ReviewNetflix drama review: Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities a horror anthology that mixes satire and the supernatural
- Mixing the gothic and the contemporary, eight-episode anthology features impressive roster of acting talent, including F. Murray Abraham and Kate Micucci
- The directing talent del Toro has assembled is impressive, too, from the Twilight franchise’s Catherine Hardwicke to Mandy director Panos Cosmatos
4/5 stars
From Satanists and grave robbers to tortured artists and grieving parents, master of the macabre Guillermo del Toro presents eight ghoulish tales of terror in his new Netflix anthology series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.
Premiering over four nights from October 25 to 28, the series tackles the horror genre from all sides, pairing gothic fables from the deranged minds of H.P. Lovecraft and Henry Kuttner with more current cultural fascinations.
Del Toro appears before each episode with his eponymous cabinet, recalling the opening of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and the tradition of travelling storytellers who would entertain rural communities with an ottoman of oddities.
Revealing a peculiar trinket from one of the cabinet’s hidden compartments, he introduces the major themes of the story we are about to hear, as well as announcing the episode’s director – a welcome move all-too-often overlooked in episodic television.