Celebrating Friday the 13th with Guillermo Del Toro...kind of

An exhibit dedicated to film director Guillermo Del Toro opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario, called At Home with Monsters. Del Toro is known for one of my favourite films, Pan's Labyrinth, which I have watched dozens of times. The mix of fantasy and harsh reality was so captivating, even though I had to read the subtitles. The film is so stunning in any language. Del Toro also directed Hellboy, about the eponymous superhero who fights off the Nazis who created him. Anyways, the exhibit not only displays artifacts relating to Del Toro's films—it also takes the audience into his mind, with books, paintings, clothing, comic books. There were also sculptures, including one of the creepy monster from Pan's Labyrinth that has eyeballs on its palms. 

I snapped some shots while I was at the exhibit on Friday the 13th. Definitely a spooky vibe.

Del Toro was inspired by Victorian culture and writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Dickens. His home base in LA is named Bleak House, after the latter's longest novel. Some copies were on display at exhibit. There was also a wall of book covered, shown below.

Some pretty cool Hellboy art.

And this trippy 3D sculpture.

And this ode to Frankenstein, his monster and the films.

This monster (below, left) is literally what nightmares are made of. Horrifying. So detailed and gross and reminds me of the scene when he tries to grab the little girl. The fawn's body (below,  right) looks like it's made of twigs and sticks when you go up close. You can see one of his feet looks like it's literally rooted in the ground.

Definitely recommend this exhibit. You can grab tickets online ahead of time to walk right in. Or you can get them there. It wasn't too busy on Friday night. It's around until January 7, so check it out before then.