Guillermo del Toro has been thinking of making his version of Frankenstein ever since early childhood. "It was then, at age 7, that del Toro decided the creature of Frankenstein would be "my personal avatar and my personal messiah," he says."
1Although "Frankenstein" is true to the feeling of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel of the same name, del Toro uses the novel as a starting point and incorporates ideas from the classic “Frankenstein” (1931), starring Boris Karloff. Told in three parts like the novel, "Frankenstein" is always a heartfelt, moving journey that explores who is really the monster.
Guillermo del Toro dislikes AI so everything in the film is real. The huge frozen ship in the beginning is real. Spaces look lived-in, this is immersive film making at it's finest. "Frankenstein" stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz.
Del Toro is Catholic so there is a lot of creation questions asked. The film is about a man's search to discover who he really is, inside and out. Every body part, scar and stitch is anatomically correct.
Del Toro in one of the 13 libraries at Bleak House"Frankenstein" is best seen in the theater with big sound. The overwhelming experience will not be the same on a TV. Netflix starts streaming Nov. 7th.
Watch the trailer
https://youtu.be/x--N03NO130Extra credit reading
‘Frankenstein’ Has Always Held Up a Mirror. What Does It Show Us Now?In Guillermo del Toro’s new version, the answer lies in how deeply it explores the relationship between creator and created.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/magazine/frankenstein-guillermo-del-toro-shelley.htmlTerry Gross's Fresh Air interview
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro says 'I'd rather die' than use generative AIhttps://www.npr.org/2025/10/23/nx-s1-5577963/guillermo-del-toro-frankenstein [1]
Guillermo del Toro on the Practical Magic Behind Frankenstein's ShipThe film's old school set design
https://youtu.be/ezncotSdXDQAnatomy of a Scene: Watch Oscar Isaac Create Life in ‘Frankenstein’The director Guillermo del Toro narrates a sequence in which Dr. Victor Frankenstein presents his findings at a disciplinary tribunal.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/movies/frankenstein-clip.html‘Frankenstein’ Review: Guillermo del Toro’s Creature RisesThe director’s interpretation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel is the movie he was born to make.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/movies/frankenstein-review.html"But this “Frankenstein” is unmistakably del Toro’s, and it bears every single one of his fingerprints. Lush, melodramatic, sweepingly romantic and achingly emotional, it is a tale of fathers and sons, of lovers and outcasts, of men as the true monsters. Abandoned creatures struggle to understand an excruciating world, and their creators, their parents, never fully understood it either. Shelley’s skeleton is there, but the flesh around it is del Toro’s."
