Frankenstein is a gothic novel, first published over 200 years ago. It remains Mary Shelley’s best known and most celebrated work, with an estimated 400 feature films having been made with the character as a central or supporting role. Filmmakers such as Danny Boyle, Kenneth Branagh and Mel Brooks have put their own spin on the character, and there seems to be an insatiable appetite for movie makers and cinema goers to revisit the monster.
And so, in 2025, master of gothic horror Guillermo Del Toro has blessed us with his own interpretation of the work. Screening as part of the 2025 London Film Festival, it’s an interpretation that feels luxurious in scale.
The story is told in a way that remains faithful to the original novel, mixing up the ordering to create a much more effective narrative for the purpose of the big screen, much in the same way as the 1994 Kenneth Branagh adaptation did. This version opens at the original ending, with a mysterious one-legged man (Oscar Isaac) appearing out of nowhere at a shipwrecked expedition to the North Pole, chased down by an even more mysterious hooded monster (Jacob Elordi), seemingly impossible to be halted in his pursuit of vengeance. The rest of the story is told through flashbacks to how they got there, with some very strong performances across a talented and varied ensemble cast that includes Charles Dance, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz.
Following Pacific Rim (2015), a film that many consider a misstep in his career, Del Toro has had four exceptional critically acclaimed features: the daring gothic romance Crimson Peak, Oscar-winning The Shape Of Water, psychological thriller Nightmare Alley, and his first foray into feature animation with the beautifully realised Pinocchio. Adding this powerful fifth film into the mix will only cement his position as one of modern cinema’s true masters.
At 150 minutes, it isn’t for the fainthearted. It’s hard to condense it into anything less, without losing a lot of the story. When it arrives on Netflix later in the year, I’m sure many will take the opportunity to have a break at the start of Act II. However, this is a film that deserves to be seen on the biggest of screens, to allow the total immersion into something quite grand.
Glorious.
Cinema, etc. 