Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein Review: He's Alive... and He's Gorgeous?
- Nov 10, 2025
- 3 min read
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I’ve been waiting for this one. Guillermo del Toro, our modern king of gothic romance, is back in his element with Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, which you can stream right now on Netflix. Starring a perfectly manic Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his creation, this is del Toro firing on all his favorite thematic cylinders. If you're looking for a definitive Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein review, let's start here: it’s exactly as stunning as you'd hope, and a little weird in ways you don't expect.
Right off the bat, forget any notion of a campy Halloween "monster movie". This isn't that. This is a prestige, "pass the Oscar" kind of film. It’s a true gothic romance to its core, less concerned with jump scares and more with the tragic, beating heart of the story. The craft is, as you'd imagine, breathtaking. The production design is "out of this world impressive", with del Toro’s team flexing with stunning practical animatronics where lesser films would just slather on the CGI.
The story is the classic one we all know, digging deep into that age-old question: who is the real monster?. And believe me, this film "hammer[s] it home" that Victor is the true villain. The performances from the entire cast, including Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz, are fantastic. But the entire film hinges on one central, very noticeable choice they made with the monster. Is that pretty face a brilliant new take or a monstrous misstep?
