Del Toro’s earliest professional work on screen was for the Mexican horror/sci-fi TV show La hora marcada (1986–89), and he returns to the medium with his fourth foray into series television—after The Strain (2014–17) and Trollhunters (2016–20)—with Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Following in the tradition of Rod Serling’s beloved (if short-lived) Night Gallery (NBC 1970–73), Del Toro’s anthology show presents eight dark fantasies of the macabre and supernatural. Appearing on screen to introduce each film, he identifies their stellar, handpicked directors in the form of doll-like figurines. The monsters, which he took a personal interest in developing for each episode, are state-of-the-art and quite identifiably Del Toro’s.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Pickman’s Model. 2022. US. Directed by Keith Thomas. Teleplay by Lee Patterson, based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft. With Ben Barnes, Crispin Glover, Oriana Leman. In English; DCP. 62 min.
“Behind everything beautiful lies the dark,” says Guillermo del Toro in his introduction to this adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s story, about an art student whose reality changes when he meets a mysterious painter.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Dreams in the Witch House. 2022. US. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Teleplay by Mika Watkins, based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft. With Rupert Grint, DJ Qualls, Nia Vardalos. In English; DCP. 62 min.
The second Cabinet of Curiosities entry, based on the work of H. P. Lovecraft, about a brother’s efforts to free his sister from an alternate universe, is the series’ most densely scripted and challenging to decipher.