Cabinet of Curiosities Episodes Ranked

Cabinet of Curiosities episodes ranked.

Guillermo del Toro dropped a Halloween treat on Netflix this week with an episode horror anthology curated by the man himself. Cabinet of Curiosities features heavy hitter directors taking cracks at everything from original material to H.P. Lovecraft adaptations.

Rankings, as always are subjective. If you watched the anthology and see your favorite episode ranked at the bottom…don’t take it personally. No episode of the series is any less than pretty good…so ranking Cabinet of Curiosities was a challenge. The level of quality on display here is impressive. Several installments leave you wanting more, and almost none even try to be scary, but the acting and production value is great across the board.

There will be no spoilers in the episode descriptions.

Without further ado…Let’s rank Cabinet of Curiosities episodes from worst to first.

8. Lot 36 (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 1)

Old Junk

As the first episode released, Lot 36 sets the tone for the series. Meaning that it tells you the series isn’t interested in being scary. Lot 36 is all about atmosphere. And then layering a lot of unnecessary things on top of it. Tim Blake Nelson turns in a great performance in what is very much a one note stereotype on the page. The story centers around an in-debt man who purchases a storage unit in hopes of finding valuables to sell inside. When he finds valuable occult paraphernalia inside his troubles go from bad to worse. It all works well enough…it’s just never more than that despite Nelson’s best efforts.

7. Dreams in the Witch House (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 6)

Lightmare

The second of two H.P. Lovecraft adaptations, Dreams in the Witch House has one of the strongest foundations for a story in the Cabinet of Curiosities. Walter Gilman (Rupert Grint) witnesses his sister’s death as a child. When she dies, he interacts with her ghost and sees her sucked into a portal. He spends his life trying to cross over to find her. When he finds a way…he ends up bringing back more than he wanted. The problem with Dreams in the Witch House is that it doesn’t do anything with a great story to make it a great episode. Like all episodes, it has high production quality, and Grint gives a fine performance, but the excitement ends there. To make matters worse, director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) ramps up the ridiculous instead of the suspense to the detriment of the piece.

6. Pickman’s Model (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 5)

More of a Likecraft

The first of two H.P. Lovecraft adaptations in Cabinet of Curiosities, Pickman’s Model follows the established pattern of well made, well-acted and… well…not scary at all. The story revolves around Will Thurber (Ben Barnes) who becomes obsessed with Richard Pickman’s (Crispin Glover) paintings. Pickman has a secret about what makes his monstrous paintings so haunting and, ultimately, dangerous. This episode features a top notch ending that makes it worth the watch. Just don’t expect any frights to go along with a good story and fine acting.

5. Graveyard Rats (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 2)

Not Quite a Graveyard Smash

Cube director Vincenzo Natali brings us the second episode of the series, Graveyard Rats. This one has an interesting premise…but still suffers from lack of scares. We have another in-debt lead character here as a graveyard caretaker tries to make extra money by stealing valuables from the dead. His problem? Rats have been getting to his bounty first. There’s some fun to be had when he finds himself confronted with the rats…and there is some decent horror imagery throughout. Like Lot 36 it all looks great and is well acted…but it’s still missing something.

4. The Outside (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 4)

Skin Deep

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night director Ana Lily Amirpour is on hand to bring us one of the oddest entries in Cabinet of Curiosities. Stacey (Kate Micucci) is an unattractive woman who is desperate to be beautiful and fit in despite assurances from her husband (Martin Starr) that she is perfect the way she is. Dan Stevens pops up as a charismatic tv pitch man who convinces Stacey to use more and more of the lotion she reacts poorly to because it will bring her what she desires. Some light body horror is on display…more aptly considered skin horror, but this is another entry that isn’t looking to scare you as much as…yeah, I’m going to do it…get under your skin. An easy recommendation for its great performances, descent into madness and relatable message.

3. The Autopsy (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 3)

Taking Lives

Now we’re talking. Despite some slow moments setting up a needlessly complicated backstory, The Autopsy turns out to be a winner in the Cabinets’ catalog. The always great F. Murray Abraham plays a coroner aiding the local sheriff in solving a bizarre series of deaths. The second half of The Autopsy is filled with some gruesome autopsies and a foreboding atmosphere. The climax of the story is where it really elevates itself on this list. We can’t talk about why without breaking our no spoiler rule…but we can tell you to check this one out to enjoy a crazy, and brilliant, ending.

2. The Viewing (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 7)

Stylin’ and Profilin’

Director Panos Cosmatos (Mandy) delivers the most stylish episode of Cabinet of Curiosities. This won’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with his work. A billionaire (Peter Weller) invites a group of artists and intellectuals to his mansion to view a mysterious artifact. Most of the episode is spent getting to know the collection of characters. They discuss their work, do drugs, and wonder what it is they have been called to see. This would be an incredibly boring episode if Cosmatos wasn’t such an interesting visual director and hadn’t cast an eclectic group of actors. This being a horror anthology, of course, the artifact they are there to see is well worth the slow build to get to it.

1. The Murmuring (Cabinet of Curiosities Episode 8)

The Babalake

The winner of the bunch reunites the director (Jennifer Kent) and star (Essie Davis) of The Babadook. They bring Andrew Lincoln along with them to deliver the scariest episode of the anthology. A married couple of ornithologists (studier of birds…I had to look it up) go to a lake house to…study…birds. They’ve suffered through the loss of their daughter, and it has taken a toll on their marriage. Sounds like a fun watch, right? Good news…the house is haunted. Between the series best performances by the two leads and the expert suspense built by Kent the only downside of The Murmuring is that it isn’t a feature length film.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is now streaming on Netflix

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