Frankenstein (2025) - Horror Film Review

I thought it was neat that iconic film director Guillermo Del Toro (Crimson Peak, Pan's Labyrinth) was making a film adaptation of Mary Shelley's timeless Gothic novel - Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Saying that, after seeing it was two and a half hours long, I figured I would never find the time to get around to watching it. Well, having lost my job at the end of last year, I now have a lot more free time on my hands, and so gave it a watch. Obviously, this has been adapted to film countless times over the past 100 years, and the character of Frankenstein's Monster is known by most people due to how iconic it has became in the public consciousness. Would this latest version of Frankenstein outstay its welcome, or indeed, do enough to set it apart from all that have come before?

The story is well known, though key elements are handled a little differently here. That is to say, if you are familiar with the story, this follows all the same beats, but occasionally those beats are reached by different means as to how they were in the original novel. The film tells the story of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac - Moon Knight TV series, Annihilation); a brilliant but troubled scientist who had become obsessed with creating life. Of course, one fateful stormy night he is successful, and from that success comes the creature (Jacob Elordi - Saltburn, The Mortuary Collection). Its monstrous appearance, and apparent lack of intelligence causes Victor to be repelled by his creation, and in a fit of madness he burns down his laboratory, believing the creature destroyed. The creature managed to escape however, and after being treated as if he was a monster by nearly all he comes across, the creation decides to seek out his creator and ask a request of him.

Much like with video games, in my middle age I find I have less and less interest in pursuing remakes and remasters of media that I am familiar with. It was because of that I wondered what exactly a new adaptation of Frankenstein would bring to the table. From the font alone, this looked like it would be quite pretentious. I figured maybe it would go down the route of 'less is more' and rarely show the creature on screen. This is almost the opposite of that. Of course, much like the novel, the prologue takes place in the story's present, with a ship trapped in the Antarctic ice encountering Frankenstein. Here, things become much more dramatic and action packed, with the creature appearing at almost the same time. After a thrilling prologue sequence where he attacks the ship's crew, we then get the start of Victor's story as he recounts how events led to this moment for him. Interestingly, at the film's midway point, we then get the rest of the story recounted by the creature, which is when many of the changes come about, with it suggested the original story as told in the novel, was from the perspective of an unreliable narrator. All the characters are here, from Elizabeth (Mia Goth - Pearl, A Cure for Wellness), to Victor's younger brother, William (Felix Kammerer - All Quiet on the Western Front), but all have some slight change to them. For instance, Elizabeth's relationship with Victor is quite different, while William is portrayed as a grown man. This was a star-studded film, just looking at some of the side roles, we have Christoph Waltz (Alita: Battle Angel, Inglorious Basterds), Charles Dance (Frankenstein, Game of Thrones TV series), David Bradley (The World's End, the Harry Potter films), Ralph Ineson (The Witch) among many others.
For some of these characters, their inclusion was perfectly fine, but some I didn't get on so well with. Victor is well known to be the real monster of the movie, so it is understandable he wasn't the most likeable character. Here, his mistreatment of his creation seems to stem from mistreatment he had from his father (Dance) as a child, and some of his motivations seem a bit abstract, not helped by him disappearing from the movie for much of the second act. Least favourite character for me was Goth's Elizabeth. From the way her character acted to the clothes she wore, she just came across as a weird person, even if her scenes with the creature were decent.

As to the creature himself, rather than keep him on the sides of the screen, the creature is front and literal centre screen for many of his appearances. Stitched together from various body parts, the creature's look changes over the course of the movie. Initially, he really reminded me of Rocky from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, mainly due to the bright yellow loincloth he wears. I don't know why that bright colour was chosen, but it was a bit distracting. He later appears with long lank hair and wearing furs, making him seem much more intimidating. The creature is extremely powerful and full of rage, but he is also shown to very much be the victim of the story. The film doesn't shy away from his violence, but also presents him as someone who is very lost and desperately yearning for company. From the changes in events (Victor often blaming the creature for the death of pretty much any character who dies even when not remotely responsible), it is nigh impossible to dislike this miserable creature. He isn't scary either, despite the scenes of him hulking out and throwing people around like dolls. It leads to some violent scenes, my favourite of these being when he rips someone's jaw off of them! Different to other times, here, the creature is suggested to be indestructible, able to rejuvenate from any injuries sustained. He did feel a bit like the Incredible Hulk at times, but I liked this more unstoppable portrayal.

The make-up effects for the creature were fantastic, there was nothing throughout the whole film that looked sub-par. Especially neat were the locations used, real sets created rather than CG, Frankenstein's laboratory was a real highlight, channelling the contrast between beauty and ruin that Del Toro is known for.

Frankenstein is a heck of a long film, I admit to watching it in three chunks, rather than in a single sitting. Despite being extremely familiar with the story, I still thought this was great. I enjoyed the changes that stopped this feeling as familiar, the filmmaking itself was stellar from start to end. The third act somehow felt a little bit rushed, speeding through huge amounts of the story within around a 40 minute timeframe, but the wonderful cast, amazing effects and set design combined to make this a film I became engrossed with, even if I very much doubt I would ever return for a second viewing. Frankenstein is currently streaming on Netflix.

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