So I haven't done this in a long time, but I binged Cabinet of Curiosities so time to rank 'em...start with my favorite and work my way down to bad.
Overall thoughts first, I really enjoyed the series. I don't think it was ever particularly scary, but the creature designs and Hitchcock-inspired introduction are worth admission alone. It's got some Tales from the Crypt to it, combining fun with monsters. The stories are pretty varied, but they cover some familiar tropes. That's not a bad thing though, this gave me some nostalgia but still felt fresh.
Top Tier ones, highly recommended:
1. The Autopsy: This episode had such a generic premise that I started off half-checked out. But it pulled me in pretty quickly thanks to interesting dialogue and then it turned out to be nothing like what I expected. It wound up being completely different from what I expected. It's dialogue-heavy, so it might not be for everyone. But I really enjoyed it. The Empty Man's director made this one...dude's got skills.
2. The Murmuring: The director of and the lead actress got back together and made another gem imo. The murmuring feels like a good old-fashioned ghost story. I felt it had the best scares of the season too. The entire series does a good job of making likable characters and this couple was particularly easy to feel for. That makes their journey pretty easy to get caught up in.
Stood out to me for one reason or another and were memorable:
3. Dreams in a Witch House: My least favorite episode of Masters of Horror took inspiration from the same Lovecraft story. This one wound up being a pleasant surprise, though it felt more fantasy than horror. Ron Weasley did a really great job as a brother who's trying to bring his dead sister back from another realm. It's all whimsy and kinda corny, but I was a Potter dork growing up so this shyt hit my feels....nice ending too.
4. Outside: This one is horror-comedy. It's got the weakest creature design of the bunch, but a really fun combination of dialogue and camera work that lends to itself to the humor. It's weird to enjoy a horror for quirkiness but this joint managed that. I do recommend the director's film "a girl walks home at night" over this though.
5. Lot 36: This is a slow build but the creature design is worth the watch. I'm not sure how I feel about it leading off the series though, because it felt particularly iterative. But I guess that did set the nostalgia tone.
These are still not bad, but they had certain flaws that stood out to me:
6. Graveyard Rats: I bet that this one will get more love than I've given and the Dreams of a Witch House will get less. Graveyard Rats is all about escalation and creature(s) in this case are pretty clear from jump. I think it's a lot of fun, but had one of the more generic creature designs and fairly generic plot.
7. Pickman's Models: I debated placing this higher because some of the reality-warping scenes are among the best bits of pure horror this series has to offer. But it's the only story that felt rushed of the batch. Like certain points felt a bit disjointed or important developments were skipped and just mentioned in passing dialogue. But it's got cool creature designs and moments, plus one of the coldest conclusions of the series.
8. The Viewing: Now that I've listed them all out, I realize that every episode of this show is at least decent. The Viewing is weird, stylish, and humorous. I docked it points because the build-up was so wild that the payoff, which is chaotic fun, didn't quite live up to the hype. It's by the guy who made Mandy, and you'll definitely feel that vibe. But that may have made me set expectations too high.
I usually have a "you can skip this" tier....not for these 8 episodes. The quality directors and effects really paid off and made it so every episode is watchable and at least entertaining for one reason or another. My only major complaint is that it was missing a truly great episode IMO. The best ones were 8-8.5 range and the weaker ones were closer to 6 or 6.5. But that's pretty damned good for a new anthology series.
It's just missing it's Cigarette Burns that Masters of Horror had or the Evil Dead vs Bob Ross episode that Creepshow has. There's not that one "you've gotta see this" episode yet. But if the quality is this consistent, that episode will come with ensuing seasons. So I hope they renew it and keep going with this show.
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