Editor's note: The below article contains spoilers for Cabinet of Curiosities episode “Graveyard Rats.”
Funerary rites are one of the first signs of civilization, as respecting corpses proves we care more about the collective than personal gains. Not every creature feels the same, as dead bodies get chewed up by rats after they’ve been buried. And there’s also the matter of grave robbers profaning dead people’s final resting place in hopes of finding some jewelry to sell. Written and directed by Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice) and based on a short story by Henry Kuttner, “Graveyard Rats” follows one such grave robber as he digs in search of treasure and finds more than he hoped for. And by doing so, this episode of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities asks what is the actual pest, if rats or human greed.
“Graveyard Rats” takes us to Salem at the beginning of the 20th century. The town still remembers clearly the witch purge led by Minister Cotton Mather, which revealed an underground network of tunnels and Black Churches, where damned souls went to worship demons. While the satanic history of Salem is buried deep under the city, Masson (David Hewlett), a gravedigger, will soon discover its dark secrets. All thanks to an evil swarm of rats, a card game that went wrong, and the deadly greed that grows inside his heart.
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Masson vs. the Graveyard Rats
The episode begins with two grave robbers (Ish Morris and Alexander Eling) digging up a fresh body in search of buried treasure. They get caught red-handed by Masson, the gravekeeper, who greets the thieves with a gun in his hand. However, once the two criminals depart, we find out Masson is not so innocent himself. That’s because he retrieves the jewels the grave robbers took and then proceeds to extract the exposed dead body’s gold tooth. Masson loses the tooth when he gets bit by a rat, a subtle indication that the gravediggers have been fighting against the vermin for some time.
The following day, Masson takes the jewelry he recovered to a bouncer, Hans Overfist (Nabeel El Khafif). Unfortunately for Masson, the items he retrieved are insufficient to pay up a debt he acquired playing cards. Masson’s betting addiction leads him to owe money to some dangerous people, and as Hans tells him, he only has one more week before the debt can be paid with blood. Masson tries to explain that rats have been stealing dead bodies, which prevents him from finding as much treasure as he once used to. But Hans is tired of hearing excuses and underlines how Masson will become a corpse if he fails to pay his debt soon.
Masson is desperate to get money, so he goes to the morgue, where he’s received by the coroner's assistant, Dooley (Julian Richings). Dooley has an ongoing deal with Masson, tipping off the gravedigger about people getting buried with precious items. After gifting Dooley with a flask of a mysterious drug named The Devil’s Elixir, Masson is granted passage to inspect the corpses currently available. It seems like every body belongs to poor people, which might spell doom to Masson. However, when all hope seems lost, he finds a dead man whose mouth is filled with gold teeth.
Before Masson can play dentist with the cadaver, the coroner (Dean Buchanan) returns to the morgue with the deceased’s family for identification. Masson hides behind a shelf and listens as the family discusses funeral preparations. It’s then that Masson learns the family intends to bury the man with all his precious medals and a saber gifted to him by King George, a weapon that’s described as priceless. In other words, Masson finally has the opportunity to pay his debt and score some extra money. That evening, Masson asks god to guide him and delivers the opportunity to retrieve the saber in time. Masson’s prayers are followed by a disturbing vision of rats falling from the ceiling, a sign he chooses to ignore.
The day after, Masson pays his respects to the dead man during the funeral, plays his part as a gravedigger during the burrying, and rushes back to the cemetery as soon as the sun sets. Even so, Masson doesn’t have enough time to dig out the corpse. As soon as Masson opens the coffin, he sees rats pulling the cadaver through a massive hole in the ground, stealing Masson his prize. Deciding to get the precious saber back, Masson decides to crawl through the hole and pursues his rodent enemies, a rushed decision that takes him to a maze of dirt and rabid rats.
Buried Evil
Masson crawls through long tunnels while pursuing the rats, pressing against the walls to avoid falling through holes in the ground. There are roots everywhere, and when Masson tries to pull a piece of wood out of his way, the ceiling falls over him, closing the path back to safety. Masson gathers his strength and decides to fight however he can to get out of the dire situation alive. But it doesn't matter how much Masson prays, everything seems to keep getting worse because a swarm of rats attacks him. Masson uses his pistol to scare the creature away but shoots his own foot. When Masson finally hits one of the furry creatures, he draws the attention of the Queen Rat (Kurt Carley), a giant rodent with a bloated body filled with pustules.
Masson shoots the creature but gets his arm ripped open by the Queen Rat. So, he crawls as fast as possible to escape a bloody death. While crawling fast through the tunnels, Masson falls through a hole, landing on a pile of human bones. The room where Masson is standing is part of one of the legendary Black Churches, and he can see a disturbing statue of a demon filled with sharp fangs and tentacles. It seems like the rats are nesting in the church, as the bones belong to all the corpses they’ve been stealing.
To Masson’s surprise, all the precious items the corpses had when buried can be found among the bones, including the rich man’s saber. Masson fills his pockets with the treasure while also grabbing the saber. He then turns his gaze to a golden necklace that’s hanging around a mummy-like corpse, sitting as if it was worshiping the demon’s statue. The sight should put away any cautious man, but Masson is just too greedy. To his surprise, though, as soon as he removes the necklace from the body, the devil worshiper comes to life to get the jewelry back. When it becomes clear he cannot fight the undead monster, Masson enters another tunnel, slowly climbing upwards while the zombie pursues him.
Masson arrives in a small cave with loose rocks in the ceiling. He tries to force the rocks to fall, blocking the zombie’s path. Masson is definitely not a lucky man, though, as the Queen Rat decides to join the party from a different tunnel. Masson makes his last stand in the small room, and against all odds, he manages to drop the biggest boulder on the ceiling over the Queen Rat, killing the creature and trapping the zombie at the same time. He lost the saber in the process, but there’s still enough treasure in his pockets to pay his debt. And when Masson sees a light shining at the end of a tunnel that just got opened due to the cave-in, the gravedigger thinks he’s saved.
Masson thanks God for the protection and promises to become a pious man after he escapes the tunnels. But, the graveyard rats are not done with Masson yet, especially after he killed their queen. Masson uses all his strength to climb through the dirt tunnel, searching for the sun while lighting the path with his flashlight. It’s not the day that waits for Masson at the end of the tunnel, however, as he ends up inside a coffin. The light he saw earlier was just the reflection of his flashlight on an epitaph metal plaque put inside the coffin. With nowhere to run, Masson gets by the swarm of graveyard rats.
The episode closes just as it started, with the same two grave robbers digging a corpse. To their surprise, though, they find Masson's body when they open the coffin. And if anyone still had any doubt about the hideous death the gravedigger had, the graveyard rats begin to exit Masson’s body through his mouth after having eaten his insides.
