The strongest anthology series use their hosts as legitimate personalities who thrive upon the unpredictable, limitless nature of fiction, which is the perfect distillation of Guillermo del Toro. This isn’t just a narrator who spouts off voice over to open and close a spooky story. What’s important here is that these hosts aren’t just respected voices in their fields, but they’re storytellers at heart. In John Carpenter’s Body Bags (which was originally created as a TV series, not an anthology film), it’s John Carpenter himself who plays the Crypt Keeper-like Coroner character. Stine as a master of ceremonies who introduces his own fiction. There were even select episodes of Goosebumps that used R.L. The other major approach that can be taken with an anthology series’ host, which is the route that Cabinet of Curiosities takes with Guillermo del Toro, is that it’s an authority figure that the audience can trust. These unexpected stories don’t become the lynchpins of their respective series, but they are some of the most popular episodes. Nice Guy,” the pilot episode of Freddy’s Nightmares –an anthology series that uses slasher icon Freddy Krueger as its host–also becomes a look into an untold chapter in Freddy Krueger’s life. To go one step further with this idea, “No More Mr. “Lower Berth” works as well as it does because it arrives in season two, rather than during the show’s freshman year when the audience’s shorthand with the Crypt Keeper isn’t as pronounced. It’s a detail that’s completely unnecessary and “Lower Berth” succeeds without this final “twist,” but it’s probably the best thing about the episode since the audience has inherently developed a natural relationship with the series’ host. The Tales From the Crypt episode, “Lower Berth,” which centers on a family of sideshow carnival attractions, turns out to be an origin story for the Crypt Keeper. The hosts of these anthology series are typically disconnected from the stories in which they regale the audience with, but this isn’t always the case. It’s almost the reverse of the approach that’s taken with the Crypt Keeper where the absence of a personality turns this host into a mystery that the audience yearns to unravel. Creeped Out, a British horror anthology series that’s available on Netflix and designed to skew towards younger audiences, turns its masked host, “The Curious,” into an abnormal enigma. She’s no Crypt Keeper (but honestly, who among us is?), but there’s still such endless personality in this character that makes it so much easier to return to Perversions of Science even when an episode is a dud. However, the series still made its mark through its sexed-up and teched-out robotic host, Chrome. Tales From the Crypt’s short-lived science fiction-based spin-off, Perversions of Science, was not what most people would consider a success. The most popular example of this is Tales From the Crypt’s Crypt Keeper, who eventually transcends his source material and becomes a celebrity in his own right. To some, this device may seem silly or antiquated, but it’s a crucial and underestimated element for how an anthology series can succeed.Īnthology genre fare can explore such exaggerated material that a popular approach taken with a host figure is that it’s some macabre creation instead of a standard celebrity storyteller. Granted, every piece of television technically tells a story, but it’s anthology shows that have the rare tradition of engaging with the audience on a personal level as if they’re trading stories around a campfire, in a bar, or lost in a void.Īnthology series have never gone out of fashion and they’re having a particular Renaissance at the moment, but what’s so special about Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities – now streaming in full on Netflix – is that it revives the lost anthology series trope of a host who introduces, or bookends, each story. Man has been telling stories since its very existence and without storytellers, society would be left in arrested development. Stories can be found anywhere, but the process of being a storyteller is akin to being human. It’s easy to get lost in the stories, but the best anthology shows understand that the act of storytelling itself is just as important to the experience. When it comes to the versatile nature of anthology shows, one of the biggest selling points of the genre is that every episode tells a completely original story. Guillermo del Toro’s “Cabinet of Curiosities” brings back the underrated anthology series host trope that helps celebrate the nature of storytelling.
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