SOME PARTS ARE GOOD

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein isn't the greatest expression of Mary Shelley's gothic horror, but it is great

- TATAT BUNNAG

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been chopped apart and stitched back together in so many ways across so many media that it's become almost impossible to produce a version that truly stands out.

Yet in 2025, Hollywood's master of monsters, Guillermo del Toro, took up the challenge and brought this classic back to life once again. This marks his first live-action film since Nightmare Alley (2021), following his stop-motion masterpiece Pinocchio (2022).

A recurring theme throughout del Toro's career is the "misunderstood monster" - creatures burdened by their own existence and by humanity's inability to accept them. So, it makes perfect sense that he would finally adapt Mary Shelley's novel, a project he has dreamed of making for years.

The result is unmistakably a Guillermo del Toro interpretation of Frankenstein, in many ways for the better, though not without a few shortcomings.

Oscar Isaac stars as Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but emotionally scarred man shaped by a cold, loveless upbringing by his father, played by Lord Tywin Lannister actor Charles Dance. Driven by grief and obsession, Victor sets out to conquer death itself and create life by reanimating dead flesh.

With the backing of his wealthy patron, Harlander (Christoph Waltz), he succeeds - and brings into existence the Creature, played by Jacob Elordi. But the young doctor's triumph quickly turns to revulsion when confronted with the living reality of what he has made.

This adaptation is, in spirit and structure, deeply faithful to Shelley's novel - more so than most cinematic versions. Yet it is unmistakably filtered through del Toro's gothic imagination.