Few things are more entertaining than exploring the roots of today's luminaries in film. Especially when the said roots are as bizarrely insane as this.

What we have here is a Spanish-language commercial for Alka-Seltzer, directed by none other than Guillermo del Toro. Alka-Seltzer, as everyone knows, is a leading remedy for various upset stomach issues. It is also apparently an effective agent against sudden bouts of lycanthropy.

Cinematical rightly observes that the physical transformation in this commercial pays homage to the werewolf transformation in John Landis' horror comedy classic An American Werewolf in London. It's not surprising given del Toro's widely recognized status as a true geek, but it nonetheless offers a glimpse of what made del Toro's fresh, young mind tick. It also proves incontrovertibly that you should come packing Alka-Seltzer tablets alongside your silver bullets for any werewolf fight. Alka-Seltzer to the rescue indeed!

I'd like to know what runs through del Toro's mind when he looks back on stuff like this, his early work as a filmmaker. Does he sit there and cringe at how goofy it all looks? I'd like to think no. If he's got the same geek blood coursing through his veins as the rest of us, it seems more likely that he'd watch that video, sit back with a shit-eating grin on his face and think, "That was fucking awesome." It's the reason that I and so many others are overwhelmingly excited to see how he tackles H.P. Lovecraft's cerebral horror in At the Mountains of Madness.