Lot 36 (2022)

A grimy and enticing entryway to this series, Lot 36 takes us into the cabinet, which turns out to be a networked set of storage rentals in this first drawer. Later we’ll enter tunneling crypts, mineshaft morgues, metacommercial realities, semi-lucid dreamscapes, memoryholes, lifesize superhifi stereosystems you can climb right into, and world warping paintings. As in the 2022 version of Hellraiser, where the lament configuration puzzle box becomes a semi-inhabitable architecture, the conceit of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is literalized in its sets. Taken as a whole, these segments are unified in visual tone (thanks to some shared production personnel) even as they span time periods and present rich variation in subject matter. And though they vary in quality, they do add up to a pleasingly complex mechanism that invites us to think of these storyworlds together in the conceit of the series title. We also get to see right away in this first episode that series creators care about the effects of each decision they make in casting their tales. There are some pretty people on set, but there are also gloriously odd or unconventional folks of different ages. Like, you know, good actors look lots of different ways, and it’s not just a matter of training ourselves to find different people attractive (even if Harry Dean Stanton’s whole career was a rebuttal of conventional attractiveness). Tim Blake Nelson as Nick Appleton is a cranky bastard who looks the part, but as much as we might shake our heads at his little outbursts and petty bigotry, we don’t totally hate tagging along to watch the way he moves through the underworld he takes with him wherever he goes. He’s a real person, and he’s also kind of a monster—a trollish guide who’s only reliable because he sort of knows the facility, or at least notices when he realizes he doesn’t know it as well as he thinks he does. If you want to tour a hell dimension, follow someone who lives in hell. O cowardly monster! Lead the way. 4 out of 5 sacs of blood.

—J  †Johnson

JJ’s review of this made me appreciate this first installment of the show so much more. Watching the first two episodes back to back I noticed a lot of thematic and tonal threads but it was interesting to think of this particular entry and the way it sets the tone for the entire series. 

While it seems this takes place in the ’90s (with visual cues of George Bush Sr. making speeches in the opening scene) there are aspects of it that feel like they take place today. Tim Blake Nelson plays the  kind of bigot that people might think only exists in a post-Trump United States, but it is a reminder that this kind of racism has been a part of American society for some time. He is so unbearable to spend time with that we are lucky to see characters like Eddie (Demetrius Grosse) a black man who is too nice to Nick, Emilia (Elpidia Carrillo) the sweet Hispanic woman unfortunate enough to cross paths with Nick, and Agatha (Martha Burns) the witchy antiquities seller. Nick is a reminder of those who blame their misfortunes on those even less fortunate instead of seeing the systematic root causes of his pain. These people who refuse to be kind because they believe their pain is unprecedented, while never reflecting on their own privilege. He, and those like him, are the true horrors in these stories. While the story takes a while to get to its occult elements, the eventual creature effects, and a savory dose of revenge make this a fun watch. As it is based on a Guillermo del Toro original story, you can see his love of cosmic horror shining through in this first episode. Also who doesn’t like to make fun of storage auction parasites making money on the death and misfortunes of others? 3 out of 5 sacs of blood.

—Tori Potenza