Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein: When men become monsters

Published October 24, 2025 6:00am ET



“Only monsters play God.” This is the tagline of Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The film, which stars Oscar Isaac as the titular egotistical scientist and Jacob Elordi as the creature he creates, was released to limited theaters on Oct. 17 and will hit Netflix on Nov. 7. The tagline signals what the movie delivers: a return to the central themes of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece and a rejection of the green, block-headed zombie we’ve come to associate with Frankenstein.

The film is delightfully gothic, with elaborate costumes and scenery clearly chosen for vibes rather than verisimilitude. Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein, for example, looks more like an emo rock star than a gentleman from the 1850s; the film changes the time period from the 1700s of the novel to the 1800s. There are gigantic stone towers, vast vaulted chambers, wide staircases for women to walk down wearing flowing white nightgowns while holding candelabras, and lots and lots of lightning. 

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