I’ve been an avid fan of Guillermo del Toro’s works since he first put “Hellboy” on the silver screen in 2004.
He has this way of blending practical effects with horror storylines that makes them so much more visceral and life-like.
So, naturally, when I heard he was hosting a series of horror/thriller vignettes for Netflix – I couldn’t wait!
Oddly enough, only two of the eight short stories were written by him, but the others are so well-made that it’s hard to pick which is which.
Each one-hour episode manages to feature some sort of moral or pop culture commentary while mixing time periods, genres, monsters, and tropes.
Not to mention, Toro introduces each segment and director with his own unique flair and vague synopsis for the audience.
And we’re not even going to discuss the actual cabinet he uses to store story-relevant mementos – it’s gorgeous, intricate, and definitely imposing!
The Cabinet of Curiosities is an American horror anthology streaming television series created by Guillermo del Toro for Netflix.
The first two episodes aired on Oct. 25 with each night featuring two more new segments until all eight were available for viewing – which means all of them are available to stream today.
Overall, the show is rated for Mature audiences due to severe violence, gore, sex, nudity, alcohol, and drug use along with frightening and intense scenes.
The episodes are: Lot 36, Graveyard Rats, The Autopsy, The Outside, Pickman’s Model, Dreams in the Witch House, The Viewing, and The Murmuring.
Those snippets cover everything from aliens, demons, and witches to gruesome depictions of cannibalism, dismemberment, and gory death scenes.
Pickman’s Model and Dreams in the Witch House are based on short stories of the same name by pulp horror icon H. P. Lovecraft.
Of the two, I found Pickman’s Model to be much more disturbing, unhinged, and unsettling than the other but both are clearly entrenched in Lovecraftian grotesqueries.
The Viewing and The Outside were the stories that seemed to run long and circle the point forever – for me at least.
While Toro doesn’t direct any of the stories himself, the lineup of vignette visionaries include Guillermo Navarro, Vincenzo Natali, David Prior, Ana Lily Amirpour, Keith Thomas, Catherine Hardwicke, Panos Cosmatos, and Jennifer Kent.
Those connoisseurs of horror direct an expansive cast featuring Tim Nelson, Sebastian Roche, Demetrius Grosse, Elpidia Carrillo, David Hewlett, Julian Richings, Nabeel El Khafif, F. Murray Abraham, Glynn Turman, Luke Roberts, Kate Micucci, Martin Star, Dan Stevens, Ben Barnes, Crispin Glover, Oriana Leman, Rupert Grint, Ismael Cordova, DJ Quails, Nia Vardalos, Tenika Davis, Gaby Moreno, Peter Weller, Eric Andre, Sofia Boutella, Charlyne Yi, Steve Agee, Michael Therriault, Saad Siddiqui, Essie Davis, Andrew Lincoln, and Hanna Galway.
While those are just the main characters in each episode, it’s worth noting that due to the creativity of the directors there are a few alternate cast choices that could have been made.
Or, at least I think so anyway!
However, overall, I’m pleased with this anthology and the way that Toro curated the experience.
If your love of horror movies runs as rampant as mine, then you’ll have to make sure you don’t miss this spooky take on “The Twilight Zone” on Netflix.
