Frankenstein rises again with bold Netflix adaptation

The character of Frankenstein is one that everyone knows, from the age of 8 to 80.

Owing to Mary Shelley’s novel falling into the public domain, there have been many interpretations of the doctor and his famous monster over the years.

When it was announced that Mexican auteur Guillermo Del Toro was making his own version for Netflix, there was a collective sense of “well, duh,” among film fans – of course the man who made his career making people love the monster wants to take a stab at Frankenstein.

By all accounts, Del Toro has made the definitive version of Frankenstein, building upon what James Whale did in the 1930s but putting his own 2025 spin on it.

The James Whale take on Frankenstein introduced what people associate with the monster – the pins in the neck, the green skin, the walk – and nearly 100 years later, Del Toro has added his own twist.

Frankenstein will be released on Netflix on November 7, and it’s a shame that the majority of people will only see this film at home.

A film like Frankenstein was designed for the big screen, and the fact that a film with this level of craft and technical expertise will be largely seen on people’s phones is a crying shame.

While comparisons to the James Whale movies are a given, Del Toro’s Frankenstein is very similar in tone and look to another big-budget gothic adaptation by an auteur, namely, Francis Ford Coppola’s version of Dracula.

The Godfather director’s last great masterpiece before Megaopolis, the 1992 spin on Dracula won a number of technical Oscars for its make-up work, sound and costume design.

It is likely that Frankenstein will steamroll the technical categories this awards season – and maybe even a nomination for Jacob Elordi.

Oscar Isaac stars as Victor Frankenstein, the creator, and it’s easy to forget that this was a man the Coens turned into a superstar.

When Inside Llewyn Davies hit in 2013, Isaac was cited as the successor to Al Pacino, but he got swallowed up by the Star Wars machine.

This film is a reminder of just how brilliant Isaac is when he’s working with the right material.

The story of Frankenstein is just as much about the creator as well as the monster, and Isaac gives the doctor some real gravitas.

The other side of the coin is Jacob Elordi as the monster, and his performance is, without hyperbole, one of the best performances of the year.

All 6”5 of Elordi is put to good use, and his usual dashing leading man looks are buried under make-up – yet, he gives a performance that may well be career-defining.

The role of the monster is incredibly demanding – it requires a lot of physical and non-verbal work – and it could have fallen apart in the hands of a lesser actor.

Elordi replaced Andrew Garfield in the role, and frankly, thank god he did.

The Aussie is simply sensational as the monster; a lesser actor would have grimaced at being under so much make-up or playing an unglamorous role, but Elordi gives himself over to the role.

Early Oscar talk indicates Stellan Skarsgaard will get his flowers for the Norwegian drama Sentimental Value, but it’s possible that Netflix pushes Elordi in Best Supporting Actor – he will certainly make our ballot.

Frankenstein looks every cent of its reported $120 million dollar budget; the most recent Mission: Impossible movie cost $400 million, and it didn’t look nearly as impressive as what Del Toro and his team pull off here.

It’s all well and good to lavish praise on the film for its gorgeous set design and immaculate-looking costumes, but what of the film itself?

That’s where it may rankle some purists.

Del Toro’s take on Frankenstein isn’t a straight-up adaptation, necessarily; it takes elements from the Mary Shelley novel, but Del Toro also adds in elements from Paradise Lost and, in some cases, adds in characters and plot beats that weren’t in the Shelley novel.

For instance, Del Toro adds in Christoph Waltz as a wealthy benefactor who funds Doctor Frankenstein’s research, and the monster is able to take a few bullets and have them regenerate ala Freddy Krueger or Wolverine.

The highlight of the film is when a blind man befriends the monster, and teaches him how to speak; it’s classic Del Toro and among the best work the Mexican auteur has ever done.

The same blind man was in the original novel, but the Del Toro twist is that he turns it into another parable about how we shouldn’t judge things on face value, much like Pan’s Labyrinth or The Shape Of Water.

It’s better to think of Del Toro’s take on Frankenstein as a remix, instead of a straight-up, faithful adaptation of the source material.

For people who love the Del Toro brand of gothic fantasy and making the monster as important as the humans, you will eat this up like a spoon.

For people who feel that Del Toro is a better stylist than a writer and that he’s more style than substance, the film may prove challenging to sit through.

The 2-and-a-half-hour runtime won’t sit right with some people – Bride Of Frankenstein is literally 75 minutes long and it’s one of the greatest films of all time! – but if you want to see what happens when Netflix go hands-off and let a great director go nuts with unlimited money, this is the movie to watch as the nights draw in.