Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities

Since the announcement, we've been expecting one of the horror events of the year. What could possibly go wrong under the direction of Guillermo del Toro, after all, his work is iconic in the fantasy-horror genre, his signature is clearly recognizable and his visual creations are excellent. Well, the series is unfortunately more of a disappointment than a celebration of horror, and it's certainly nothing to write home about. All of the stories have more or less the same composition, and thus can be fairly judged as a whole, so let's get to it. Our expectations were for hopeful horror stories that won't make us sleepy and on which del Toro gets to show off his authentic visual creativity, but aside from story #1, the rest are sub-par, with nothing to say in the field of an hour, and they are needlessly drawn out. The basic premise isn't downright objectionable, but the execution of it is both tedious and terribly sterile, atmospherically weak, and visually often drab and uninteresting. But the biggest problem I see is that this simply isn't "horror", but fantasy with a spooky theme. It's so bland and dull, it doesn't even come close to creating suspense or terror, and after watching it, you are more likely to just say "huh, ok next" rather than being blown away by what you just saw. The quality of the stories is drastically diminished by their form – if they were 15 minute youtube shorts with the basic point outlined, or feature films with a full background on the characters and the story, they would do better, this way it's something in between and too lengthy for a short and too impersonal and without any sauce around it for a cinematic experience. Some of the stories are better, some are worse, but apart from the first episode, the whole thing isn't worth much and if you skip it, you probably won't miss anything... (10/28/2022)

Very nicely put together in terms of production, but still unexciting, forgettable and without substance. In other words, typical Netflix of recent times. For me, with the exception of the solid The Autopsy, by David Prior, all of the stories are united by their inability to engage and draw you into the plot until something explicitly genre-worthy starts happening, which in most cases happens near the end, instead of the beginning. (11/06/2022)

I've loved Guillermo del Toro's work ever since I saw his phenomenal Faun's Labyrinth. His films are brimming with beautifully eerie (and raw) visuals and fantasy, but at the same time, the contrived form sometimes hurts the content. Cabinet of Curiosities bears a strong Del Toro signature, and it was interesting to see how the various directors handled the material, with each episode approaching the horror genre in a different way. Of the stories, the ones that appealed to me the most were the gothic-tinged Pickman’s Model (I'll have to look more closely at Lovecraft's work in the future), the visually unpleasant but evocative The Outside and the sensitive family thriller The Murmuring. But the other stories also had their own "creepy charm" and managed to make me tense. 3 3⁄4 stars! (11/06/2022)

With even a cursory knowledge of the interests of the titular creator, the viewer will be deprived of surprises. So, those who have del Toro's filmography at hand will calmly accept the fact that half of the episodes adapt Lovecraft or come very close to his themes. The rest of the stories contain a greater or lesser amount of gore or a touch of gothic horror. As a whole, Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities suffers from the common ailment of most anthologies, where an atmospheric spectacle is followed by coarse B-movie, which sometimes even left me ashamed of the creators. However, it doesn't matter too much here, perhaps due to the pulp origins of the entire genre. I was looking forward to each new episode and couldn't wait to see what and who would stand out for me. My impressions are thus slightly more favorable than the composite rating above would suggest. (11/28/2022)

I really didn't expect such a mixed result from Guillermo del Toro. As a horror creator, he has proven himself many times before, but unfortunately, Cabinet of Curiosities won't go down in the annals as something groundbreaking. Sure, there are a few stories that stood out to me personally. I would label episode 4 (THE AUTOPSY) as the best. It's been a long time since I've seen something so well-written, directed, and acted in the realm of television. Add to that a dense atmosphere, amazing practical effects (a trademark of Del Toro), and a great ending. This mixed cocktail simply couldn't turn out poorly. I also enjoyed episode 3 (GRAVEYARD RATS) quite a bit. On the other hand, many episodes were rather average or seemed like they shouldn’t have seen the light of day (episode 8, THE MURMURING, was excruciatingly boring). So, if I were to recommend anything, it would be to watch those two mentioned episodes and skip the rest. 6.5/10 (11/20/2022)