Cabinet of Curiosities Features a New Christmas Party Nightmare
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is a series that has given us eight chilling stories by eight brilliant voices. Hosted by the titular acclaimed director, this is yet another solid effort by Netflix to revitalize the anthology genre, in the vein of Black Mirror and Love, Death and Robots. We’re given new adaptations of HP Lovecraft’s work, chilling gothic horrors, and, right in the midpoint of the series, a stealthy, yet still spine-tingling, Christmas special.
Season one, episode four: “The Outside.” Loosely based on the webcomic Some Other Animal’s Meat by Emily Carroll and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour of A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, the story follows Kate Micucci as Stacey, an awkward banker and amateur taxidermist who struggles to fit in with her attractive, self-obsessed co-workers and becomes increasingly insecure of her appearance. Entranced by intoxicating commercials on the television, and with nothing but a frequently absent husband (Martin Starr), the town sheriff, for company, she becomes addicted to Alo-Glo, a new lotion that promises to totally reinvent her into something better. The only problem is, she seems to be incredibly allergic.
At its very core, this story is an uncomfortable body horror. While not at Cronenberg levels, it makes your skin itch as you watch Stacey’s body break out into worsening rashes in a way that feels real before it tailspins into the surreal. There are certainly a lot of layers to this story, and while there have been discussions about its themes of body image and the beauty industry, there is much that can still be said about “The Outside” as a new holiday horror story.
The Untapped Potential of Yuletide Horror
Being set shortly before Christmas, the mise-en-scene of this episode is decorated with tinsel and caroling, with the inciting incident being set during a workplace secret Santa exchange. This is nothing new of course, Christmas has been a setting for horror films and TV episodes for decades now, with notable entries such as Black Christmas, Krampus, and Silent Night, Deadly Night. These films usually strive to take the comforting aesthetic and iconically joyous symbols of Christmas and twist it into something that terrifies and disturbs: killer Santa Clauses and gingerbread men and murderers at Christmas parties, subversion is key here. Simple, yet effective: what if this traditionally happy and child-friendly holiday was full of blood, guts, and profanity?
While these films are effective at the best of times, which admittedly can be few and far between, there is a lot of potential for Yuletide terror that seems to be missed. Because as much as the holidays celebrate the best of humanity, charity, love, good will to all, that’s not always the case in reality. For many out there, Christmas can be the loneliest, most stressful time of the year. For the people dreading seeing their families back home for reasons personal and political; the poor retail workers getting trampled in last-minute present rushes; for…
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