Is Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities woke?
TV Show · 2022
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities has a wokeness score of 5/10, which we rate as Socially Conscious. Clear woke themes are present and intentional, but feel balanced and organic to the story. The message supports the plot and characters rather than dominating them.
Key points
- Episode 'Lot 36' centers a xenophobic veteran denying heirlooms to a Mexican immigrant, framing prejudice as key to his horror fate.
- Diverse casting appears naturally across episodes without altering core horror narratives or plots.
- Themes of greed and human flaws dominate most stories, with only isolated social commentary on immigration and entitlement.
Wokeness analysis
The anthology series presents eight standalone horror tales curated by Guillermo del Toro, primarily drawing from classic horror traditions including EC Comics-style morality plays, Lovecraftian cosmic horror, and gothic elements. Most episodes focus on universal themes like greed, isolation, ambition, and the supernatural without overt political framing. However, the opening episode 'Lot 36' features a xenophobic, right-wing veteran protagonist who refuses to return family heirlooms to a Mexican immigrant woman, incorporating explicit commentary on immigration, entitlement, and prejudice that serves as a deliberate setup for his supernatural downfall. This introduces noticeable modern sensibilities around diversity and social critique. Other episodes, such as 'Graveyard Rats' emphasizing human greed over rats as the true pest or body horror in 'The Autopsy,' remain apolitical and story-driven. Casting includes racially diverse performers across episodes in line with contemporary production norms, but these elements integrate organically without dominating the horror focus. The series balances traditional scare tactics with occasional progressive touches, particularly in the first story, preventing it from feeling fully escapist while avoiding heavy-handed activism. Overall, the woke elements are intentional in select segments but do not overshadow the anthology's core entertainment value as horror fiction.
Plot
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities is a Netflix horror anthology miniseries featuring eight original stories inspired by gothic and Grand Guignol traditions. Episodes include 'Lot 36,' where a storage unit buyer encounters Nazi occult horrors; 'Graveyard Rats,' about a greedy gravedigger facing underground terrors; 'The Autopsy,' involving alien possession and medical horror; and others exploring body modification, Lovecraftian cults, and supernatural grief. Each tale delivers practical effects-driven scares and moral reckonings, unified by del Toro's curatorial vision of curiosity and the macabre.
Analyzed by AI on July 23, 2026