Academy award winner Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities premiered on 25 October 2022 on the streaming platform Netflix. It is a horror anthology with eight stories, a modern take on the traditional horror genre.

Toro served as an executive producer and also co-wrote and directed two of the episodes.

The series upon its release received positive reviews from both the critics and audiences. 

Also Read| Why Tim Burton is likely to not work with Disney again

Who is Guillermo del Toro?

Guillermo del Toro Gomez was born on October 9, 1964, in Guadalajara, Mexico. The award-winning director is known for his horror and fantasy films which embody emotional complexity. He developed an interest in horror stories and films quite early, he began shooting horror films in high school and later on studied filmmaking at the University of Guadalajara. He also studied the art of movie makeup from Dick Smith, the legendary makeup artist. 

He worked as a special effects makeup artist in the 1980s, consequently co-founding Necropia, a special effects company. 

He wrote and directed several episodes for Hora Marcada, a horror series that ran from 1988 to 1990. He then delved into his debut project, Cronos which was released in 1993. The movie talks about the effects of an immortal device, and it received nine Ariel awards from the Mexican Academy of Film—including best picture, director, screenplay, and original story. It further received International Critics’ Week grand prize at the Cannes film festival.

Toro rose to international fame with his comic book adaptations Blade II, released in 2002, and Hellboy, released in 2004 in which he was a co-writer. 

The visual masterpiece El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth released in ) which del Toro wrote and directed, secured him an Academy Award for makeup, art direction, and cinematography.

He then co-wrote and directed Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) and Pacific Rim (2013) a sci-fi action film, which gained international fame. 

The fantasy romance The Shape of Water (2017), for which he wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay, was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won 4, including best picture. He also received the Oscar, the Golden Globe Award, and the BAFTA Award for best director. 

His next project as a director was Nightmare Alley, starring Bradley Cooper. 

Also Read| Who was Leslie Jordan?

Guillermo del Toro contributed as a screenplay writer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and its two sequels (2013 and 2014). He also created the TV series The Strain (2014–17) and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (2016–18), adapted from the novels he co-wrote. 

His most recent project is the horror anthology Cabinet of Curiosities, which premiered on 25 October 2022 on the streaming giant Netflix.