Lot 36
The Cabinet of Curiosities begins with an old man shuffling across his living room and dumping another TV dinner in his bin, which is stacked full of them. This butcher ends up having a heart attack though, leaving behind all his belongings… to an abandoned lot. Lot 36 to be precise.
This lot is up for auction by a man named Eddie. It sells for 400 dollars to our protagonist, Nick, who owes a lot of money to a man named Tommy.
Just before Nick takes the keys, he’s shown a video of the Lot owner, who’s seen entering every day and dropping something inside. He hops in and hops out in the exact same ritualistic manner. He’s been doing it for decades – but what could be inside? It’s certainly ominous.
Suddenly, he feels a presence behind him and turns to see a man with a shaved head and tattoos reading “The Order” in large letters. The man starts to speak in a thick accent, saying that Nick is not welcome here because he is an immigrant.
Nick is packing up his truck when a mysterious man shows up and smacks him with a hammer. The man goes on to destroy the glass on Nick’s truck, demanding $12,000 by the following day. If Nick can’t deliver, he’ll be in big trouble. ..
The candelabra is nothing special, but the circular pentagram table is definitely something special. It turns out this is a Séance table, and with very old books in the drawer, the old lady, Agatha, decides to ring her associate Roland. She tells him to come quickly – and he certainly does.
Nick looks at the table and the books, noting that it is actually four sets of four. While 3 would bag him 10,000 at auction, with all four sets it would be worth over 300,000. It’s a massive amount of money, and not only would allow Nick to repay his debts, he’d also have a good chunk of change too.
Nick and Roland head to the Lot, where they point out that these books are rare and together, work to invoke the spirit of a demon into a vessel. Roland actually knew the Lot owner, and admits that the guy fought for Hitler in World War II. Apparently he embraced evil on an unimaginable scale, destroying his own family and lusting for more power. He also invoked that aforementioned spirit from before, using his own sister as the vessel.
Roland and Nick uncover a hidden passage. It smells rancid, and Roland pleads with Nick to stay quiet and not touch or say anything, pointing out that if anything not from the natural world is found on the other side, he’s not to make eye contact or speak with it under any circumstances. It’ll sense the darkness in him and will be greedy for it.
Roland and Nick find the fourth volume of the Lot, but Nick steps right across a pentagram on the floor and awakens a demon, which happens to be inside the carved out face of those remains. It’s Dottie, the sister of the Lot owner. ..
This strange creature chasing Nick all the way to the front door after gobbling up Roland is a Spanish woman. She locked Nick inside as punishment for treating her poorly. What comes around, goes around; Nick’s bad attitude and rudeness has come back to bite him. As he tries to run away, this creature eventually gets him.
Del Toro’s narration at the beginning of this horror story is a nice way to ease into proceedings. He provides a great introduction to the story, with some great visuals and a mystery at the heart of it.
The episode begins with the main character, named John, being sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He’s released after serving time and is determined to make things right. He meets a woman named Karma who tells him that he’s been treated unfairly and that he should have been given a harsher sentence. John decides to take action and starts to treat others the way he wants to be treated himself. This leads him back into prison, this time for a crime he didn’t commit, but this time with a much harsher sentence. He’s determined to make things right and meet Karma again in order to get her forgiveness.
The show doesn’t come right out and say it, but it’s clear from the cleverly woven dialogue that the main character is a war vet who hates immigrants solely because of his combat experience. This character is reminiscent of House of the Dragon, in that it trusts its audience to come up with their own theories about this mysterious individual. ..
Lot 36 is a well-done horror movie that sets the tone for what’s to come. It’s not jump scares or gore, but it is atmospheric and suspenseful. ..
