Halloween with a Horror Master: Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

There are many masters of horror out there and topping the list for nearly two decades has been Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. With top nods under his hat like Blade II, Hellboy & Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and Pacific Rim, he’s perhaps best known for upending the horror movie scene with 2006’s dark fantasy feature Pan’s Labyrinth.

The master is fresh off the heels of last year’s Nightmare Alley, which is currently streaming on Hulu if you haven’t seen it, and he’s back this month on Netflix with his latest collective work of art, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

Curiosities is an eight-episode anthology series created, produced, and hosted by Del Toro. It will feature a slew of material he wanted to bring to audiences in a smaller format than the typical feature-length film.

And, apparently, according to our sources, we can expect to see and hear many of the tales and anecdotes the filmmaker writes about in his memoir Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions.

Netflix calls the series a curated “collection of unprecedented and genre-defining stories meant to challenge our traditional notions of horror” by carefully selecting a variety of writers and directors to bring the tales to life. There’s a tale directed by The Babadook’s Jennifer Kent, another led by Firestarter’s Keith Thomas, and even originals written by H.P. Lovecraft with screenplays penned by Mandy co-writers Panos Cosmatos and Aaron Stewart-Ahn (you should totally see that movie if you haven’t yet, by the way; it’s some bloody, ass-whooping fun that includes one very badass Kevin James), and The Dark Knight wordsmith himself, David S. Goyer.

With such a variety of talent in the mix, on top of having del Toro at the helm, there’s absolutely no way these terrifying tales won’t stick with you like. Kind of like that moment in Nope when we had the big reveal: everyone lost their shit. Me included. I will never look at clouds the same way again. Ever.

The collection also features a slew of your favorite actors, from Tim Blake Nelson (O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?), Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), and F. Murray Abraham (Mythic Quest) to Rupert Grint (Servant), Ismael Cruz Cordova (Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), AND, one my actor-comedian faves, DJ Qualls (Supernatural, Road Trip), among other well-knowns.

Sounds pretty righteous, right? It is! Mostly.

Here’s the rub: rather than all eight episodes dropping at the same time, which is pretty standard for Netflix, Cabinet of Curiosities will drop two at a time over three days as part of a special Netflix & Chill’s Halloween Event. Even still, that’s not so bad.

The first two episodes of the series will be available at midnight on Tuesday, October 25, with subsequent episodes premiering two at a time over the next three days. All eight episodes will be available to watch globally on Friday, October 28, just in time for Halloween weekend.

If you haven’t seen the official trailer, which, I have to say, offers up quite a cozy Gothic feel with some horrifically beautiful but frightening monsters, you can watch it here.

You’re welcome.