Way back in my days of being a stupid high schooler who tried to coast his way through school. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was one of the rare books that actually managed to hold my attention. It’s a grim tale filled with mad science, violence and a lot of people telling the story to someone else rather than recounting it to the audience. Even though Frankenstein is one of the most recognizable and wrongfully named icons of horror, a lot of people may not know the whole story. Pop culture has certainly muddied the story plenty with its countless adaptations, but the good thing is that the novel itself does leave a lot open for interpretation. You kinda just have to stick to the basics. Mad genius creates a monster, regrets it, and we learn that maybe humankind are actually the real monsters. But that’s just the surface of what this story offers. There’s much deeper reflections to be had like the parallels to Prometheus and the reckless abandon that drives men to create but not to nurture. And it’s these deeper themes that kinda keeps me from outright loving Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation. 

But don’t get it twisted; I still had a great time with this. It contains that otherworldly macabre aesthetic that del Toro just loves, and he does a solid job with the source material to create a pretty fun gothic adventure. That being said, this is far from being his most polished outing. While performances are great and the design of the world is a marvel to look at, it becomes incredibly predictable not because we’ve seen this story before, but because it doesn’t really use that story to dig any deeper. That “humans are the real monsters” line from the beginning is still at the forefront of the story, which ends up feeling tired and stale while not totally doing Shelley’s work or life justice. How del Toro weaves the story into fantastical territory is no doubt appealing, yet at times the whole thing feels rather unlike the monster; not greater than the sum of its parts. 

What I will give the film credit for is how it parallels the journeys of Frankenstein and his creation. Victor, played eccentrically by Oscar Isaac, has been made hollow after the death of his mother when he was young. This loss of his rock drives him to combat death under the guise of seeking life. Buddy, if you want a life, go out to the pub, meet someone, make some friends. He has everything at his disposal to embrace the warmth and joy that life can offer, yet his ego drives him to this heinous vanity project. On the flipside, the monster, played physically and emotionally well by Jacob Elordi, strives for the things he can’t have; love, companionship, acceptance. His very creation bars him from those luxuries, and yet he pursues them anyway, knowing them to be the cornerstones of life despite only being maybe a few months old. It’s a pretty standard structure, but I think it manages to get the job done. 

That being said, I still think the characterizations for both can be a bit lacking. Victor kinda becomes this completely irredeemable A-hole that the film eventually wants us to sympathize with. That can be done, but the film doesn’t really do this in a very interesting way. I think we can do more than just simple death bed regrets, yeah? Additionally, the monster feels far too neat and polished in both his characterization and design. He kind of just looks like one of the engineers from Prometheus, oddly enough. While Elordi’s performance is pretty solid, his humanity kinda shines through a bit too much, which I think hurts the whole point of the monster. He’s really just one haircut and makeover away from looking like everyone else, which kinda makes the whole point of not treating people badly because of how they look feel a little soft. Honestly, del Toro’s Shape of Water does a much better job at this by pushing the envelope that bit farther. I’m not saying I want the monster to be this gross, sloppy amalgamation of a bunch of dead bodies but…no, wait, I am saying that.

Hey, but at least he ends up absolutely demolishing anyone who gets in his way. Look, it may feel like overkill, but there’s some pretty fun instances of gore and violence here that can sometimes feel straight out of a slasher movie. Sure, it’s overly crowd pleasing, but I like my gothic horror with a little blood and spit. The whole film isn’t really like that, as I did find much of the set design and stylistic choices to be more aesthetically pleasing than grim and gross. That’s not to say the visuals aren’t good, however. The attention to detail in this big, colorful sets are astounding, even if fundamentally they don’t make a ton of sense outside of what’s needed from the story. Even still, del Toro’s commitment to the physical construction pays off tenfold…but mostly just for the set design.

I was kinda bummed by how much gaudy CG was in this thing. Sure, it makes sense for certain things like a pack of wolves attacking or some electrical explosions, but there were some other uses that just kind of cheapened the scenes. Like, near the beginning, Victor brings this half-a-man back to life briefly. This feels like it could have been a very easy puppet or animatronic, but it’s a very noticeable CGI creature, whose rubberiness erases any and all shock of seeing a dead body come to life. I don’t know if this was a Netflix request or what, but I do wish more practicality would have snuck its way in.

So, when it comes to adapting classic literature, it can take more than just copying pages to screen. It takes a fundamental understanding of the subtext to really make up for what you lose when you go from book to movie. I do think del Toro has an emotional connection to this story, evident by his love of misunderstood outcasts that often lead his stories. He nails all of that fairly well, but at this point, do we really need to see this again? I think it’s completely valid to just be satisfied with the “man is the real monster” story again, but what is this doing to elevate the original work? The film gets close to delving into something deeper, but these revelations only come in small doses. For instance, the film occasionally plays with the idea of a man being in the role of birther, sort of speak. Victor is so obsessed with the idea of creation that he completely forgets the mountain of time and devotion that supposedly follows. This is really interesting, as that’s not exactly a foreign concept when you look at families where men want to constantly pump out babies but leave them to the mothers to ultimately raise. Does this theme ever really come full circle? Not really. The film kinda has this issue where it becomes so wrapped up in the big grandness of itself that it forgets to bring the smaller details to the surface. 

This feels like the accomplishment of a lifelong journey for del Toro, but in hindsight, it now feels like he’s already accomplished this through his other works. That’s why 2025’s Frankenstein can sometimes feel like a retread for the director. It’s stylistic and grand like we’d expect, but it ultimately doesn’t do enough for the director’s body of work nor for the Mary Shelley’s opus. It’s a fun film that certainly gets the gist of what the original novel was trying to say, but as a whole, it only feels skin deep. I did enjoy it for what it’s worth, but book purists may unfortunately need to keep looking. Might I suggest Julia Duciurnau giving a crack at it. I think she’s got the level of freak this story needs.

RATING

CORPSE REVIVER 1818

The corpse reviver cocktails have been around for decades, potentially offering you the cure to hangovers with a little hair of the dog. Well allow me to offer you the hair of the guy I dug up from the graveyard. This rift on the reviver cocktail contains many of the same ingredients, but uses green chartreuse for a bit of a peppery bite and lime juice for a more mellow but still tasty final product. Now, I can’t guarantee that this will actually revive a corpse, but if you’re already dead, why deprive you of a good cocktail regardless? That’s what I thought.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5oz gin
• 1/2oz Lillet Blanc
• 1/2oz green chartreuse
• 1/4oz absinthe
• 1/2oz lime juice
• 1/4oz simple syrup
• garnish: lime wheel

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add ingredients to a shaker and shake with ice.
2. Strain into cocktail glass.
3. Garnish with lime wheel(s). If you’d like, twist and skewer them to make a spiral shape.