Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities is the spooky season treat we didn’t know we needed till it arrived on Netflix. The new anthology series features eight modern horror stories, written and directed by various filmmakers including two co-written by del Toro himself. The recently released episode ‘Dreams in the Witch House,’ based on HP Lovecraft’s short story by the same name was directed by Twilight helmer Catherine Hardwicke. In a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, the director shared her experience of collaborating with del Toro and crafting demons for her episode.
‘Dreams in the Witch House’ is a heart-wrenching horror tale starring Rupert Grint, Ismael Cruz Córdova, DJ Qualls, Nia Vardalos, Tenika Davis, Gaby Moreno. The story revolves around Walter Gilman (Grint) who after the death of his twin sister, Epperley, wants to find a way to the plane of the dead to save his sister. Hardwicke tells the “cool thing” about del Toro is that he “really wanted to give the directors ownership” further adding, "So then I got to put my brain, my heart, my soul, my blood, and my sweat into it. That's what we like to do. We don't wanna feel like robots who just took orders from somebody. So, he really made an effort to do that, and he was supportive of everything that I came up with.”
While Lovecraft’s original story portrayed Walter as a lone student obsessed with magical mysteries, Hardwicke’s adaptation rooted his obsession in trauma. His psychological horror is enhanced by the wicked witch Keziah Mason and her talking rat. The director revealed that del Toro “was there to help us in areas that we're not as much of an expert in as he is, like the creatures."
To achieve this, Hardwicke collaborated with del Toro’s “fantastic artists” who do conceptual stuff. Adding, "So I gave a lot of ideas to them, and we would brainstorm, me and the artist, and go to the sculptors' studio. We tried things on, like fur and everything. Then [Guillermo] would look at everything too, and either sign off on it or come up with an even more crazy-ass idea: 'I love the rat. Let's give him some more boils and pus!' I would be like, 'Yeah, that's awesome.'" The fruit of the director and del Toro’s work translated into an episode that combines trauma, horror, witches, with our nightmares.
All episodes of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities are streaming now on Netflix.