Frankenstein (2025) - Review

It's been a while since I've posted, I know but, in that time, I've started my junior year of college, been working on my internship, and accelerated my graduation date a semester earlier than anticipated. It feels good to have some more time to sit down and get back to what I love, horror films. One such horror film that I recently had some time to watch has been on my most anticipated movies list of 2025 for months now, Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein.

If you've been a long-time reader of mine, you'll know that Del Toro's films are some of my absolute favorites! Crimson Peak being my favorite of his films - he displays such a love for gothic films based in horror with themes of romance and often times a great showcase of feminine strength and in Frankenstein 2025 (on Netflix) it's a horror focused film but the romantic throughlines and themes are what take the cake for me.

I'll start with my spoiler free section of my review before heading into spoiler territory but please, watch this film - it's an absolute treat to watch and the cast is incredible starring Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as The Creature and Mia Goth as Elizabeth and let me tell you, Mia Goth is the current scream queen ruling it all so you know it's going to be good!

Frankenstein is a 2.5 hour film and that made me a little nervous going into it even though I knew I would love the film anyways but I was scared that you would feel the runtime anyways but really, it moves at a really good pace to where I didn't ever feel like I was watching a 2.5 hour movie at all. The pacing is really well done and there's no filler scenes or anything that's put into the film just to pad out the runtime and honestly, I could've used a bit more runtime for some more scenes in some areas of the film.

The makeup is incredible as well with my first watch not even knowing Mia Goth plays both Victor Frankenstein's mother but also Elizabeth Harlander (his later love interest). I say that before the actual masterpiece makeup art of the film, but they gave Mia Goth eyebrows and suddenly I didn't realize it was her! But the Creature's makeup was incredible! Sometimes you know going into a film that a popular actor is playing a monster or some character that's not supposed to look anything like the actor, but you can still see it's the actor but Jacob Elordi dissolves into this role. The makeup is incredible on him, and I can't tell it's him at all unless I take myself out of the film entirely and his voice is menacing but also has a hint of child-like innocence and it's scary but comforting.

Now, I love this cast, and Mia Goth already had me sold but then you throw in Oscar Isaac and I'm sat! I also love Sci-fi films and Oscar Isaac in Dune part one as Duke Leto Atreides was one of my favorite parts of the film as well as his role in the Star Wars sequel trilogy as Poe Dameron and I just love this guy and he's in his element in this film! Unhinged, obsessed but caring and tender too and it's insane to watch. The cast really makes this film 80% of the greatness that it is and the other 20% is definitely the production design and the score of the film. As usual, Del Toro kills the period piece, and I'm convinced this man can NOT make a modern-day film because his period pieces are just who he is and they're breathtaking! The score is also incredible as it's done by probably my favorite composer in modern cinema, Alexandre Desplat (Composer of The King 2018, Little Women 2019, The French Dispatch, and more). This score is both elegant and refined but also grotesque and angry and it's done in a way that in several scenes, I'll admit I was really only listening to the score and not really paying attention to the scene itself.

That's about all I can say without getting into spoilers so please, stop reading here and come back after you've watched the film.

Frankenstein 2025 by Guillermo Del Toro - Netflix

I found myself walking away from this film (or closing Netflix on my phone while still in bed), wanting more of Mia Goth's character Elizabeth. I understand that this film is called Frankenstein for a reason and it is about Victor and his story but Elizabeth introduced a lot of interesting ideas such as her love for insects and I honestly wanted more about her. I feel like they introduced interesting character traits and started a tiny character arc but then kind of just ended it abruptly. My only negative aspect of Elizabeth's story is how complex her feelings were for all of the men in this film because she's engaged to Victor's brother, kind of flirts and toys with Victor and loves the Creature. It's her relationship with Victor I don't quite get and I wish we got more of an explanation and maybe we don't need one but even just one more scene or one more line of dialogue to make it just a tiny bit more clear because I honestly thought that Elizabeth loved Victor and was trying to get with him as much as he was trying to be with her until her wedding night and she just slapped him and that's the end of it.

I do love that her wedding dress resembled the traditional image we have of the bride of Frankenstein with the sleeves looking like bandages and straps hanging from her arms and we got to see a little taste of that in her final monologue that I thought was wonderful as she lay dying in the cave. On the subject of monologue, while it's nothing long, it's probably the most impactful part of the film, the Creature asks Victor to make him a partner, someone to love since the creature cannot die and must live forever, he does not want to be alone in that and when Victor refuses, the creature says, "If you will not award me love, I will indulge in rage" and that sent chills down my spine because you really then start to hate Victor but you also understand where he and the monster are coming from and there's not a clear antagonist or protagonist there's just differing perspectives on life and death and I think that's the most impactful way to convey that complex topic. So many other films try to do that but if there's one theme that Guillermo Del Toro likes to explore, it's death in relation to aspects of life.

In Crimson Peak, we explore love in relation to death and in Pan's Labyrinth we explore youth and imagination in relation to death, in the anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities (also on Netflix) though not entirely directed by Del Toro it's heavily influenced by his touch and we explore death in relation to faith and hope in nearly every episode of the series.

The ending of this film is the only part I did not entirely feel satisfied with. I understand that the creature and Victor have a relationship to one another that is unspoken and touches them in a way that it doesn't to an audience and that's on purpose but Victor simply saying "I'm sorry" to the creature that has nothing. No death, eternal life that he did not want, no love, no family, no home and he just forgives Victor after "I'm sorry". To the characters I'm sure that's incredibly touching and it makes sense, but to an audience, it feels a little sloppy. I don't know if I have an alternative ending, I'd rather see but I think I'd rather have the creature just not forgive Victor. The ending shot of the creature facing the rising sun on the frozen tundra is freaking awesome though since we usually see monsters and horror films take place in mainly the dark or at least not on nice weather days but the dichotomy of this "unnatural" being with scars and rotting pieced together flesh staring directly into the rising sun full of warmth and light was a nice way to end the film.

Overall, I give Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein 2025 a 9.5/10.