lassick, Jack Carter, Henry Silva, Buckley Norris and Sue Lyon 

Tagline:  It lives 50 feet beneath the city. It’s 36 feet long. It weighs 2,000 pounds…And it’s about to break out!

The Plot…

An alligator that was flushed into the Chicago sewers twelve years ago begins feeding on discarded animal remains used in experiments.  This causes the gator to grow to a gigantic size with an insatiable appetite.  When body parts of missing city workers show up, police officer David Madison (Forster) and a rookie cop are sent into the sewer to investigate.

They discover the alligator, or perhaps it’s better to say the alligator discovers them.  Madison barely escapes but his partner isn’t as lucky.  Madison reports that there’s a giant alligator living in the sewers system, but no one believes him until the gator comes to the surface… and it’s hungry!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Alligator is a better movie than you might think a low-budget Jaws knockoff would be. That’s  thanks to the folks involved.  Lewis Teague (Death Race 2000; Cujo) knows how to get the most bang for the buck directing low budget horror.  John (The Howling; Piranha; Lone Star) Sayles provides a story with more depth than expected from a giant alligator movie.  Robert Forster is joined by Michael (Godfather II) Gazzo, Sydney (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) Lassick and Henry (Sharky’s Machine) Silva.  Dean Jagger and Sue Lyons also appear in what would be their last film roles.

There are two cool Easter Eggs in Alligator: 1) The first sewer worker to go missing is named Edward Norton which is a tip of the hat to The Honeymooners.  2) There’s graffiti on a sewer wall near the end of the movie that says, “Harry Lime Lives”.  This is a reference to Orson Welles character in The Third Man who escapes through a sewer.

Bryan (Breaking Bad) Cranston worked on the film as a production assistant for the Special Effects department and became friends with Robert Forster.

Alligator isn’t a great film, but it’s better than you might expect.

Alligator earns 3 of 5 stars.

“An Ache in Every Stake” (1941) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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An Ache in Every Stake (1941)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay:  Lloyd French

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Symona Boniface, Vernon Dent, Bess Flowers and Bud Jamison 

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are delivering ice using their horse drawn ice carriage.  Along the way, their escapades cause a business man to twice fall onto a birthday cake he is trying to bring home.  When a woman at the top of a very long/steep staircase calls for a block of ice, the boys are at a loss as how to get it up before it melts.

After several false, but funny starts, they get the ice up to the house.  Their antics disrupt the woman’s caterers so much that they quit.  No worries.  Larry, Curly and Moe offer to cook and serve the birthday meal… which is for, you guessed it, the man who was trying to get birthday cakes home.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

An Ache in Every Stake is another favorite Three Stooges short.  If the long staircase looks like the same one Laurel and Hardy tried to get a piano up, it’s not!  Yeah, I was sure it was too.

An Ache in Every Stake earns 5 of 5 stars.

“The Parallax View” (1974) starring Warren Beatty / Z-View

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The Parallax View (1974)

Director:  Alan J. Pakula

Screenplay:  David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr. based on The Parallax View by Loren Singer

Stars: Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels, Hume Cronyn, Chuck Waters, Earl Hindman, Bill McKinney, Jim Davis, Ted Gehring, Doria Cook-Nelson and Kenneth Mars 

Tagline:  Assassination. Try to see it from their point of view.

The Plot…

Joe Frady (Beatty) is a newspaper man covering presidential candidate Charles Carroll’s press conference. Frady’s girlfriend, television reporter Lee Carter (Prentiss) is also covering the event when a gunman shoots and kills Carroll.  An investigation determines that the gunman acted alone.

Three years later, Joe’s ex-girlfriend, Lee, shows up terrified.  Six witnesses to the Carroll assassination have died under mysterious circumstances. Lee believes that she will be next.  Joe tries to calm her and says that she’s over-reacting.  Yes, the witnesses died and some were in unusual circumstances, but all could be explained.  When Lee turns up dead of an overdose, Joe decides to do an investigation of his own.  Soon enough (and after some attempts on his life), Joe discovers an organization named the Parallax Corporation that he believes recruits assassins.  Joe decides to infiltrate the company and bring them down.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The Parallax View is definitely a product of its time.  Director Pakula lets scenes play out.  I enjoyed the long, shots and pace, which may be too slow for many of today’s audience members.  Pakula is joined by a cast of powerhouse actors: Beatty, Prentis, Daniels, Cronyn and McKinney.

I would have liked The Parallax View better if I cared more about Joe Frady.  When his ex-girlfriend comes to him scared out of her mind and convinced she is the next target of professional assassins, Joe displays little sympathy.  Then she turns up dead and Joe’s biggest concern is to take up her story.

Joe’s plan to infiltrate a corporation of professional assassins is pretty weak.  The fact that they’ve successfully completed hits on Presidential candidates and those who know too much doesn’t factor into Joe’s thinking.  I had problems with Joe’s actions when he discovers a bomb is on his flight.  Joe also under-reacts when the “corporation” discovers he’s been lying to them.  There are other things I could nit pick, but the truth of the matter is that the direction by Alan J. Pakula is entertaining enough that I went with the flow,

The Parallax View earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Count Yorga, Vampire” (1970) / Z-View

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Count Yorga, Vampire aka The Loves Of Count Iorga, Vampire (1970)

Director:  Bob Kelljan

Screenplay:  Bob Kelljan

Stars:  Robert Quarry, Roger Perry, Michael Murphy and Judy Lang

Tagline:  Because of Certain Shock Scenes We Suggest You Don’t Come Alone!

The Plot…

Donna’s mother recently died.  She invites her boyfriend, Michael (Thompson), and close friends Paul (Murphy), Ericka (Lang) and Jim (Perry) to a séance performed by Count Yorga.  After the séance Donna says that Yorga and her mother dated shortly before she died.  The next day Erica shows up with what appears to be bite marks on her neck that she can’t explain.  She has little energy and has lost a large amount of blood.  As Paul, Michael and Jim follow the clues, evidence points to Count Yorga being a modern day vampire!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Count Yorga is a low-budget release from American International originally conceived as a soft-core porn film.  Producers wanted Robert Quarry as the vampire.  Quarry said, he’d star, but only if they dropped the porn aspect.  The producers agreed.  Still, as you can tell from the poster, producers emphasized the sexual aspect and made sure there were scenes of women bathing, in nightgowns, etc.

Count Yorga is definitely a low-budget movie of the late 60s/early 70s.  With that said, it was also much better than I anticipated.

Count Yorga, Vampire aka The Loves Of Count Iorga, Vampire earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Return to Glennascaul” aka “Orson Welles’ Ghost Story” (1951) / Z-View

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Return to Glennascaul aka Orson Welles’ Ghost Story (1951)

Director:  Hilton Edwards

Screenplay:  Hilton Edwards

Stars:  Orson Welles and Michael Laurence 

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Orson Welles is driving late one night on a nearly deserted road.  He spots a stranded motorist beside a car and asks the man if he could use a ride.  The man accepts and they drive off.  To pass the time, the man begins to tell Welles of an incident where, at the very same spot the man picked up two women who were stranded…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Welles actually made Return to Glennascaul while he was on a break from filming Othello.  When Welles picks up the stranded motorist, he asks him what’s wrong with his car.  The man replies, “Trouble with the distributor.”  Welles replies that he’s had problems with his distributor as well.  Welles is of course referring to the producers of Othello which is a cute inside joke.

Return to Glennascaul is a short ghost story that is enhanced by having Orson Welles as the “star” narrator.

Return to Glennascaul aka Orson Welles’ Ghost Story earns 3 of 5 stars.

“El Vampiro Negro” (1953) / Z-View

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El Vampiro Negro (1953)

Director:  Román Viñoly Barreto

Screenplay:  Alberto Etchebehere, Román Viñoly Barreto based on the screenplay M by Fritz Lang & Thea von Harbou

Stars:  Olga Zubarry, Roberto Escalada and Nathán Pinzón.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

A serial killer that the press labeled El Vampiro Negro (The Black Vampire) continues his killing spree of little girls.  Late one evening Amalia (Zubarry), a singer in a less than reputable nightclub, accidentally spies the killer dumping a child’s body in a sewer drain.  Amalia is frightened and afraid to go to the police.  When detectives ask questions of the nightclub’s employees, Amalia lies and says she didn’t see anything.

El Vampiro Negro continues to murder little girls. When police find their bodies, there is no evidence left behind. The killer is both smart and lucky.  As a patron of the nightclub where Amalia sings, the killer comes into contact with Amalia’s young daughter.  She will be his next victim…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

El Vampiro Negro is a re-tooling of Fritz Lang’s M.  Although the title might make you think El Vampiro Negro is a silly horror film, it is far from being silly.  I’m surprised that El Vampiro Negro isn’t better known since it is well written and beautifully directed.  The black and white cinematography by Aníbal González Paz is mesmerizing.  The camera loves Olga Zubarry and she’s excellent in her role.  Peter Lore became an international star after his performance as the killer in M.  Unfortunately Nathán Pinzón didn’t receive the fame, but his performance is just as powerful.

El Vampiro Negro earns 5 of 5 stars.

Termites of 1938 (1938) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Termites of 1938 (1938)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay:  Elwood Ullman, Al Giebler

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Bess Flowers, Symona Boniface, Carlton Griffin and Bud Jamison.

Tagline:  They’ve Got the Bug-House Blues!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Mrs. Muriel Van Twitchell (Flowers) wants to attend a high class dinner party that a friend is throwing to honor a guest from England.  The problem is that her husband is going hunting.  She decides to call an escort service so she won’t have to attend alone.  A mistake causes her to phone ACME Exterminators (run by Larry, Curly and Moe) instead of ACME Escorts.  She tells them the time to show up and the affair is formal.

The boys show up dressed in their best and ready to kill pests.  The butler announces dinner is served and Moe tells Larry and Curly, they “always feed ya at these high class joints”.  The boys eat like they think rich folks do, and when Lord Wafflebottom follows their lead, everyone at the party does the same bizarre things.  After dinner, the boys provide musical entertainment and then get down to looking for pests to exterminate.

Moe gets the funniest scene that involves a hanging blanket, a broom, a high class lady and her butler.

Termites of 1938 earns 5 of 5 stars.

Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) / Z-View

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Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007)

Director:  Kent Jones

Screenplay: Kent Jones

Stars: Martin Scorsese (narrator), Orson Welles, Val E. Lewton, Roger Corman, Jacques Tourneur, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Robert Wise.

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Val Lewton began his career as a writer of pulp fiction.  He had two published novels before he took a job at MGM.  There Lewton wrote promotional copy and film novelizations.  Lewton later became publicist and assistant to David Selznick.  Under Selznick, Lewton worked as a story editor and uncredited writer on Gone with the Wind.

In 1942, Val Lewton left MGM to become head of the horror division at RKO studios. He was given carte blanche if he followed three rules: 1) Each film had to be made for $150,000 or less.  2) Each film had to run 75 minutes or less.  3) Lewton’s supervisors at RKO would provide the film titles.  Surprisingly, given these parameters, Lewton made a name for himself by taking control of all other aspects of the films he produced.

Lewton’s first RKO film, Cat People became RKO’s biggest hit of the year.  Lewton developed a friendship with it’s director,  Jacques Tourneur.  They reteamed on two other films (I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man).  Lewton gave Robert Wise (The Curse of the Cat People) and Mark Robson (The Seventh Victim) their first opportunities to direct.  Boris Karloff also appeared in three of Lewton’s films (Isle of the Dead; The body Snatcher and Bedlam). Karloff credited Lewton for helping rejuvenate his career.  Val Lewton always wrote the final draft of the films he produced, but seldom took a writing credit.  In the two cases where he did accept a credit, Lewton used the  pseudonym Carlos Keith (which he also used for some novels).

Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows focuses on Lewton’s career at RKO and the (mostly horror) films he produced there.  The films were:  Cat People (1942); I Walked with a Zombie (1943); The Leopard Man (1943); The Seventh Victim (1943); The Ghost Ship (1943); The Curse of the Cat People (1944); Mademoiselle Fifi (1944); Youth Runs Wild (1944); The Body Snatcher (1945); Isle of the Dead (1945) and Bedlam (1946).

Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Hold That Line” (1952) starring The Bowery Boys / Z-View

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Hold That Line (1952)

Director:  William Beaudine

Screenplay:  Tim Ryan, Charles R. Marion, Bert Lawrence (additional dialogue)

Stars:  Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, John Bromfield, Veda Ann Borg, Taylor Holmes, Bernard Gorcey, Gil Stratton, David Gorcey, Benny Bartlett, Pierre Watkin, Robert Nichols and Paul Bryar.

Tagline:  They’ve Gone COLLEGE CRAZY! It’s their dizziest laff hit!

The Plot…

Hold That Line starts off as a take on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.  Two college alumni are discussing Ivy College.  One believes that anyone can succeed in college if given the chance.  The gentlemen make a bet and the Bowery Boys are chosen to test the theory.

What’s interesting about Hold the Line is that partway through the film, the “Pygmalion” aspect takes a backseat to football rivalry.  State always beats Ivy in the football championship.  While in chemistry class, Sach (Hall) invents a concoction that gives him super strength.  Sach becomes the star of the football team and big man on campus.  On the day of the championship game against State, gangsters kidnap Sach in order to win bets.  Will Sach get away from the gangsters?  If he doesn’t can Slip (Gorcey) and the gang pull off an upset?  And what about the original “Pygmalion” bet?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Hold the Line is a fun outing.  If you think it’s odd to see 35 year old Slip and 32 year old Satch as college freshmen, just wait until 64 year old Louie (Bernard Gorcey) joins them.

Angels in Disguise earns 3 of 5 stars.

HELL OF A MESS by Nick Kolakowski / Z-View

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Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski

Trade Paperback: ‎ 234 pages
Publisher: ‎ Shotgun Honey Books (August 25, 2022)

First sentence…

It was the worst possible timing – or maybe the best.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Fiona and Bill are back.

As a major hurricane bears down on New York, Fiona is on a mission to pull off a heist from a bad guy’s luxury penthouse.  She has a plan to get past the security team, grab the item and be gone before they know it’s missing.  What Fiona didn’t count on was what she found in the master bedroom.  Now she’s on the run with redacted due to spoiler.

Bill is riding out the storm in a “borrowed” penthouse.  The place is well-stocked and the owner left for safer regions well before the hurricane was scheduled to hit.  Bill plans to eat and drink, as he waits for Fiona to return.  Suddenly a group of dirty cops bust into the penthouse. They’re looking for redacted due to spoiler  but find Bill instead!  The cops are desperate.  Bill realizes they’ll kill him unless he can convince them he knows of money ripe for the taking.  Bill’s a good con man, but how long can he con these hardcore cops?

Fiona is on the run, slowed down by redacted due to spoiler.  Bill’s a prisoner of rouge cops driving to the promised “treasure”.  The weather’s getting worse.  What else could go wrong?  How about a hitman that Bill and Fiona had left for dead, ain’t.  And he’s back.  Yeah, it’s a hell of a mess and things are about to get worse.

Hell of a Mess rates 4 of 5 stars.  It’s a rollercoaster ride from start to finish.  I hope we’ll see a Love & Bullets Hookup Book 5.

Hell of a Mess Trade Paperback
Hell of a Mess Kindle

Rating:

Gents Without Cents (1944) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Gents Without Cents (1944)

Director:  Jules White

Screenplay:  Felix Adler

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Lindsay Bourquin, Laverne Thompson and Betty Phares.

Tagline:  Step by step, inch by inch and wow, what comedy follows!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larry, Curly and Moe are out of work vaudeville performers working on their act.  After several interruptions due to banging on the floor upstairs, they decide to give the noise-makers the what for.  The boys are surprised to find three young women dancers who are practicing their routine.  Surprisingly the Stooges and the ladies hit it off.  The next day they all go to a job interview and get hired!  The girls will dance and the Stooges will do comedy.  When the main act (Caster & Earl – caster oil) don’t show up, the Stooges get raised into the main act.  This could be their big break…

Gents Without Cents is one of my favorite Stooges shorts.  It breaks the tradition of them not getting the girls.  There is less of them beating each other up and more working together despite being on the wrong end of the smarts spectrum.  Plus we get to see them perform, not only the famous Vaudeville act, “Niagara Falls” but also “Rat-tat-toodle-oodle-day-ay”.  The women’s performances are fun as well.

The kicker is the final scene… as the Stooges head to their honeymoon at, you guessed it, Niagara Falls!

Gents Without Cents earns 5 of 5 stars.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Season 1 / Z-View

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Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)

Episode 1: “Lot 36”
Director:  Guillermo Navarr
Teleplay:  Regina Corrado and Guillermo del Toro based on the short story by  Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Tim Blake Nelson, Sebastian Roché, Elpidia Carrillo and Lize Johnston

Episode 2: “Graveyard Rats”
Director:  Vincenzo Natali
Teleplay:  Vincenzo Natali based on the short story by  Henry Kuttner
Stars: David Hewlett and Nabeel El Khafif

Episode 3: “The Autopsy”
Director:  David Prior
Teleplay: David S. Goyer based on the short story by  Michael Shea
Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Glynn Turman and Luke Roberts

Episode 4: “The Outside”
Director:  Ana Lily Amirpour
Teleplay:  Haley Z. Boston based on a webcomic by Emily Carroll
Stars: Kate Micucci and Martin Starr

Episode 5: “Pickman’s Model”
Director:  Keith Thomas
Teleplay: Lee Patterson based on the short story by  H. P. Lovecraft
Stars: Ben Barnes and Crispin Glover 

Episode 6: “Dreams in the Witch House”
Director:  Catherine Hardwick
Teleplay:  Mika Watkins based on the short story by H. P. Lovecraft
Stars: Rupert Grint 

Episode 7: “The Vewing”
Director:  Panos Cosmatos
Teleplay: Panos Cosmatos & Aaron Stewart-Ahn
Stars: Peter Weller, Steve Agee, Eric André and Sofia Boutella  

Episode 8: “The Murmuring”
Director:  Jennifer Kent
Teleplay:  Jennifer Ken based on the short story by Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Essie Davis and Andrew Lincoln 

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is a horror anthology series.  Each episode is a self-contained story introduced by Guillermo del Toro.  I enjoyed all the episodes and each earned 4 of 5 stars.

My favorites were:

1. “The Autopsy”

4 “Lot 36”

5 “The Vewing”

I hope we get a season 2.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Season 1 earns 4 of 5 stars.