Of all the horror TV series that have been appearing on streaming platforms this spooky month, the one we were most excited for is Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix. Rather than directing the project, the Oscar-winning Shape of Water director enlisted creepy movie auteurs including Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), Guillermo Navarro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) to each create an episode of the anthology series. The cast is no less stellar, with episodes featuring Rupert Grint, Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Rings of Power), Eric André (The Lion King), Sofia Boutella (Kingsman), Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bones), Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), Sebastian Roché (The Vampire Diaries), Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead) and more.
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The first two episodes are out on Netflix today – with the next six dropping, two per day, throughout the week – and the show currently has a strong 92% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. “The horror anthology exudes an alluring air of mystery, rough around the edges but coursing with energy,” said Slant Magazine, while Radio Times called it “a halloween treat” and Slashfilm described it as “a monster mash and a graveyard smash”. Many pointed out just how gruesome and graphic the series is, proclaiming it, “standout horror filmmaking” (RogerEbert) and further “proof that this creator is a master of horror that knows how to pull at the heartstrings” (Remezcla).
But the latter point proved divisive, with Variety arguing that Guillermo’s partial involvement – he oversaw the project but didn’t direct it – means the episodes lack the heart his projects so often have. Publications have also criticised the show’s fear factor: The San Francisco Chronicle reported on “low-calorie scares”, The Telegraph called the series “scarily average” and The Hollywood Reporter suggested using H.P. Lovecraft as source material made the series feel outdated.
What do those takes matter, though, when you have horror royalty Stephen King taking to Twitter to share their enthusiasm for the project? “I strongly advise you to open Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, starting tomorrow on Netflix. Scary, sinister, and beautiful to look at,” the author wrote. The rest of Twitter was suitably terrified by the series too. “Cabinet of Curiosities SLAPPPPS so far” tweeted @JMatthews06; “feels like a video game in the best way,” said @dianegvra. “Guillermo del Toro’s #CabinetOfCuriosities is great so far,” posted @VeronicaOfOsea, adding, “though I must say the 2nd episode ‘Graveyard Rats’ brought me to my limits solely because rats scare the living shit out of me”.
The first episode, “Lot 36”, directed by Guillermo Navarro, follows a harsh and aggressive right-wing man (played by Tim Blake Nelson) who bids on an abandoned locker at an auction only to find that the objects he brings into his home have dark and menacing truths. The second episode, “Graveyard Rats”, is an adaptation of the 1936 short story by Henry Kuttner and saw Guillermo reunite with Shape of Water actor David Hewlett. It’s about a grave robber who realises his criminal antics are being upended by large rats burrowing holes into coffins and dragging away the corpses, and decides to take on the monstrous vermin beasts.
Other stories taken on across the eight episodes include gruesome autopsies, witch-cursed houses and artists going feral. How terrifying and gory those will be remains to be seen, but as a tweet from @dreadnoughtfett put it: “They could film someone silently reading an IKEA catalogue and I’d watch it if [Guillermo Del Toro] is involved.”