Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” arrives on Netflix

Last day of the most recent San Sebastián Film Festival. For the sixth consecutive year, a surprise film was shown for critics who remained firm in their posts after an intense week of screenings. The chosen title was Frankensteinby Guillermo del Toro, which had received unanimous applause from critics during its appearance at the Venice Festival. Before the session, the Mexican filmmaker wanted to present the film with a brief video, in which he noted that Frankenstein was his favorite character since childhood, and the main reason that led him to become a director.

Faced with such an imposing statement, I feared the worst. It wouldn’t be the first case of a director ruining his favorite toy. However, Guillermo del Toro made his best film. Deeply knowledgeable about Mary Shelley’s original text and James Whale’s sensational adaptations in the 1930s, the Mexican director removed the visual excesses and dramatic Manichaeism of previous productions, which were as overrated as they were. Pan’s Labyrinth or The Shape of Water.

Visual spectacle in Frankenstein

The show is technically dazzling, likely to earn several Oscar nominations for the director’s usual team: composer Alexandre Desplat, director of photography Dan Laustsen and art designer Brandt Gordon. But the key that gives precision and depth to the story of Frankenstein It’s in the script, which knows how to incorporate new elements into an already well-known story.

The universality and timelessness of the plot are combined with a restructuring of the original text, which emphasizes the doctor’s scientific ambition and its degrading consequences for human nature, effects that largely extend to the other central characters.

Del Toro can’t quite shake his fascination with gore of its initial phase and leaves some operation scenes unnecessarily explicit. But this time it amply compensates the viewer with a more elegant and subtle romanticism, and a more luminous tenderness in the relationship between Frankenstein and his young lover, in the style of Beauty and the Beast. Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth end up stealing the spotlight from Oscar Isaac and Christoph Waltz, who become more predictable characters in their dehumanized greed.

Once again, a film that deserved to be seen on the big screen only remained in theaters for a few weeks. Now it is available on Netflix, where such an ambitious and convincing production was needed.

© 2025 Aceprensa. Published with permission. Original in Spanish.

• Frankenstein
• 2025
• 149 minutes
• Suitable for people over 18 years old
• Available on Netflix