Guillermo del Toro(nto)

With the death last summer of George A. Romero, the post of Toronto-based horror filmmaker seems set to be filled by Guillermo del Toro. Although the 52-yearold hails from Mexico and has a permanent residence in Los Angeles (along with a second, named Bleak House, for his collection of horror memorabilia), he frequently calls Toronto home while filming, most recently The Shape of Water, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and opens this December.

So it’s no surprise that the city’s Art Gallery of Ontario becomes the third and final stop for Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters. (It also visited L.A. and Minneapolis.) The exhibit, accompanied by three separate film series, opens Sept. 30 and runs until Jan. 7, 2018.

Curators have gathered numerous artifacts from del Toro’s collection, supplemented with more than 1,000 comic books as well as murals and video screens. The walls of the exhibit have been painted the same crimson red as those of Bleak House.

The exhibit opens with a full-size figure of the Pale Man from del Toro’s 2006 fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth; the faun from that film is seen later. Other figures and costumes include ones from Hellboy, Pacific Rim and TV’s The Strain.

But the smaller items are often the most arresting. Visitors gliding through the galleries may suddenly happen upon a model made by famed stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, or Alien creator H.R. Giger. There’s a giant Frankenstein head looking down from one wall, and several miniature Time Machines inspired by H.G. Wells.

Various sections are devoted to del Toro’s many passions and obsessions, including insects, death and decay, and Disney. “Disney provides great moments of fear,” he said during a pre-opening event. “Pinocchio is the same basic story as Frankenstein. They are very connected to me.” No surprise that he is even now working on a dark remake of the classic tale of a puppet brought to life.

Asked to name his favourite object in the collection, del Toro responded with a story about the time Bleak House was threatened by fire. He was asked if there was something he wanted to save, and answered no. Had he chosen something, “I would hate that object because it would remind me that I didn’t save any of the others.”

Since then he has said his favourite item is the key to enter the house. He has now effectively loaned that key to the city of Toronto, which has become like a second (or third if you like) home for the master filmmaker.