Del Toro is the creative mind behind this initiative, although he did not direct any of the chapters, he was in charge of recruiting the screenwriters and directors, as reported by espinof. 

'Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities' is made up of eight chapters which are: The Autopsy, Dreams In The Witch House, Graveyard Rats, Lot 36, The Murmuring, The Outside, Pickman's Model and The Viewing.

In each of the segments Del Toro does a short introduction where he opens the doors and drawers of the title cabinet and pulls out objects that reflect the themes of the episode.

Each episode has a specific theme and together they form a single terrifying universe. The first duo of episodes features two stories involving the theme of the Scavengers, beginning with Lot 36 by Guillermo Navarro, Del Toro's longtime collaborator who worked as cinematographer on Cronos (1993) and Pan's Labyrinth (2006).

"For the moment, what 'Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities' offers us is a continuation of the values that have turned the name of the director of 'Alley of Lost Souls' into one of the best modern horror filmmakers, mixing a wide range of periods, unimaginable beings that need no great explanation and a level of detail that fulfills the immersive idea of his cinema by transferring us the feeling of reading scary books on paper by candlelight, without seeking to reach anything deeper, fortunately, enjoying the, increasingly difficult to find, pleasure of traditional horror, without additives or excessive pretensions", wrote the portal espinof by way of a review on the anthology.  

"Terror has different faces," Del Toro mentions at the beginning of each of the segments, referring to the different forms of the same genre: horror. This is a selection based on the Mexican director's particular point of view on spiritual darkness and its consequences.