Frankenstein (2025)

The least subtle screenplay ever made, but the production design goes so hard I don’t even care.

I liked this more than I thought I would. It’s an overly indulgent Guillermo del Toro film with lots of detailed creature dissection and biology, which is exactly what you’d expect from him. I was on board for all of it - the gross anatomy, the meticulous creature design, the obsessive attention to how bodies work and fail. That’s del Toro’s wheelhouse and he delivers.

The screenplay is one of the least subtle I’ve ever seen. At the end, Jacob Elordi’s creature literally tells Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein, “You’re the monster,” just in case you somehow missed the entire point of the 200-year-old novel. It’s almost hilariously on-the-nose, but you know what? It still works.

I did pick up on a strong thread of Christian pro-life hypocrisy in this watch. It felt like an allegory for someone who forces a birth that no one wanted, then just abuses and neglects what they created. They want life for the sake of life without dealing with the consequences of that choice. And then when they do have to face those consequences, they react with violence and rejection. I don’t know if that’s the intended read, but that’s what I took away this time, and it made the whole thing feel urgently relevant.

As always, Guillermo’s production design is top-notch. The gothic laboratory, the creature’s physicality, the period detail - it’s all gorgeous and tactile and feels fully realized. Del Toro remains undefeated when it comes to making things look incredible.

Jacob Elordi I thought did okay, which is better than I expected. I had really low expectations for him given how absurdly beautiful he is, but I get it now. He’s a 6’5” man with those big doughy eyes, and he does make it easy to love him while also being physically imposing even though he’s built like a string bean. The height alone sells the “unnatural creation” aspect, and his face does the emotional heavy lifting. I was genuinely impressed.

Oscar Isaac is great as the suave doctor who descends into madness after creating life, then abusing it and being a horrible dad. His Victor is obsessed with milk and his mom in ways that feel appropriately Freudian and weird. He makes you understand why Victor does what he does while also making you hate him for it.

I read the book in freshman year of college and I don’t recall loving it. But I felt like I connected more with the story this time through del Toro’s lens, and I appreciate that a lot. Sometimes you need the right adaptation to make something click.

Yeah, I think I liked it. Four stars.

Also on Letterboxd