Cabinet of Curiosities – Guillermo del Toro’s anthology – first look

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The Netflix horror anthology lands in late October… and it looks terrifying! 

In the run up to Halloween this year, Netflix have collaborated Guillermo del Toro to provide a short season of chillers. The master filmmaker has gathered together a collection of stories, from a range of writers and directors for his Cabinet of Curiosities.

Cabinet of Curiosities - Lot 36

The series takes inspiration from del Toro’s 2013 book of the same name.

Here’s the synopsis:

In Cabinet of Curiosities, acclaimed Academy Award-winning filmmaker and creator, executive producer and co-showrunner Guillermo del Toro has curated a collection of unprecedented and genre-defining stories meant to challenge our traditional notions of horror. From macabre to magical, gothic to grotesque or classically creepy, these eight equally sophisticated and sinister tales (including two original stories by del Toro) are brought to life by a team of writers and directors personally chosen by del Toro.

The show’s first-look promo is fronted by de Toro himself who invites in, telling us “… the world is beautiful and horrible at exactly the same time.” He also speaks about the series’ emphasis on practical monster effects.

The episodes are as follows:

‘Dreams in the Witch House’
Cast: Rupert Grint and Ismael Cruz Cordova
Writer: Mika Watkins, based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft
Director: Catherine Hardwicke

‘Graveyard Rats’
Cast: David Hewlett
Writer: Vincenzo Natali, based on a short story by Henry Kuttner
Director: Vincenzo Natali

‘Lot 36’
Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, Elpidia Carrillo, Demetrius Grosse and Sebastian Roché
Writer: Regina Corrado, based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro
Director: Guillermo Navarro

Cabinet of Curiosities - Pickman's Model

‘Pickman’s Model’
Cast: Ben Barnes, Crispin Glover and Oriana Leman
Writer: Lee Paterson, based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft
Director: Keith Thomas

‘The Autopsy’
Cast: F. Murray Abraham, Glynn Turman and Luke Roberts
Writer: David S. Goyer, based on a short story by Michael Shea
Director: David Prior

Cabinet of Curiosities - The Murmuring

‘The Murmuring’
Cast: Essie Davis, Andrew Lincoln and Hannah Galway
Writer: Jennifer Kent (based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro)
Director: Jennifer Kent

‘The Outside’
Cast: Kate Micucci and Martin Starr
Writer: Haley Z. Boston (based on a short story by comic book author Emily Carroll)
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

Cabinet of Curiosities - The Viewing

‘The Viewing’
Cast: Peter Weller, Eric André, Sofia Boutella, Charlyne Yi, Steve Agee, Michael Therrialt and Saad Siddiqui
Writer: Panos Cosmatos
Directors: Panos Cosmatos and Aaron Stewart-Ahn

J. Miles Dales (The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley) serves as co-showrunner and executive producer on the series alongside Guillermo del Toro.

Netflix is opening the Cabinet of Curiosities nightly between October 25th – 28th for double-episode drops. The series forms part of their “Netflix & Chills” event in the run up to Halloween.