• Director: Guillermo Navarro
• With: Tim Blake Nelson, Sebastian Roché, Elpidia Carrillo, Demetrius Grosse, Martha Burns, James Neely, Tony Munch, Lize Johnston, Bart Badzioch, Elise Bauman
• Music by: Tim Davies
• Duration: 46 min
• Rating: 7,5/10

Synopsis:

An army vet buys storage locker contents to pay off debts, but buys more than he bargained for when he purchases a lot owned by a strange old man.

Review:

For the first time ever I will review a tv-series episode per episode. This is because it’s an anthology series and each episode is a story in its own… the reviews will mostly be short and I will try to keep them as spoilerfree as possible!

Each episode of this anthology show is introduced by Del Toro himself, just like Hitchcock used to do for his shows and like Jordan Peele did for his reboot of The Twilight Zone. and Del Toro ends his introduction by naming the director of the episode while placing a statuette on a table of said director. (Apparently they were given their own statuette!)

The first episode in Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is called ‘Lot 36’!

When an old man dies he leaves a storage unit filled with all kinds of furniture and stuff. In true Storage Wars style, Nick Appleton bids for the unit and gets it. When he rummages through the stuff he finds some photos of nazis, a seance table, a gold candelabra and three mysterious occult books. Eddie, who owns the storage units gives him the address of someone who could pay big money for these. He also shows Nick a security video of the old man, who came daily to the unit. The man did some weird ritual before entering and after leaving the storage unit. Nick laughs it off and gets to the buyer.

The woman is very much interested and knows a man who might be even more interested in all the stuff, especially the books. Roland asks Nick if he’s seen a fourth book. But Nick didn’t so he invites the man to the unit to go look for it. There’s big money involved. But what both men eventually find will leave them stunned and very afraid!

It’s been a while since I’ve watched an anthology show like this one and I’m glad I started it. This first episode is a good start to the series and leaves me wanting more! It’s great to see Tim Blake Nelson as the antagonist, as the man who’s reached rock bottom and needs quick cash. That only makes him reckless!