Film Review: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025)

Thunder rolls in and lightning strikes a silver rod contraption. With a snap of life-giving light, Mary Shelley’s timeless tale of horror rises up from the grave. Guillermo del Toro’s new vision for Frankenstein is a venture back into the story’s Gothic roots, spliced into del Toro’s signature visual style.

From desolate landscapes to the infamous laboratory, del Toro’s Frankenstein delivers a retelling that is just as heart-wrenching as Shelley’s novel itself, with enough subtle twists to keep the spark alive in old and new fans alike. Frankenstein will stream on Netflix beginning November 7 and is out now in a limited theater release.

Beware: Spoilers ahead for Frankenstein.

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Frankenstein Cinematography

“There’s no spiritual content in tissue, no emotion in muscle.” – Leopold Frankenstein

As is to be expected, the director of The Shape of Water and other monster stories like Cronos and Pan’s Labyrinth breathes new life into The Modern Prometheus. Del Toro’s instantly recognizable visual style is both whimsical and Gothic, with its arcane machinery and sweeping sets of derelict castle interiors. Large windows and dank tunnels are found among the ornate trappings of the Age of Enlightenment. We truly get a sense of the time period’s scientific stance during the scene where Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) presents his work to the academy. Horror and science fiction blend effortlessly as the charge flows through Victor’s fledgling corpse device. Electrical technology feels new and innovative while everything is furnished in gaudy fabrics and rich colors.

Speaking of color, red of course plays an important part. Victor often wears blood-red gloves, implicating his fault in the plight of his Creature as well as the suffering of those around him. Likewise, Mia Goth’s Elizabeth is always the brightest spot in a scene with her eye-catching colors, much like the insects she loves to study. Her visual vibrance serves as a beacon toward which the Creature’s humanity turns, though Victor’s grasp always pull him back under.

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New Characterization in Frankenstein

“Not something … someone.” – The Creature

At its heart, del Toro’s Frankenstein stays true to Shelley’s groundbreaking literary work, an examination of what it means to possess humanity — and just who is allowed that delicate state of being. The film does not shy away from making Victor out to be the real monster. In fact, nearly every major murder was his fault, not the Creature’s. Victor’s benefactor, Harlander, dies when he gets in the way of Victor’s experiment. Likewise, Elizabeth and William are brought into death’s arms because of Victor’s actions. It all feels much more like Victor’s fault than previous retellings. Death follows him at every step.

In del Toro’s reimagining, Elizabeth gains far more agency than she usually has, even in Shelley’s original work. She challenges Victor and serves as the Creature’s missing connection to humanity. Mia Goth brings new layers to the character and provides a glimpse at what the Creature could have become had he been given compassion. On the other hand, Oscar Isaac’s Victor is pompous to the core, as is to be expected of the mad scientist. Elizabeth even points out that for all his anatomical knowledge, the body part that Victor understands the least is the heart itself.

Jacob Elordi as The Creature

Of course, the crux of any Frankenstein retelling is the relationship between creator and creation. Jacob Elordi crafts a haunting performance as Victor’s Creature, at times full of righteous rage and others an inhuman innocence. Whenever he bellows in fury, the sound mixing creates an otherworldly yell that feels as if it comes from beyond the grave, compounded in the many voices of the Creature’s various cadaverous parts. When he first awakens, Elordi captures that fawn-like wonder from a being seeing the world for the first time, an uncanny contrast with the Creature’s imposing presence.

Fans of Guillermo del Toro will find familiarity in the fantastical explanation of the Creature’s paranormal strength. Not all things have to be spelled out for the viewer. However, the inherent melancholy of the “Monster” is like a terrible rotten flower that slowly blooms throughout the film. Watching him devolve from hopeful child to broken man is encapsulated in all the different ways that the Creature says the name of his creator.

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Plot Structures of Frankenstein

“Perhaps I’ll decompose and become human.” – The Creature

It’s no easy feat to improve upon a beloved piece of literature. Frankenstein sticks to Shelley’s frame narrative, in which Victor and the Creature’s tales are told within the story of the ship stuck in the North Pole. Particular emphasis is placed on Victor’s childhood. Parallels are drawn between Victor and Shelley herself in losing their mothers at a critical age, and it’s worth noting that Victor drinks milk throughout the film. But his parental issues don’t stop there — Victor’s father also establishes a cruel destiny of punishment that Victor will repeat with his own progeny. Abuse can be a predictable cycle that dooms us from the start.

Along those same lines, the tension between Victor and the Creature is portrayed accurately up until the film’s final scene aboard the Arctic ship. Victor’s redemption feels rushed and unearned. While it’s absolutely understandable that the Creature would want to forgive his creator, it all happens so fast. We go from wretched wrath to tearful reprieve in the blink of an eye. Or maybe that’s the big lesson of it all. Being human is messier than stitching body parts together, and it’s up to us as individuals to define the rules of our existence.

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In seeking life, he created death. And with that fateful choice, a legacy of monstrous evil was forever unleashed upon the world. Will you be watching Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein?

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