Netflix’s anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities from creator, executive producer and co-showrunner Guillermo Del Toro is a collection of horror stories highlighting the Mexican director’s affection for the macabre and for marginalized characters.
Divided into eight episodes, each directed by a different director, Cabinet of Curiosities features genre-bending stories meant to challenge viewers’ traditional view of horror. Fans now wonder if those stories are based on a book.
Here's what you need to know about Cabinet of Curiosities and the source material...
Is Cabinet of Curiosities based on a book?
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is not based on a book, but most of the tales presented on the show are based on short stories. The first and last episodes of the season, titled Lot 36 and The Murmuring are based on original stories by del Toro himself.
Meanwhile, Graveyard Rats is based on a short story by author Henry Kuttner, The Autopsy on a story by novelist Michael Shea, and The Outside on a story by comics author Emily Carroll.
Episodes titled Pickman’s Motel and Dreams in the Witch House are both based on short stories by horror fiction master H.P. Lovecraft. Only The Viewing is not adapted from another material.
In an interview with Netflix, Guillermo Del Toro explained his intention with the series: “All my life, what I wanted to do more than anything is an anthology TV series. The first horror book I read was an anthology book. I wanted to do an anthology that harvested some of the best that I’ve read, and a few new ideas that I wanted to write, because I always like writing short stories.”
The idea for The Murmuring came to him from hearing birds during a trip through Europe and thinking about the myth that birds carry the souls of the dead. “Lot 36” occurred to del Toro when he lost a storage unit.
“They sent the mail to the wrong address and they sold all my storage to somebody and it had all my storyboards,” del Toro recalled. “It took a while to recuperate. So I thought, ‘What if somebody buys the storage and there’s something in there that shouldn’t be seen?’”
Del Toro himself curated the list of tales featured in this show and handpicked each of the directors who brought these stories to life for the small screen. Del Toro also acts as the host of the series, in a manner very reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock in Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
“What I love about horror is it brings a world to you,” del Toro added in the Netflix interview. “And horror is a shrine to imperfection and tells you it’s okay to be a monster. We are all monsters at the end of the day. Can we live with that?”
Two episodes of Cabinet of Curiosities are released each day on Netflix from October 25 through October 28.
