For horror fans, the Halloween season tends to be the best time of the year, thanks to all the fun and freaky movies and TV shows geared for October releases. Netflix subscribers are getting one of the most intriguing genre debuts of the year in the form of the anthology Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. The project features a boffo array of stars and celebrated horror directors, and Netflix unveiled a new trailer that gives potential viewers a better idea of what to expect from the eight different stories. But arguably more interesting than the disturbing first looks is the fact that the streaming service is trying out something new with Cabinet of Curiosities’ release schedule.
While Netflix has always been known for its binge-first approach to how its TV series are released, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities will be one of the rare exceptions when it debuts in October. Rather than dropping all eight episodes on one day, the platform is releasing two creepified installments per day over a four-day stretch. It’s not the wildest move by any means, but it could indicate bigger changes in the future in regards to how its original series are handled.
More specifically, Cabinet of Curiosities will release its first two episodes on Tuesday, October 25, and will wrap up its dual-ep drops on Friday, October 28. It’s somewhat bizarre that Netflix isn’t putting the episodes out across Halloween weekend proper, but I suppose the general idea is to have all of them available for binge-worthy purposes on Friday and Saturday night.
One of the biggest fan debates where Netflix is concerned has long been a question of whether all-at-once releases are better than weekly drops. The company does enjoy promoting its daily, weekly and monthly Top 10 rundowns with TV projects earning hundreds of millions (if not billions) of minutes of viewing time, which is obviously an easier mark to hit when the entirety of a show’s season is instantly available. But at a time when Netflix is looking into bringing advertising into the mix, with 2022 bringing about the first subscriber loss in its history, it’s entirely possible that Cabinet of Curiosities is part of a bigger plan to test various ways of bringing content to fans around the world.
While some international series, particularly Asian fare, have enjoyed weekly episode releases on Netflix, that's obviously not at all the norm for its English-language shows, especially of the scripted variety. The streaming service has utilized staggered episode drops for some unscripted shows, such as Love Is Blind and Too Hot to Handle, though it's unclear how successful such scheduling was. That said, the fact that Stranger Things' fourth season was split into two parts was also a potential indicator that more changes were imminent. No better guinea pig than a horror project for that kind of thing.
Check out the trailer below to learn all the newly revealed episode titles and lots of new imagery.
Serving as co-showrunner alongside J. Miles Dale, Guillermo del Toro curated the eight stories being used for Cabinet of Curiosities, as well as the various acclaimed directors — such as The Babadook’s Jennifer Kent and Mandy’s Panos Cosmatos — and the stable of talented actors. The show will give Walking Dead fans Andrew Lincoln’s return to horror TV ahead of reprising Rick Grimes for AMC’s standalone spinoff, not to mention the unexpected pairing of co-stars Peter Weller (Robocop) and Eric André (The Eric André Show). Or watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s Nia Vardalos opposite Harry Potter’s Rubert Grint in an H.P. Lovecraft tale directed by Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke. This series is full of WTFs in the best way.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars (IN BLOOD!!!) for Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, which will begin its four-day release plan on Netflix on Tuesday, October 25. While waiting for that and all the glorious Halloween candy, check out our Netflix TV schedule as well as our 2022 premiere schedule for everything hitting streaming and beyond.
