Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” A Stellar New Re-Telling of the Iconic Story

The latest film adaptation of the beloved “Frankenstein” story has been showing in a limited number of theaters before its global streaming release on Netflix which began on November 7. Before this film became available on the streaming service, I actually had the opportunity to see this film on the big screen.

Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro adapts Mary Shelley's classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.

Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the beloved Mary Shelley “Frankenstein” is a mostly faithful adaptation of the main source material that delivers great performances, some tense emotional moments and really strong visuals.

Just like most of del Toro’s films, “Frankenstein” has a rather gothic atmosphere that helps give the film a dark feel. The film is incredibly well shot and Victor Frankenstein’s lab, which is said to be fully practical, is amazing to see and it shows that you can still make an immense set without the use of CGI or AI.

Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac gave incredible performances as Victor Frankenstein and his creation, respectively. Their performances throughout “Frankenstein” are one of the many standout elements of this film and I can actually see them getting numerous acting accolades for their portrayals.

Elordi, who is primarily known for the HBO show “Euphoria,” does an outstanding job bringing depth and a tragic humanity to the monster. He completely wins everyone over with his portrayal of the tragic monster and the make up effects that are used for the creature are simply impressive.

One of the most memorable moments of this film is the actual creation of the monster. We see Victor Frankenstein gathering body parts from a battlefield filled with corpses to build his creation, which actually shows how demented the scientist can actually be. The actual animation sequence in the towering laboratory, where the creature is strapped to a gurney resembling a cross, is an amazing visual spectacle that utilizes lightning and intricate production design.

We also get a few scenes of the creature finding temporary peace after escaping the lab and being taken in by a kind, old blind man, who teaches him about literature and life. The scenes that feature both the creature and the blind old man are actually moving as we see the creature becoming more human and emotional. There’s also the film’s subplot involving Victor hunting the creature down that we see scattered throughout the film that’s empowering and a bit emotional towards its conclusion.

Overall, "Frankenstein" is a beautifully crafted, emotionally resonant, and highly effective adaptation of the classic story that might have found a place on my annual top picks of the year!

Cast: Oscar Isaac (Victor Frankenstein); Jacob Elordi (The Creature); Christoph Waltz (Harlander); Mia Goth (Elizabeth); Felix Kammerer (William Frankenstein); Charles Dance (Leopold Frankenstein); Lars Mikkelson (Captain Anderson).

Writer/director: Guillermo del Toro (Netflix’s Pinocchio; Nightmare Alley; The Shape of Water)

Trivia: Frankenstein’s laboratory and Captain Anderson’s ship were fully constructed sets. For his role as the Monster, Jacob Elordi studied Japanese butoh dance (a form that involves undignified poses and dark themes) and Mongolian throat singing to capture the Monster’s mannerisms. 

Andrew Garfield was originally cast as the Monster, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. He was replaced by Elordi and the make up team spent nine months crafting Garfield’s look as the Monster, which they only had a few weeks to rework the make up for Elordi in time for filming.

MPA: Rated R for bloody violence and grisly images   (runtime 150 minutes)  (Netflix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WZllcEgWrM

• Frankenstein's laboratory and Captain Anderson's ship were fully constructed sets. "I want real sets," director Guillermo del Toro explains. "I don't want digital, I don't want AI, I don't want simulation. I want old-fashioned craftsmanship: people painting, building, hammering, plastering."

• For his role as the Monster, Jacob Elordi studied Japanese butoh dance (a form that involves undignified poses and dark themes) and Mongolian throat singing to capture the Monster's mannerisms.

• Andrew Garfield was originally cast as the Monster, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. He was replaced by Jacob Elordi in the role. The makeup team spent nine months crafting Garfield's look as the Monster, but had only a few weeks to rework it for Elordi in time for filming.

• Director Guillermo del Toro wanted Victor Frankenstein to appear less like a scientist and more like a rock star, citing David Bowie, Sir Mick Jagger, and Prince as influences on Oscar Isaac's performance.

• Artist Bernie Wrightson, who drew the illustrations of the 1983 "Frankenstein" graphic novel on which the Monster's design is based in the film, was a close friend of the film's director, Guillermo del Toro. del Toro licensed Wrightson's illustrations of the Monster before the film's pre-production.

• Oscar Isaac was director Guillermo del Toro's only choice for the role of Frankenstein.

• While living with the blind man, the Creation reads "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, husband of "Frankenstein" author Mary Shelley.

• Director Guillermo del Toro decided to follow up his version of the "Pinocchio" story, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022), with the "Frankenstein" story with this film, as he has always viewed both stories as two sides of the same conceptual coin.

• Contrary to popular cinematic presentation, The Monster being brought to life by way of electricity was only hinted at in the original Mary Shelley novel, instead of stated as fact. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein purposefully left out how exactly he brought his creation to life to most likely prevent anyone from repeating his experiment. Despite this, it has largely been accepted that The Monster was brought to life by electricity. Though, the reason being was that galvanism was a hot topic of conversation at the time of writing.

• The "Frankenstein" tale is one of Guillermo del Toro's favorite stories.

• Director Guillermo del Toro considered at one point making the film into a trilogy, potentially making each part focused on one of the three main characters, Victor Frankenstein, The Monster, and Captain Robert Walton.

• In a previous incarnation of this production, it was planned as part of a new series of remakes of the traditional Universal Studios monster universe, which included Dracula Untold (2014) and The Mummy (2017). Eventually, Dracula Untold (2014), for some reason, was left out of what was called the Dark Universe, which officially started with The Mummy (2017) and was going to include remakes of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Creature of the Black Lagoon, the Wolfman, the Invisible Man, and Frankenstein, but due to Dracula Untold (2014) and The Mummy (2017)'s low box office performances, the idea of a connected cinematic universe was scrapped. As a result, this film became the intended standalone film, as always planned by director Guillermo del Toro.