Summary
Gruesome and gleefully grisly, the second installment is an improvement on the first. “Graveyard Rats” benefits from some visually intriguing monsters, tense sequences, and dark comedy to create a fun little jaunt.
We recap the Netflix Horror anthological series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities season 1, episode 2, “Graveyard Rats,” which contains spoilers.
Musophobia is the scientific name for an irrational fear of rats and mice. Anyone with this or a slight aversion to the creatures may want to look away right now. The second installment of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, titled “Graveyard Rats,” is teeming with nightmarish rodents. The episode also features a fun performance from David Hewlett, who was the lead antagonist in season three of See and is another frequent collaborator of del Toro’s, working on The Shape of Water. This addition to the anthology series is directed by Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Westworld, and The Peripheral).
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities season 1, episode 2 recap
As always, Guillermo del Toro opens the show with his somber introduction. He talks of graveyards and burials, of secrets and treasures, hinting at the sights that are in store for us lucky viewers. Then we are hurled into an olden days Salem and meet two, chirpy grave robbers. They nab jewels, rings and gold, but are soon met by the cemetery’s caretaker Masson (David Hewlett), sporting some fabulous mutton chops facial hair. Pointing a gun at the robbers, he takes their spoils for his own and scares them off with a gunfire. But Masson is no hero, he jumps into the open grave to finish off the job. He pulls out the corpse’s golden tooth, where he is bit by a rat.
Rats are Masson’s mortal enemy, but he has more pressing matters for now. With a rather large gambling debt to his name, Masson owes some unsavory types a hell of a lot of money. Tonight’s grave robbery only covers what he owes for that month’s instalment minus the interest. He has a week to make the difference else he’ll find himself in a grave of his own.
Desperate, Masson meets with the undertaker Dooley and asks if there are any valuable corpses to peruse. Dooley is quite adamant that the latest batch of bodies are all of poor people only, but he pushes his way in anyway, offering Dooley what looks to be a vial of some kind, possibly containing blood. Masson inspects the corpses, but either finds no teeth, no head or wooden dentures instead. There is however a mystery curtain to one side, which hides a final corpse. Masson rushes over and finds the body of a wealthy shipping merchant behind it. This mouth is practically sparkling with gold teeth. Dooley states that he can’t have them just yet, the coroner will grow suspicious, and so Masson has to wait until after the funeral. The widow then arrives, asking for her husband to be buried with his medals and a saber gifted to him from King George – Masson can’t believe his luck.
After the funeral, Masson begins excavating the coffin and pulls back the lid. To his horror he finds that the coffin is completely empty. The rats have gnawed at the bottom of the coffin and removed the corpse. Masson flashes his torch into the hole, unveiling a deep warren below. Masson has a horrific vision of being buried alive by his foes and realizes that he must push on. He gets into the warren and shuffles after his prize. Comical, he keeps spying the feet of the corpse being dragged around the next corner. Masson continues his fruitless pursuit.
Next, Masson witnesses a stampede of rats heading towards him and flees in panic. He crawls at speed, escaping from his enemies, but he isn’t fast enough. The rats cover him and the caretaker wails in shock. In retaliation he shoots at the rats, but he doesn’t kill any of them, putting a hole in his own foot instead. The nearest rat smells blood and heads over, Masson blasts this rodent to death. The killing awakens a rat queen, a monstrous looking creature that fully explains the size of these warrens. The gigantic rat chases after him and Masson falls down a seemingly never-ending hole in his attempts to flee.
Masson wakes in a pit of skeleton bones, where he finds the lost treasures the rats stole from him over the previous months. Gleefully, he scoops up these spoils and pockets the riches for himself. There’s even the sword that King George gifted to the merchant. He then spies an alien-looking statue and a shimmering, golden necklace. The necklace is around a skeleton’s neck. Masson ignores all logic and unclasps the necklace, awakening the skeletal monster. This beast attacks Masson, screeching ‘mine’ over and over again in a haunting manner. Masson attempts to escape, climbing a claustrophobic hole, but finds himself surrounded.
The ending
With the rat queen to his left and the zombie skeleton crawling towards him on the right, Masson clutches his sword and prepares to do battle. The rat creature jumps at him first, knocking the saber from his grip. Masson yanks at the tree roots above him and the ceiling comes caving in, flattening the rat. With the skeleton closing in on him, Masson sees light twinkling above. He claws his way upwards, although the light is just his own torch’s reflection. Ironically, Masson is back to where he started, inside the merchant’s coffin. The rats attack for one last time and Masson screams as the darkness consumes him. The two robbers from the start open up the coffin to find Masson’s corpse petrified into a frozen position. The glistening necklace can be found around his neck and then numerous rats come wriggling out of his mouth.
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