You may have thought we were done with the horror and Halloween, but in lue of all the history we explored last week in the deep dive of the classic horror Monsters– it was only fitting that we talk about the latest adaptation of “Frankenstein.”
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro, known for films “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Shape of Water” and “Hellboy,” fans of his works were beyond excited to see how he would tackle this story. Toro strongly followed Mary Shelley’s original novel, which was written in 1816 when Shelley was just 18. Its origins started through a competition with her fellow writers at a party at Lord Byron’s estate. They all were tasked with writing the best horror story, and “Frankenstein” was Shelley’s. Without her story we’d never have gotten the 1931 film or any take “inspired by” film since then.
With that being said it’s about time we’ve gotten a film adaptation to her original writing, and with Toro’s we finally have. The film runs 2 hours and 29 minutes, and follows the novel’s two part set up, giving voice to both Victor and the Creature.
There are so many strong aspects to this film, from the casting, to the practical effects, set and Toro’s directorial choices that stick so closely to the original narrative. Jacob Elordi played the Creature, and this arguably was the best casting choice for this role. His height fit the monstrous stature, and we got to see a whole new side of Elordi we haven’t seen in his other roles like Nate in “Euphoria” or Felix in “Saltburn.” This film really showcased the art of body language telling a story stronger than words ever could, an art we haven’t seen used in film in a very long time.
Victor, played by Oscar Isaac, was also another incredible casting choice. He did a great job embodying the character Shelley wrote to poke fun at, and warn of the dangers of playing God. He teetered the line of insanity and likeability well, forcing the audience to take pity but also curiosity into understanding his strange poor choices.
The makeup for Elordi was intense, taking upwards of 11 hours to get him into the full Frankenstein costume. In my opinion this was well worth it; the horror genre was grown from carefully crafted costuming, and it’s something in the age of AI we have seemingly grown further from. It was refreshing to see this form of art make a comeback to the big screen, doing justice and paying homage to the style choices made in the original 1931 “Frankenstein” film.
Toro captured Shelley’s themes of nature versus nurture and explored the values of women’s roles within the family and as mothers very well. Instead of reimagining and reinventing her work into a tale like we’ve seen dozens of times in films before this one, he simply gave life to her work in this medium.
A 5 out of 5 on the spicy scale, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this winning many awards and even taking the place as the Frankenstein movie we all think of when thinking about the iconic monster. For anyone who has read the novel, this is a must see – and lucky for you, it’s now streaming on Netflix and can still be watched in a few select theaters.