Mexican director and producer Guillermo del Toro has been creating both films and series that had caused a huge impact on the cinematic industry, some of them are Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), The Shape of Water (2017), Crimson Peak (2015), The Book of Life (2014) and his most recent project, the film Pinocchio (2022). Most of his projects have been praised by critics and del Toro has received numerous amount of awards including an Academy Award. Recently, Guillermo del Toro released on October 25th, 2022, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinets of Curiosities, a Netflix original series, an eight-episode TV show that has caught the public’s attention.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinets of Curiosities does not follow the story of a specific character, instead, the series is a collection of the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s personally curated stories, which are described as sophisticated and horrific. Each episode is a different story based on a short story from novelists like Henry Kuttner, Michael Shea, H. P. Lovecraft, among others. Besides, each story is teleplay by different filmmakers. Even though del Toro is Mexican, the series’ official language is English. Some of the filmmakers appearing on the TV show are Vincenzo Natali, David Samuel Goyer, Emily Carroll, and so forth.
On May 14th, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a series order. Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, and Gary Ungar. The Mexican director wrote multiple episodes and helped other writers and directors to helm other episodes.
The series by Guillermo del Toro has been praised by critics. In fact, popular websites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb gave the show 92% out of 100% and 7.4 out of 10 respectively. The horror stories presented by cabinets of curiosities have managed to hook the audience making it one of the most popular series of the moment and it is number 8 in the top 10 most popular series on Netflix.
In September 2021, it was confirmed that filmmaker Jennifer kent would be part of the project by writing and directing an episode starring the film’s lead Essie Davis. Each episode is directed by different directors such as Ana Lily Amirpour, Panos, Cosmatos, Catherine Hardwicke, Guillermo Navarro, David Prior, Vincenzo Natali, and Keith Thomas. Regina Corrado, Lee Patterson, Haley Z. Boston, Mika Watkins, and Aaron Stewart-Ahn as the main writers of the series.
In regard to the filming, principal photography began under the working title Guillermo del Toro Presents: 10 After Midnight on June 28th, 2021. Filming took place in Toronto and Hamilton Ontario, Canada, and concluded on February 16th, 2022.
Guillermo del Toro has already triumphed with his previous projects and has made the director win many awards. The Mexican stands out for having a style and leans towards dark and gothic content. It was noted in his short film Cronos in 1993, from there the director made his style clear, and thanks to this short film he managed to win an award at Cannes.
Over the years, Guillermo del Toro’s films have become known worldwide, for example, Pan’s Labyrinth released in 2006 is one of the most successful films of the Mexican director, and also The Shape of Water highlighted the popularity of del Toro, This film managed to win an Oscar for best film and best director.
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinets of Curiosities is available on Netflix, but there is no option to buy or rent on other streaming platforms.
Andrea Rich