Lot 36

"**Lot 36**" is the first episode of Netflix's *Cabinet of Curiosities*, having premiered on October 25, 2022. It is written by Regina Corrado, based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro, and directed by Guillermo Navarro.

## Synopsis

To pay off his debt, a man secures a storage unit filled with mysterious possessions to sell, but soon finds himself in a deadly and desperate situation.

## Plot

### The auction

An elderly man sits at home, eating a TV dinner and watching George Bush's "New World Order" speech. He tosses the tray for the dinner in the trash and sets down a key bearing the number 36. He begins butchering some meat, but drops a piece on the floor. As he reaches down for it, he has a heart attack and collapses as the speech ends.

A man, Nick Appleton, listens to a man on the radio railing against illegal immigration. He turns it up, seeming to be taking it in, and muttering to himself in agreement as the host talks about white rights. It is many years later. Nick pulls into a lot, now listening to country music. He turns off the radio and gets out of his truck. He approaches a facility labeled "24 Hours Storage" where a sign outside states that an auction is in progress.

Inside, a man introduces himself as Eddie. He tells the small crowd that they're in the "gold coast," long-term rentals for those who don't trust banks, then leave it all behind. "Bad luck for them, good luck for you," he says. He continues that they're starting with Lot 36, owned for decades by the same man. He cuts open a lock and opens a door, revealing a glimpse of the contents. "A peek, a whiff, that's all you get," he tells the crowd, locking it back up. He opens bidding, turning the microphone to a man named Bill. Nick wins the bidding at $400. Eddie tells everyone to file out, that the next is down the hall.

### Emilia

Nick is now on the phone with an angry man, telling him that he told him not to cross county lines before settling in full. "I haven't," replies Nick and the man on the phone asks if the guy he had eyes on him was lying. Nick tells him he's there to pay him, that he's handling it. The man curses at him, telling him he'd better have it tonight and he hangs up him. Meanwhile, Eddie comes in, telling him the pay phone is outside. Nick asks if he has his contract. He tosses him another piece of paper, saying it's his cut from the last unit. Nick tells him he'll cut him a check for the unit and Eddie says he had better get him his money. Nick hands him several 50s.

Eddie tells him he wants to show him something. He pops a tape into a player. He shows him the guy who owned the unit he bought. He says that every day he would show up, stay for an hour to an hour-and-a-half, then leave. Nick asks what it has to do with him. Eddie asks if he isn't curious and Nick says that he isn't and maybe it's why he's still alive. Eddie says that the man was tighter than a Tupperware lid, that it's "white anger." Nick asks if he's allowed to say "black anger." Eddie says he figures there must be something special in it for the man to keep checking on it. "The older we get, the stranger," replies Nick. Eddie tells Nick that the man dropped something inside the unit every day for decades. Nick says that he'll dig around. Eddie hands him a key. "Enjoy," he tells him. He tells him to not forget to spread the love. Nick walks away, giving him the finger.

A Hispanic woman enters the storage facility. She tells Eddie that she came to pay her bill. Eddie looks troubled. He gets up, telling her that he sold the unit when they didn't hear from her. She protests that she's been renting there a long time and he tells her that they sent her an eviction notice, that her phone was disconnected. She says she told him she moved and she has a new number. He asks whose fault it all was and she says it was his, that she called him. He stares out at Nick, telling her that he's the one who bought her unit and she should go see him, that she might be able to get some of her things back.

She thanks him and he apologizes for the mistake. She walks out and talks to Nick. She introduces herself as Emilia. He is entirely unsympathetic, telling her to talk to the manager. She says that her family stuff is there. He says that he already sold or threw away some things and whatever's left is his now. She says it's hers, but he says legally it's his. She asks what he could possibly want with it. He tells her that her troubles aren't his. He tells her that a thousand bucks and she can have what's there. She tells him she hardly makes anything cleaning and he hands her a broken lock, saying it's hers and she can have it. She curses him in Spanish and he turns back, telling her to insult him in his own language. "I said I hope you rot in hell!" she shouts after him.

### Rare books

He enters the unit, muttering that as usual it's all on him as if he doesn't have enough problems. He complains to Eddie about the unit being small and Eddie tells him it was built in the 1940s and is wider, deeper and steeper. He tells Nick that Emilia's sitting outside, but Nick says he won't be the bad guy and Eddie shouldn't be a hypocrite. He tells Eddie that the game has rules and he did what he had to for the country. Eddie asks how he brings this into every conversation. Nick says it's because he bears repeating, that the game was rigged and he has to deal with high-pitched ringing in his ear every day. Eddie tells him that he's not the only one, that the front lines were all black and brown. Nick tells him he bought the unit fair and square and he's not talking the guilt trip, that in his unit, everyone was green.

Among the unit's effects, Nick discovers an old candelabra that may be gold. He studies the photographs of the woman's family, then tosses them aside. He continues going through the unit's effects, at one point being startled by a mouse. He goes out and gets into his truck. A man shatters the window. Nick tries to fight him, but the man smashes his head, telling him that he owes $12,000 by tomorrow. He starts to walk off. Nick tells him he made his point. The man then shatters the windshield, saying that *now* he's made his point. Amelia stares at him. He shouts at her to shoo. He goes inside and cleans up the wound on his head. Eddie asks what happened to him and he tells him he's borrowing his first-aid kit. He tells Eddie he has to get some things appraised, some antique pieces and gold. Eddie tells him to skip the five-and-dime and go to a place called Agatha's.

Nick goes to Agatha's as suggested. Agatha appraises the candelabra, saying that it is gold, but she'll only pay scrap. Nick complains that Eddie told him she'd do better. "If you do better for me," she complains, saying that the craftsmanship is crude and you can't even dress it up. She asks for the next item. He points out the table and chairs. She agrees that they're good and that the table is a séance table. She examines it, finding a secret compartment. Inside are three books with Latin titles. He asks if they're valuable and she says it's not her province. She tells him she has an associate in mind. She calls up a man named Roland, saying that she's at the store with a client who has some very interesting items, right up his alley. She tells him to come quickly.

The man, Roland, arrives. He recognizes the table as a séance table with white cedar and sandalwood. "You see the reddish tint on the lacquer? Guess what went into it," he says. Nick calls it sick and Roland laughs. Nick presents the books and Roland is gobsmacked. He asks Nick if there was a fourth volume. He tells him he didn't see one. Roland asks if it's possible he could have it and Nick says he's barely touched the unit. Roland tells him the books are extremely rare and he can give him $10,000 for all three.

### Dottie

"How much for all four?" asks Nick. Roland tells him that at the right auction it could be in excess of $300,000, that the fourth volume is the rarest one and most desirable piece, that it's legendary. He says it's full of spells to bind a demon and make it earthbound. He continues that reason that the fourth is the rarest is that it burns down completely at the end of the transaction except when the demon has been betrayed. Nick says the transaction has to happen tonight. Roland hands him a large wad of bills, saying it's for the candelabra, the table and the chairs. He tells him that if they can find the fourth volume, he will write him a check for $300,000. Nick grabs a back and loads up the books, telling him his truck is outside and he'll drive them there.

As they drive, Roland tells Nick that he has a confession to make. "Jesus, really?" asks Nick and Roland tells him he knows about the family that owned the unit he bought. He says they were a rich family who made their money from steel in Europe and emigrated to America at the end of World War II. He says they made weapons for tanks, but for the wrong side. Nick says he saw some photos and Nick tells him the man did evil on a scale almost absolute. "God's got him now," comments Nick. Roland states that God is a strong, silent type that loves to see people squirm with free will and other delusions. "But what about his adversary?" he asks. Nick replies that something tells him he traffics in that side himself. Roland asks if it's really relevant to this transaction. Nick says something and Roland continues that the unit's owner was a sick man who gambled his fortune away and lost his family, yet had bottomless appetites. "Another empty asshole," agrees Nick. "He invoked an entity," Roland says, telling Nick that he possessed his sister, Dottie Walmar. "Did they ever find her?" asks Nick and Roland says they didn't, that it was futile.

As they pull up outside the storage facility, Nick tells Roland that it's enough, that he's not interested in the creepshow. They enter and Roland holds up the candelabra. Nick tells him to put it away, but Roland says if they find the book, the light from the candelabra will offer protection. Nick tells him profanely to shut up, walking ahead and unlocking the unit. He tells him to take the left side, saying they don't leave until they find the book, that it can't have spontaneously combusted. As they rummage around, Nick tells Roland that if he takes anything, he's going to know and there's only one exit. Roland just shakes his head. Nick carts away various items.

Roland examines some old newspapers with headlines about the disappearance of Dottie Walmar. "Where are you, Dottie Walmar?" he wonders. Nick dumps a bunch of items he's deemed of no value in a dumpster as Emilia watches covertly from a distance. He heads back into the lot, where he and Roland discover a hollow wall. Nick mutters that he knew the measurements were off. He begins using a tool to pry open the false wall as Roland installs candles on the candelabra. "Now we'll find out why he came here every day," mutters Nick. He pushes open the wall and there is a terrible smell. Roland says that in his field, they call it effluvia. He tells Nick not to touch or say anything. Nick asks if he's the platoon leader now and Roland says that if there's anything not from the natural world, he has one piece of advice: do not make eye contact with it or speak with it. He tells him it will sense the dark in him. Nick replies that it's two pieces of advice, and that he doesn't know anything about him. Shaking his head disdainfully, Roland leads the way down a passage, candelabra held high.

### The demon

The two continue down the passage, the walls lined with pages from books. They enter a room where a corpse lies upon the ground inside a pentacle. Roland mutters that he never would have imagined that the man trapped his sister like this. "Look at how the demon hides," he says, saying that it must be weak, as tentacles move inside a hollow where the woman's head once was. He says that it took her face as a way in. They see the book sitting open on a pentacle. Roland warns Nick to cross the line, but Nick curses, saying that he's going in. Roland pleads for him not to, but Nick simply steps across the pentacle. The star of the pentacle lights up and the candles on the candelabra flutter. Roland shouts that he has no idea what he's awakened.

Nick grabs the book and studies the pages. Behind him, a large tentacle writhes and rises. He turns to see a terrible tentacled demon forming from the woman. He races back over to Roland. "Holy Mother of God," he swears. "Dottie," says Roland. The demon grabs and consumes Roland. The book bursts into flames in Nick's hands. He tosses it to the ground. He races away down the corridor. He races through the halls of the storage facility, only to come face-to-face with the demon. He darts in the other direction. The lights go out. He turns them back on, sighing in relief, but the demon keeps coming. He runs in another direction. He makes for a door, only to find it locked.

On the other side of the door, Emilia appears, carrying an umbrella against the rain. He asks her to open the door. She just stares at him. She raises a finger and says something, which he does not hear. She holds up the broken lock. He shouts that he's in danger and needs her help. She places the lock upon the door. He tells her that he'll give her anything she wants. She stares at him angrily. She turns and walks away. He pounds the door. The demon snarls behind him in the distance. He runs and ends up running straight into it. It consumes him.

## Cast

### Starring

* Guillermo del Toro as Himself
* Tim Blake Nelson as Nick Appleton
* Sebastian Roché as Roland
* Elpidia Carrillo as Emilia
* Demetrius Grosse as Eddie

### Co-starring

* Martha Burns as Agatha
* James Neely as Old Man
* Lize Johnston as Dottie Walmar
* Tony Munch as Auctioneer
* Elise Beauman as Acid Jeans
* Burt Badzioch as Eyes
* Neil Babcock as Baseball Cap
* Brad Borbridge as Burly Bidder

## Music

The musical tracks featured in this episode include "Surveillance Video," "The Fourth Volume," "Looking for the Book" and "Finding Dotty." The music was composed by Tim Davies.

## Trailer

Lot 36 Official Trailer - GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES - Netflix