Frankenstein (2025)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
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121 films that influenced Frankenstein
What critics say influenced Frankenstein
Even though this take on the character looks distractingly similar to the Engineers in Prometheus, this does highlight how the Creature is less of a monster, so much as he’s grotesquely beautiful, in his own way.
Jacob Elordi is a very conventionally attractive man whose monster is designed like a blend of the Engineers from Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy.
He looks like those God aliens in Prometheus.
…when the Creature is revealed for the first time, gigantic in stature and pale, translucent naked, he does resemble the Engineers from Ridley Scott’s Prometheus…
Jacob Elordi has the size (6’5”) to be the monster, but his design makes him look like a plastic god from the opening credits of “Prometheus.”
…he vaguely resembles the Engineers from “Prometheus” in the “Aliens” franchise.
Like Prometheus or Alien: Covenant, it grapples with the psychology of creation and destruction.
He often comes across as sniveling and privileged, much like Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator.
Director
James Whale
Critics invoke Whale by name, and compare Frankenstein to 2 of Whale’s films.
Visuals Characters
On Whale, rather than any one film
…starting from the silent era in 1910 to the James Whale films for Universal Studios in the ‘30s and ‘40s…
…previously erected on Hollywood soundstages by the likes of James Whale and Kenneth Branagh…
…all more faithful to Mary Shelley than to James Whale and Boris Karloff…
…(the creature could barely speak in James Whale’s original Universal monster movie)…
…for my grandfather who loved James Whale’s Frankenstein and died the week I last re-read the novel…
The James Whale Frankenstein films in particular: big Erlenmeyer flasks, coils crackling with electric energy, Boris Karloff clomping around in that squared-off makeup.
…but also the 1931 movie and the sequel, Bride of Frankenstein…
Frankenstein (4 ¾ stars, 1931, directed by James Whale)…
…el icónico ‘Frankenstein’ de Whale…
…he first set enraptured eyes on James Whale’s classic “Frankenstein,” from 1931…
…but also the 1931 movie and the sequel, Bride of Frankenstein…
…expanding the humanity James Whale achieved for in his classic 1930s “Frankenstein” pictures, “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein.”
Goth’s Bride of Frankenstein-inspired wedding dress alone should get costume designer Kate Hawley an Oscar nomination.
The old “Bride of Frankenstein” attempted to humanize the Monster (the blind hermit had a brief but telling scene), but the dominant themes of that classic were horror and camp.
…the films that came after it (Bride of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and even comedies like Young Frankenstein)…
…not that most of the sequels, remakes, and spinoffs since the franchise-best Bride of Frankenstein have been anything to write home about…
Lanthimos’s similarly themed Alasdair Gray adaptation, Poor Things…
Poor Things (2023; Disney+, Hulu, rentable): Emma Stone plays a sort of female Creature in Yorgos Lanthimos’ adaptation of a novel that riffs on the Frankenstein mythos.
Having recently seen a variety of films inspired by Shelley’s work, including Poor Things, Lisa Frankenstein, and The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster…
…unlike the brilliant and far more interesting film on the Frankensteinian theme: Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things.
Given the influence of Shelley’s novel on everything from Godzilla and Jurassic Park to Under the Skin and Poor Things…
It’s not steampunk porn like Poor Things…
…one that asks key questions about what it means to be human (as Bugonia does)…
…a preponderance of autopsies as proof — Bugonia, A House of Dynamite, Die My Love, (sneakily) Blue Moon…
Peter Boyle’s all-singing-all-dancing creature in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein…
…satires like Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974)…
I will confess to experiencing flashbacks to Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein…
…fondly reminiscing about Gene Hackman’s fabulous cameo in Young Frankenstein…
Young Frankenstein (4 ¾ stars, 1974, directed by Mel Brooks)…
Mel Brooks’s 1974 classic Young Frankenstein…
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…and Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula…
…which recalls both Interview With the Vampire and Bram Stoker's Dracula in vibe…
Her funeral recalls Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992).
…recalls Gary Oldman in his blood red armour in Francis Ford Coppola’s kindred goth opera, Bram Stoker’s Dracula…
…it’s honestly more similar to Coppola’s Dracula than either of them…
Francis Ford Coppola’s blood-soaked, bawdy, and shamelessly ludicrous “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” his “Frankenstein” is not…
No, this isn’t at the Megalopolis level of director passion projects…
They often range from the ambitiousness of Peter Jackson’s King Kong to the fascinatingly disastrous wonders of projects like Megalopolis.
There’s a wastefulness that comes with ultimate creative freedom, and while this is by no means “Megalopolis” levels of that, they do share some bones in their unfettered approaches.
**Looking at you, Megalopolis.
I’ll do a full written and video review of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis.
…all the way to Michael Corleone’s fall into the very underworld that his father hoped he would rise above…
Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now…
Director
Tim Burton
Critics invoke Burton by name, and compare Frankenstein to 4 of Burton’s films.
Visuals Music
On Burton, rather than any one film
Del Toro has an almost Burton-like affinity for misunderstood misfits…
…inflected with Burtonian adolescent glee…
…distinguishes del Toro from Tim Burton’s black Gothic rock…
…una estética que oscila entre la ambientación típica de Tim Burton y el carácter ornamental de los live-action de Disney…
Without Tim Burton’s comic sensibility…
…a propulsive score by Alexandre Desplat that’s reminiscent of the old Danny Elfman / Tim Burton collaborations…
Frankenstein belongs in the long lineage of films about creation and possession, from Edward Scissorhands to Ex Machina…
There are shades of similarity to Edward Scissorhands in both visuals and soundtrack on more than one occasion…
…nos remite en más de una ocasión a la placidez incorruptible del “Edward Scissorhands” de Tim Burton…
With looming grace and the fluffy heart of a Golden Labrador, Elordi, standing in for a departing Andrew Garfield, turns out to be the most swooning Goth heart-throb since Edward Scissorhands emerged from Vincent Price’s laboratory.
…the monster shares a good deal more with Edward Scissorhands…
His journey recalls Edward Scissorhands in tone — watching him quietly observe a family from afar, acting as their unseen protector, and forming a tender bond with the family’s blind patriarch is deeply affecting.
There’s been Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Frankenweenie, Frankenhooker, and my favorite, Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.
…let’s not forget Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie (4 ¼ stars, 2012)…
The story has been moulded into numerous adaptations, parodies and spoofs, including Young Frankenstein (1974), Blackenstein (1973), Frankenhooker (1990), Frankenweenie (2012), and, most recently, Lisa Frankenstein (2024).
…a beloved dog brought back to life in 2012’s FRANKENWEENIE…
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is akin to Tim Burton’s Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, or Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.
Perhaps the project should have been reconceived as a musical, in the vein of Phantom of the Opera or Sweeney Todd…
The opening sequence, where the Creature wages a brutal attack on the trapped ship, combines period setting, primitive technology, and superhuman violence in a way that feels more Hellboy than his actual Hellboy films.
At the very least, this part of the movie looks excellent, with del Toro finding the perfect vehicle to show off his love of practical effects and creature design. Early prototypes for the Creature are particularly fun, with all the halting, wheezing and mechanical trickery that made Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth such memorable experiences.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein is more Hellboy in its presentation…
Su cine siempre ha rezumado algo de la novela de Mary Shelley, en películas más personales como La forma del agua o en su participación en sagas como la de Hellboy: la relación entre humanidad y monstruosidad, la crítica a la violencia contra lo diferente, la capacidad de sentir de las criaturas, la creación de formas de vida, etc.
…the unorthodox father-son relationship between Bruttlehoom and Hellboy…
…from his version of “Pinocchio” and “Hellboy” to “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
Like the director’s 2015 Gothic romance Crimson Peak, this is a film that feels big…
…more Hellboy in its presentation than it is Crimson Peak…
…algo que ya había explorado en La cumbre escarlata (Crimson Peak, 2015), película que hoy puede leerse como antesala de esta por su estilo gótico…
Think Mary Shelley meets Crimson Peak. If you loved that film, you’ll love this.
Its architecture and surrounding landscape are reminiscent of the aforementioned Crimson Peak as well as Pan’s Labyrinth (2006).
The flocked velvet and crumbling stone of Crimson Peak are reflected in the costuming…
…or seeking to control and even conquer death in Cronos…
While Frankenstein shares thematic DNA with Pinocchio, there are shades of Crimson Peak, Cronos, The Shape of Water, and Nightmare Alley, making the film feel like a culmination of del Toro’s cinematic obsessions.
The design of Frankenstein pulls heavily from del Toro’s earlier works, most notably Cronos, which shares a lot of common DNA with this classic horror tale.
Elordi, buried under nearly unrecognizable prosthetics and a creature design reminiscent of the marbled vampires from del Toro’s Cronos or Blade II…
A Catholic tableau come to fiery life, she’s a classic del Toro image, reminiscent of the winged seraphs in “Cronos” (1992) and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (2008).
The theme of man as the real monster has already been present in earlier GDT movies like Cronos, The Shape of Water, and Pan’s Labyrinth…
…or a creator washing his hands of the monster he creates (Nightmare Alley)…
In “Nightmare Alley” (2021), which sets us among the misshapen denizens of a travelling circus, a tall, handsome seducer is the only real freak in sight.
…like Nightmare Alley, it’s immaculate and bland…
While it’s not at the level of The Shape of Water or Nightmare Alley, there are few directors who inspire this much style.
While Frankenstein shares thematic DNA with Pinocchio, there are shades of Crimson Peak, Cronos, The Shape of Water, and Nightmare Alley, making the film feel like a culmination of del Toro’s cinematic obsessions.
As he has demonstrated in films like The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, Hellboy, and others, Del Toro has an almost Burton-like affinity for misunderstood misfits.
Elordi, buried under nearly unrecognizable prosthetics and a creature design reminiscent of the marbled vampires from del Toro’s Cronos or Blade II…
…the type of brutal kills that could be found in del Toro’s earlier work like Blade II…
“Crimson Peak” and “Blade II” were laughably bad, and “Nightmare Alley” was so forgettable that… well, I completely forgot about its existence.
Beyond Fest Celebrates the Career of Guillermo del Toro With a Stacked Cinematic Retrospective
The screenings will include favorites like ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,' ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘Blade II,’ and more.
…big-budget Hollywood blockbusters like Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), and Pacific Rim (2013)…
Comic book adaptations Blade II (2002) and Hellboy (2004) position literal creatures, Blade (Wesley Snipes) and Hellboy (Ron Perlman), as the last line of defense against murderers and villains…
…está en el robot con la cabeza plana emulando a Karloff en Pacific Rim (2013)…
Guillermo del Toro has tackled these ideas with such depth and beauty before—the sexual exploration we find in The Shape of Water, the unfettered and terrifying lust of Crimson Peak, the maturity of two minds meeting in drift compatibility in Pacific Rim.
The movies of his I love — “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Shape of Water,” “Pacific Rim,” “The Devil’s Backbone” — I adore with an almost frightening intensity.
Even somewhat disposable fare like “Pacific Rim” has a rousing message of unifying strength set against its blockbuster spectacle.
His work alternates between character-driven atmospheric horror—The Devil’s Backbone (2001) Crimson Peak (2015), and Nightmare Alley (2021)—and big-budget Hollywood blockbusters like Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), and Pacific Rim (2013).
Kate Hawley’s (Pacific Rim; Crimson Peak) costume design is refined and thoughtful…
…reminiscent of the winged seraphs in “Cronos” (1992) and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (2008).
…big-budget Hollywood blockbusters like Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), and Pacific Rim (2013)…
Perhaps he feels that “Jurassic Park” warning (that just because man can doesn’t mean he should) has been sufficiently dissected in other horror movies.
Given the influence of Shelley’s novel on everything from Godzilla and Jurassic Park to Under the Skin and Poor Things…
Jurassic Park found the perfect balance when it comes to making the unattainable seem feasible: less is more—just enough to tease believability without providing a lengthy essay.
…you were too preoccupied with whether or not you could, you didn’t stop to think if you should”, as Jurassic Park‘s Ian Malcolm might say…
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…in the spirit of The Simpsons′ immortal parody of King Kong…
Like King Kong, Elordi’s Creature is a lumbering giant always exuding tragic humanity.
…any more than Peter Jackson’s similarly cherished King Kong could replace its beloved source…
I think the TV edit of the original King Kong really did a number on a lot of guys at a young age (self included). We’re told “Kong falls in love and dies for it,” not “Kong sexually assaults a woman, kills and eats other people and wild animals so he can continue to do so, and though she survives the rescue, she will likely have PTSD the rest of her life.”
…much like when a “King Kong” movie must contain the line, “It was beauty that killed the beast.”
They often range from the ambitiousness of Peter Jackson’s King Kong to the fascinatingly disastrous wonders of projects like Megalopolis.
…it lacks the meticulous craft and brooding intensity that made last year’s “Nosferatu”—another retelling of an oft-worn tale—so hauntingly immersive.
Motion pictures can make familiar ancient texts feel new again through sumptuous imagery, as with Akira Kurosawa’s Ran or last year’s Nosferatu.
I find Frankenstein a more rewarding experience than last year’s Nosferatu…
Este caso recuerda lo ocurrido hace poco con Nosferatu (2024), de Robert Eggers, otro proyecto largamente anhelado que terminó realizado con solidez.
…it thrives where Nosferatu (2024) begins to struggle in its own second hour, under the dual burden of the weight of expectation and, worse, a sudden, unexpected shift in tone toward – arguably – camp.
…desde la nueva versión de «Nosferatu» (2024) de Robert Eggers…
…like Dracula in Nosferatu or Hamlet in The Northman…