When it was announced that Guillermo del Toro's next project would be an adaptation of Mary Shelley's world-renowned book Frankenstein, cinephiles everywhere rejoiced at the notion of del Toro bringing to life (pun very much intended) this classic piece of literature and horror icon.
Even though there have been countless adaptations of Frankenstein, del Toro still manages to find a way to make the story his own. The result is a Frankenstein with his patented blend of whimsy, horror, heart and unwavering sympathy for the tragic monster.
The film takes place in 1857 and follows a brilliant yet egotistical scientist named Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Issac) who is fascinated with death and spends his whole life obsessively pursuing to find a way of putting a stop to it.
Financed by an equally eccentric arms dealer Herr Harlander (Christoph Waltz), he conducts an unnatural experiment in his laboratory using the dismembered parts of deceased individuals, conjoining them together like jigsaw puzzle pieces that don't quite match. Then, whilst harnessing an ungodly amount of electricity from a thunderstorm he reanimates the corpse(s) back to life. The end result is a walking, almost-talking hodgepodge monster – played wonderfully by the freakishly tall Jacob Elordi. However the success of the experiment is short-lived, as this ground-breaking advancement of science turns out to be the undoing of both the creator and the tragic monstrous creation.
What differentiates del Toro's Frankenstein from other iterations is how he structures and reframes the timeless tale. Here he divides the film into two significant chapters each detailing a different perspective. One of Frankenstein and the other Frankenstein's Monster. The latter chapter provides audiences with previously unmined levels of pathos and sympathy for the monster.
The monster role was originally intended to be played by Andrew Garfield but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. But audiences are sure to be moved by Elordi's tortured performance of a science experiment brought to life. It seems unfair to call him a monster when really he's a man made of many men. But despite his minimal dialogue and his patchwork appearance (some truly showstopping prosthetic makeup design), Elordi's performance speaks volumes of humanity.
His portrayal shares a lot in common with another recent beloved cinematic character; Bella Baxter from Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things (an Oscar winning performance from Emma Stone). Both are tragic victims of circumstance and are perceived as oddballs or freaks but they are also both creatures of curiosity. At the core Elordi's monster longs for answers. Where did he come from? Why is he different? Why do others fear him when he means them no harm? This is one quality that he shares with his non-biological “father” – a thirst for knowledge.
Elordi's janky physicality is tremendous, an impressive performance but he's also not lacking heart. The film truly finds its emotional stride when he ventures outside of Frankenstein's castle and takes refuge in the mill of a blind farmer (a tear-jerking performance from David Bradley). It is here where the story truly feels the most “del Toro-y”. The unlikely friendship between the monster and the blind man is the most endearing character pairing of the whole film.
Like Elisa and the Amphibian from The Shape of Water, it seems like an unorthodox duo but you never question or doubt it. It simply works in a weirdly wonderful way. But that is Guilelrmo del Toro's gift. Much like Oscar Issac's Frankenstein character, he is one of a handful of filmmakers who can fuse together elements that you think wouldn't work. For example “Grotesque body horror” and “swooning romance” shouldn't exist in the same sentence, let alone the same scene. And yet the assembly sequence which sees Issac hacking off limbs and pulling on exposed nerve tendons like their puppet strings, feels wistfully romantic in del Toro's hands. With Alexandre Desplat's yearning score doing a lot the emotional contorting to pull off such an odd combination. But intentionality is also present in Kate Hawley's costume designs. Not only are they elaborately constructed but there's foreshadowing woven into the textiles themselves.
But while technically this film is marvellous to behold there is still something about it that feels a little off in places. Given the film is being distributed by Netflix, one can't help but notice a glossy artifice in certain shots. Nowhere is this more apparent in the film's opening prelude when the monster attacks a Danish ship stuck in the icy waters of the North Pole. This action-heavy sequence feels like something out of a generic superhero film, complete with all-too-obvious greenscreens and flat VFX. It reeks of Netflix execs pushing for a flashy opening and not the handiwork of a visionary auteur like del Toro who favours character over extravagance.
Narratively, it hits a few speed bumps with its pacing, with some sequences feeling rushed with others feeling bloated. Leaving the overall product feeling very much like Elordi's monster, uneven, but still has a lot of lovable qualities. Or perhaps a more fitting description would be that it's less than the sum of it's dismembered parts.
Frankenstein had it's world premiere at the 2025 Venice Film Festival and will have a limited theatrical run on October 17 and a global release by Netflix on November 7, 2025
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