How 'The Viewing' pulled off a face-melting finale

[Editor's Note: The following interview contains spoilers for Guillermo Del Toro's "Cabinet of Curiosities" Episode 7, "The Viewing".]

If an explosive headform looks believable, you need to fill it in first. Ask Dennis Berardi, the visual effects supervisor for "Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities".

“We packed it with lookalike meat bits and meaty bits. It was all that wasn’t really organic. You had to keep and adapt the molds,” Berardi said.

That wasn't the only part of this process that needed a hands-on nudge to bring something terrifying to life. All of that work was in service of "The Viewing," the Panos Cosmatos-directed episode of the Netflix horror anthology. In it, a handful of strangers are summoned by a wealthy eccentric (Peter Weller) to witness a strange addition to his collection. After a night of rare booze and space cocaine, the group gathers around a mysterious monolith before discovering that what's inside is more than they bargained for.

Related Related

The crazy thing about what Berardi and the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' team did to make this head pop is that it's only a piece of the pie crazy that crowns "The Viewing". Berardi said more than 300 artists from five companies (including his own, Herne Hill) contributed to the show's efforts. The last 20 minutes of the episode are a cavalcade of strange deaths and even stranger powers.

It's an ending that wouldn't be as effective without the steady buildup that occurs before the chaos arrives. (This buildup is something Berardi has done in several previous del Toro collaborations, including "Crimson Peak" and "The Shape of Water.") Creating this vibe meant using distinct markers aligned to the episode's frame of the end of the 70s.

"Panos wanted a real vintage look, right down to the lens flares. So we did a bunch of research and before moving on to principal photography, we shot Panos-approved lens flares against the noir. We had a library of things he could add to in post-production,” Berardi said.

These flares are prominent in the obelisk chamber, where a cloud of weed smoke awakens the squishy terror locked within. The moment the giant boulder cracks helps set the tone for what comes next. Like many of these other elements, Berardi and the team achieved this by marrying animation and digital.

"We built a hands-on version of it, designed by our production designer and beautifully constructed as a centerpiece. We scanned it and also made a digital version of it. On set, we had a closed position with him and an open position with him, and we animated the crumbling," Berardi said. "We tried to be authentic with the laws of physics, what he's made of. We had the idea that it would be some sort of metal alloy or meteorite-like substance. Panos was totally into it."