Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro
Based on the novel by Mary Shelley
Starring Oscar Isaac, Jaco Elordi, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz
USA, 2025
I was pretty excited for this most recent adaptation of FRANKENSTEIN, the much-adapted o.g. of sci-fi horror about the man who dared to create life and the tragic consequences that followed. Not only do I love the story, I (usually) love Guillermo del Toro – especially when he’s doing his horror thing. Plus, Mia Goth, Oscar Isaac and Christoph Waltz are all recent faves of mine. I’m jealous del Toro beat me to casting Waltz in a monster movie, but glad he didn’t give him his rightful role: Van Helsing.
Instead, Waltz plays a character concocted just for this movie, who finances Frankenstein’s (Oscar Isaac) experiments for secretive, personal reasons. He’s also this movie’s Elizabeth’s (Mia Goth) father. He’s quickly dispatched, however, and it was one of many added details that had me wondering what the point was.
In this way del Toro’s FRANKENSTEIN is sort of like Peter Jackson’s KING KONG, and not just because they’re both chubby nerds with beards. It seems a lesson took from successfully adapting LORD OF THE RINGS was that no detail is small enough to go unexplored, so he filled KING KONG with so much world-building he started to bury the point of the movie. Del Toro’s not that bad, here, but you get the feeling his fleshing out all these details and filling in little cracks with stuff that doesn’t even really need to be there to get right down to the point.
This is most evident in scenes dealing with Frankenstein’s childhood, in which Mia Goth doubles as his mom, oddly enough. I guess del Toro’s going Oedipal here but there’s enough going on in FRANKENSTEIN without the need for that. Meanwhile, when we follow the creature’s (Jacob Elrodi) narrative, it sort of gets rushed through, which is strange, for a two-and-a-half hour movie.
As with most del Toro productions, the movie is beautiful to look at. The images are striking. Everything’s operatic and over-the-top, which suits FRANKENSTEIN, I think. The performances are all good, including Elrodi, who has the hardest job here. How do you pull off Mary Shelley’s version of the creature? Boris Karloff didn’t have to and made the role his own. Robert DeNiro tried and failed. How can modern audiences take an emo monster seriously? Elrodi comes the closest I’ve seen of anyone of getting it right.
What of the other characterizations? The only other major one featured is Frankenstein himself, played by Oscar Isaac, who is great, but the mad doctor might be just a little too mad a little too soon. Let’s see the stuff that goes on throughout the movie push him over the edge, instead of him starting out already over it. That would have been nice.
I’m complaining a lot, but it’s still a fairly solid movie. Just not the movie I was hoping for.
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