Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities: parents' guide
Best for ages 16 and up. Rated TV-MA.
An adults-first horror anthology that suits only older teens with strong stomachs. Each of the eight stand-alone episodes has its own director and story, and most include bloody deaths, grotesque monsters, autopsies and decaying bodies, along with frequent f-words. One episode shows guests snorting cocaine and taking a designer drug, another involves a hallucinogen, two include suicides, and one reveals that a young child has been murdered and cooked. Two characters deliberately destroy their own eyes. Nudity is non-sexual but includes full-frontal male corpses. The craft is high, but the cumulative gore and child-death themes put it at 16.
What's in it
Violence
StrongGraphic in nearly every episode: a full autopsy, a doctor who destroys his own eyes and cuts his throat to trap a parasite, an exploding head, a melting face, people devoured by creatures, rats swarming a grave robber, and a child's severed head.
Language
StrongPlugged In counted nearly 30 f-words and 11 s-words in the first episode alone, plus 'goddamn' and an obscene gesture. Strong language continues across the other episodes, and the first episode's lead voices racist views.
Sex and nudity
StrongLittle sexual activity: a sex worker and a client are heard but not shown. Nudity is frequent but non-sexual, mostly bodies in morgues and autopsy rooms, including full-frontal male nudity and topless women.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
StrongOne episode centers on guests snorting cocaine and taking an unknown designer drug before things turn deadly; another follows a man who takes a hallucinogen to reach the afterlife. Characters also drink and smoke.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongSustained dread and body horror throughout: demons, a giant rat, an alien parasite, ghosts, a witch and jump scares. One story follows grieving parents and the ghost of a mother who drowned her son, and in another a woman gouges out her own eyes.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
- Self-harm
- Death of a child
- Animal death
- Racism
Worth talking about
Several stories turn on greed, vanity or prejudice that leads a character to ruin. Ask which episode's real monster was human.
On our lists
Similar picks around 16+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.