FRANKENSTEIN (2025) review
written by: Guillermo del Toro
produced by: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, and Scott Stuber
directed by: Guillermo del Toro
rated: R (for bloody violence and grisly images)
runtime: 150 min.
U.S. release date: October 17, 2025 (limited) and November 7, 2025 (Netflix)
It seems like almost everything writer/director Guillermo del Toro has worked on has led to him making a “Frankenstein” movie. He has stated that the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by English author Mary Shelley, has long been his favorite book and has mentioned it numerous times as a “dream project” to adapt his version of the Gothic classic. From “Cronos” to “Crimson Peak” to “The Shape of Water”, the themes and romanticism of Shelley’s novel have been present in del Toro’s work. Knowing this, and his love for monsters, seeing del Toro finally getting a chance to present his version of The Creature to the world in his own production of “Frankenstein” makes this big-budget epic one of the most anticipated movies of the year.
The feature is truly something to behold, with its lavish production, costume design, and intricate details, which effectively emphasize scale and texture. For those who feel like we really don’t need another “Frankenstein” story, I can confirm that this is not only a passion project for del Toro but also one that subverts expectations and offers something different.
As a boy, Victor Frankenstein (Christian Convery) was raised by his strict and stern father, Leopold (Charles Dance, who coincidentally played the father of Frankenstein in 2015’s “Victor Frankenstein”), a renowned physician who drilled the boy in the ways of biology and medicine. Victor only receives love from his mother, who dies giving birth to his brother, William. Years pass, and as Leopold favors William, Victor becomes obsessed with finding a way to prolong life due to the life-changing impact of his mother’s death. As a young man, Victor (Oscar Isaac) enrolled at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, where he became a brilliant, albeit arrogant, surgeon focusing solely on ways to overcome death. Once he’s fired from the school, wealthy arms merchant Henrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) comes to Victor’s aid, offering to be his benefactor and provide him with anything he needs to continue his research, including an abandoned tower. Henrich is the uncle of Lady Elizabeth (Mia Goth), the fiancé of William (Felix Kammerer), and the only person who distracts Victor from his experimentations with life and death.
Utilizing his in-depth understanding of the human body and the power of electricity, Victor aims to bring his vision of reanimation to life. Pressured by Henrich to produce results, Victor scavenges body parts from hanged criminals and fallen soldiers of the current Crimerian War to piece together a Creature (Jacob Elordi), harnessing electricity to course through the lymphatic system to power the monster’s head and heart. At first, Victor thinks he has failed, but he is surprised that his work has actually created a living, breathing being—one with immense strength and regenerative healing abilities. Elated yet fearful and overwhelmed by his creation, Victor keeps the towering figure chained in the catacombs of the tower. When a concerned William and Elizabeth visit Victor, the Creature is discovered by a curious Elizabeth, who looks upon him with awe and wonder, questioning Victor’s treatment of his creation. Victor’s cruelty sends the Creature out into the world, where it embarks on a journey of discovery, witnessing both the beauty of nature and the brutality of humanity.
“Frankenstein” begins with a cold open in the Arctic in 1857, with a “prelude” that drops us into the climax of the inevitable confrontation between Victor and the Creature, which has literally taken the two to the ends of the Earth. It’s here that the crew of a Russian expedition finds a gravely battered Frankenstein, and, under the direction of Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen), carries him back to their ship, which is lodged in frozen waters. It’s an absorbing opening for viewers, immediately introducing them to a desperate situation for everyone on screen except for the shrouded, mysterious pursuer. del Toro is establishing mutual hostility between creator and creation in this opening, and then proceeds to organically break up the entire tale into two sections: one told by Victor and the other from the perspective of The Creature. Through this storytelling approach, we learn how Victor was exposed to grief at a young age while feeling isolated and unloved. He would go on to study death, while The Creature was born into a fog of uncertainty and exposed to anguish, being misunderstood yet seeking the concept of life.
The complex relationship between Frankenstein and The Creature is at the heart of the film, with both characters exploring variations of the same themes. For example, both contend with loneliness and isolation in their own ways – Victor isolates himself to pursue his work. In contrast, The Creature’s loneliness is a direct result of his creator’s rejection. Once The Creature is out in the world, he is rejected for his horrifying appearance and feared for his formidable strength. Victor has rejected the outside world and gradually becomes uglier internally. Both Isaac and Elordi bring their own tragedy that’s unique to their respective roles,
Anyone going into del Toro’s “Frankenstein” expecting to see something similar to previous iterations of the monster will be surprised. del Toro isn’t just influenced by James Whale’s Universal Monsters classic from 1931, but also Whale’s superior 1935 sequel “The Bride of Frankenstein”, interweaving elements of both movies while primarily focusing on the impact Frankenstein and The Creature have on each other. Obviously, Shelley’s novel supplies the framework for the story, but del Toro also takes cues from Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation from 1993, and draws from the detailed illustrations of the late comic book artist Bernie Wrightson’s own 1983 interpretation of the source material. There are nods to all of these influences, yet it definitely still feels like del Toro is doing his own thing, stylistically fitting alongside nicely next to anything in the Mexican auteur’s filmography.
Within the structure of the story del Toro presents, we organically spend time with Victor first and then The Creature, and it winds up being two perspectives that make the story whole. As Vicror, Isaac is as fervently obsessive as one would expect, but it isn’t necessarily to the point of madness. His work on reanimating a human being is all-encompassing, absorbing every ounce of his focus, and Isaac conveys a man who’s losing his own humanity while giving it to his own creation. del Toro knows the story wouldn’t be as compelling if he didn’t have an actor willing to portray The Creature in a new and different manner, and he definitely gets that with Jacob Elordi.
This is the most psychologically complex portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster that I have ever seen on the big screen. Elordi’s performance is a wonder to behold, conveying an understandable naivety and curiosity, that of a frustrated child in a confused man’s body. Initially, each movement he makes is as if it’s happening for the first time, because it is, obviously, but Elordi takes in each searching step like an alien stopping on Earth. There’s an internal emotionality that The Creature can’t quite comprehend, and Elordi’s wordless expressions are striking. Once The Creature leaves Frankenstein’s laboratory, he must come into his own in the wilds of nature, encountering deer, hunters, and a generous old Blind Man (played with soulfulness by David Bradley), and del Toro allows space for The Creature to acclimate to human behavior. His voracious appetite for knowledge opens his mind when he learns how to read, which brings more questions, such as what he is and why he was created. Elordi heartbreakingly conveys this, and later, when we see The Creature explode with anger and frustration, once again displaying his formidable strength, it speaks volumes of pain and yearning.
del Toro reunites with several artists that he has worked with before for “Frankenstein,” and the results are visually stunning. Cinematographer Dan Lausten has worked on four features with del Toro, starting with “Mimic” and his most recent feature, “Nightmare Alley”, and returns here, utilizing the beautiful locations of Scotland and England. The design team is spectacular, with production and costuming duties handled by Tamara Deverell (“Nightmare Alley”) and Kate Hawley (“Crimson Peak”), respectively, displaying a stunning synchronicity that really accentuates the period and del Toro’s vision. Of course, the various artists in the makeup department are working overtime to bring a totally new take on The Creature, and they will no doubt be nominated for an Oscar. Speaking of which, Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat, who scored “The Shape of Water” and Del Toro’s “Pinocchio,” provides a melancholic, lyrical score that effectively accentuates the film’s emotional journey.
“Frankenstein” is an impressive achievement in large-scale filmmaking, staying remarkably close to the director’s visual fetishes and adoration for the Gothic style. At the same time, there is a dark beauty to admire, with del Toro bringing special attention to vivid anatomical horrors. Editing by Evan Schiff enables the endeavor to flow effortlessly in a storytelling manner that aligns with the film’s conceit of two characters in conflict telling their story. This “Frankenstein” gradually becomes an emotional event, as del Toro examines the philosophical and spiritual implications of playing God, for both the creator and the created. It’s a shame that most viewers will stream the film at home on Netflix, since this is truly a film made for theatrical viewing.
RATING: ****
