Animation
Good Times
Netflix takes a classic sitcom, Good Times, and turns it into a vulgar, violent, sexually-charged TV-MA show.
For every object, there’s a story behind it.
Unfortunately, they’re not all happily ever afters. And those tragic tales are the ones that Guillermo del Toro wants to tell us all about.
He’s got a “cabinet of curiosities” in which he stores items that’ll segue viewers straight into these stories. A key marked with a “36.” A remote control. A tape recorder.
None of those items are particularly spooky. But rest assured, they belonged to those who did encounter the spooky, the supernatural, the Satanic.
For most of us, when things go “bump” in the night, they do little more than bump. For the unfortunate few, though—at least according to Netflix—those bumps just might become a bit more aggressive.
In Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, we’ll watch those latter cases as they go from strange to bad to deadly. And believe me, people die in this one. In fact, if no one is dead by the time you’re done watching an episode, it’s because you accidentally (or purposely) changed the channel.
The episodes are each directed by a different person, and you might recall the names of some of them by their works: Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), Vincenzo Natali (Cube) and…Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke? The actors within said episodes are likewise those who you’d probably recognize, including Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint, O Brother, Where Art Thou’s Tim Blake Nelson and The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln.
But a cast and crew filled with many recognizable names does not a Plugged In-approved show make. Episodes deal with the supernatural—specifically, the demonic. Monsters of varying Eldritch-esque qualities harass the protagonists of each episode. Full-on male nudity is present, and women are seen topless—and while we don’t see sex, we certainly hear it. The swearing is heavy and frequent.
And much of the horror comes from what we would call “body horror.” Rats flow from a man’s mouth. We watch a full autopsy take place. Many nude bodies are seen, and one has no head. A man plunges a scalpel into his ear and eye, and another man is stabbed in the forehead with a butterknife. One episode even ends with a child’s severed head found cooked in an oven.
We could go on for a few more paragraphs, but I think we’ve made our point: No item within Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is worth the watch.
Down on his luck and in serious debt, military veteran Nick buys a storage lot previously owned by an elderly man, hoping to score quick cash via the contents inside. But when the contents include occultic objects, he quickly gets more than he bargained for.
In the title sequence, we see various skeletal figures and a decaying hand.
Nick is filled with anger and hatred, and he takes it out in a couple racist encounters. We see photos of the Nazi regime and a reference to a man supplying weapons to them.
A man butchers the corpse of a skinned animal, and its head falls onto the floor. When he goes to pick it up, he has a heart attack, and the entrails of the animal fall on him as he dies. A man performs the sign of the cross in reference to the man, saying that he can rest in peace “up there, down there or wherever he may be.”
Nick mentions that he once bought a unit filled with “hair, urine, feces and toenails.” And in the lot he purchases in the episodes, he finds various strange or Satanic objects, such as a séance table with a pentagram on it, books meant to bind demons to earth and a wreath made from human hair. Nick also references the trauma and lasting damage he brought back with him from fighting in war. A man smashes in Eddie’s car window, and he hits Eddie on the forehead, causing him to bleed.
A man steals money. The episode has a jump scare of a rat. A room has crucifixes on its walls. A Satanist speaks ill of God while offering praises to Satan. The Satanist speaks of an entity possessing a woman.
[Spoiler Warning] We eventually discover said possessed woman—a decayed corpse lain in the middle of a pentagram. Its face is caved in, and we see demonic tentacles squirming within the hole. The demon tentacles burst from the woman’s body, and two people are eaten by the monster.
Someone says “Holy Mother of God.” The f-word is used nearly 30 times, including once preceded by “mother.” The s-word is used 11 times. “A–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “b–tard” and “h—” are also all used. God’s name is misused three times, including once in the form of “g-dd–n.” Jesus’ name is misused three times. Someone displays their middle finger.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Netflix takes a classic sitcom, Good Times, and turns it into a vulgar, violent, sexually-charged TV-MA show.
While its protagonist might live a nuanced life, The Sympathizer’s problematic content can’t be described the same way.
Say hola once again to the iconic explorer in this faithful reboot of the children’s series.
Based on a popular video game, Ark: The Animated Series features hungry dinosaurs, bloodthirsty people and plenty of problems.
