Master of Horror: Inside the Guillermo del Toro Exhibit at LACMA
Director Guillermo del Toro (Photo provided by Getty Images)
Guillermo del Toro’s films are nothing short of dark fantasy genius.
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México, del Toro began experimenting with his father’s Super 8 camera at the age of eight, making short films with Planet of the Apes action figures. He enrolled in the Centro de Investigacion y Estudios Cinematograficos in Guadalajara. He then went on to study under Dick Smith, who provided makeup and special effects for films such as “The Godfather,” “The Exorcist” and “Taxi Driver.”
After forming his own effects company, Necropia, he was given $30 million by Miramax to fund the shooting of the film Mimic, a science fiction horror film about a killer strain of bugs that evolve and mimic their prey. He followed up with a string of successes, including comic book adaptations such “Blade II,” “Hellboy” and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” and Spanish language dark fantasy films, such as “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
Del Toro has become as big a name in American cinema as he is in Spanish-speaking countries. Melding the best parts of classic occultism, alchemy and magic with an obsession with horror author H.P. Lovecraft’s story telling and an Edgar Allen Poe like sense of mystery, his movies don’t fit in one category.
Photo by: Ian Thorn/Logos
Walking into this exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was a nightmare come true. It features the artwork from films that played a large part in my obsession with the macabre. Spanning all the way back to his first film Cronos in 1993 all the way up to 2015’s Gothic love story Crimson Peak, the exhibit featured props from his films, concept art, costumes, even del Toro’s own personal notebooks, filled with sketches and story ideas. Seeing the actual Judas Breed bug from Mimic was just as terrifying as seeing it for the first time on screen, not to mention the replication of del Toro’s Rain Room, a film effects trick that makes it seem, through lights in a window and sounds in the room, like it’s raining all the time in his very own Bleak House, his second home and work space, which houses his posters, props, collectibles and other memorabilia.
Other monstrous pieces were strew around the exhibit, such as a tribute to Frankenstein and Dr. Pretorious, various paintings, illustrations from the graphic novel “From Hell” and the comic “Hellboy” and a very special tribute to legendary creature effects designer, Ray Harryhausen.
If asked to pick a favorite part of the exhibit, my mind immediately goes to the occult section. Seeing del Toro’s designs, his notes and visions, mixed with the works of H.P. Lovecraft was thrilling. Two of my favorite artists, coming together in perfect harmony. Walking into the At Home With Monsters exhibit, I thought I knew all there was to know about my favorite director. Instead, my curiosity was pushed and a new side of the legendary director was revealed to me. The exhibit is pricey, at $25 a person, plus $14 for parking at the LACMA parking lot across the way, but for fans of the mystical and dark, this visit is well worth the trip. The exhibit is on display from now, until November 27th of this year, Mondays/Tuesdays/Thursdays 11am -5pm, Fridays 11am-8pm, Saturdays and Sundays 10am-7pm.
For more information on visiting LACMA, please visit: www.lacma.org
