Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025) | Film Review

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025) | Film Review

Guillermo Del Toro is able to blend two extreme themes into a perfect amalgamation of cinematic goodness, gothic chic and romance. Frankenstein is a tender, cruel story of human nature and the corruption of the natural. Guillermo brings to life this classic tale once again for the screen in his distinct tone of voice, through the lens of emotion and humanity. This is not your familiar Frankenstein story, this is Guillermo’s Frankenstein. It’s soft, it’s romantic but most of all it’s heartbreakingly tender.  

Frankenstein is a monstrous tale of an unnatural creature with the capability to feel, the ability to love and fight against his creator. Guillermo’s Frankenstein is brought to life only to long for death. Jacob Elordi, despite his lack of dialogue, brings an exceedingly beautiful performance to screen. His physicality, his voice and his soft approach to the creature all materialised into a memorable and beautiful portrayal of the infamous literary character. 

Alongside Oscar Isaac whose Victor Frankenstein is compelling. His portrayal of the character was forceful and quickly transforms him into a villain, a power hungry scientist with no morals. 

Guillermo is a filmmaker who I admire, his attention to detail like Victor’s red gloves representing the blood on his hands, the use of practical effects, set design and costume all compliment one another into a magnificent visual feast. 

Frankenstein (2025) is a reimagining of the familiar story, it is not a remake. Therefore, the film lacked the grotesque aspect of the monsters nature, the unavoidable violence and innocent harm caused by the monster was neglected. Frankenstein (2025) is a softer version of the character, a gothic story yes but a more lovingly, romantic, heart wrenching approach. 

Overall, Frankenstein (2025) was a memorable, tender approach to the classic tale. It was not the monster movie or interpretation I was expecting. In humanising the creature, we lost elements of his backstory and character progression. The ‘monster’ was hardly a monster at all, robbing the character of his crucial poetic tension the very idea that he exists between his humanity and his grotesque nature. 

Probe Points

★★★.5