‘Frankenstein’ (2025) Review: A Modern Take On A Gothic Classic

Guillermo Del Toro’s long-awaited ‘Frankenstein’ has now been released. How is the film as an adaptation?

A gothic staple has just recently had yet another adaptation. No, I’m not talking about Bram Stoker’s vampire novel, ‘Dracula’. I am talking about the other one that should come to your mind…’Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus‘ by Mary Shelley. Shelley’s classic novel will be celebrating its 208th anniversary on January 1st, and this year we have a new adaptation from Guillermo Del Toro.

Released limitedly in theaters beginning on October 17th, there is now the recent November 7th Netflix release. Frankenstein (2025) is a new take on the classic.

Another Frankenstein story?

This is not the first adaptation of Frankenstein, and frankly (no pun intended), probably not the last. We have seen plenty of adaptations over the 207 years of this classic. We’ve got the Universal Monsters, a James McAvoy-led take, and my personal favorite teen girl take of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’. Every story, while great in some aspects, may be missing in other aspects. This is my first ever ‘classic’ Frankenstein story because I have a confession to make. My confession? I have not read ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus‘

My experience with Frankenstein

A still of Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein (2025). (Image: Netflix)

A gothic staple has just recently had yet another adaptation. No, I’m not talking about Bram Stoker’s vampire novel, ‘Dracula’. I am talking about the other one that should come to your mind…’Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus‘ by Mary Shelley. Shelley’s classic novel will be celebrating its 208th anniversary on January 1st, and this year we have a new adaptation from Guillermo Del Toro.

Released limitedly in theaters beginning on October 17th, there is now the recent November 7th Netflix release. Frankenstein (2025) is a new take on the classic.

Another Frankenstein story?

This is not the first adaptation of Frankenstein, and frankly (no pun intended), probably not the last. We have seen plenty of adaptations over the 207 years of this classic. We’ve got the Universal Monsters, a James McAvoy-led take, and my personal favorite teen girl take of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’. Every story, while great in some aspects, may be missing in other aspects. This is my first ever ‘classic’ Frankenstein story because I have a confession to make. My confession? I have not read ‘Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus‘

My experience with Frankenstein

Maybe my confession isn’t actually that big of a deal in the grand scheme of everything. Not everyone has read every literary classic (If you have, props to you). I think it may be a bigger deal to me because Frankenstein, as a story, is so culturally relevant. It is just surprising to myself that I have never even tried to take a crack at reading the novel. I’ve even tried reading Dracula in the past, which I have not finished. I am setting a goal to read it sometime in the next year or so, though.

Gulliermo Del Toro’s take on the classic story

Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation has been almost twenty years in the making. Del Toro first expressed his interest in adapting Shelley’s story in 2007. He had also previously been public about his interest in casting English actor, Benedict Cumberbatch, as The Creature. While we did not end up getting a Cumberbatch intrepretation of The Creature, we still ended up with a great cast.

The cast of Frankenstein (2025)

Guillermo Del Toro is no stranger to having great casts in his films. From Crimson Peak, to Nightmare Alley, he knows how to find a cast. However, I think Frankenstein may be one of his best in my opinion. We’ve got Sci-Fi favorite Oscar Isaac, modern-day “scream queen” Mia Goth, and two-time Academy Award Winner Christoph Waltz. My only complaint here is that we did not get nearly enough Christoph Waltz in my opinion. However, lack of Waltz aside, there is another member of the cast who I wanted to bring some recognition to.

The Creature

The cast member I wanted to recognize was Jacob Elordi with his portrayal of The Creature. For anyone who remembers the initial casting announcement, the initial casting of The Creature was Andrew Garfield. However, due to scheduling conflicts as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strikes, Andrew Garfield ended dropping out of the project. Jacob Elordi was announced as Andrew Garfield’s replacement, and a lot of folks, myself included, were initially skeptical. Elordi is mainly known for portrayal of the toxic high school boyfriend from hell, Nate Jacobs, in Euphoria. He is also known for his role in Saltburn, and for his controversial casting in the upcoming Wurthering Heights adaptation. While many actors can sucessfully break out of the ‘heartthrob’ mold, I was unsure. However, I was pleasantly surprised by his portrayal of The Creature

The performances

Frankenstein (2025) is a story where the performances in the film can make or break the overall movie. The tricky part of dialogue-heavy period pieces is that you need to make sure that the cast can carry. Del Toro’s cast did not disappoint one bit when came to this adaptation. Oscar Isaac plays the role of a deranged mad scientist exceptionally well in his portrayal of Victor Frankenstein. There were moments where I felt sympathy for him, but also moments where I wanted his downfall to happen. Mia Goth’s portrayal of Elizabeth Harlander is an interesting one. I expected her to be some sort of damsel in distress, but she puts up a fight. Also, her chemistry with both Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi is believable. Last, but not least, Jacob Elordi plays The Creature with both a sense of moral ambiguity but also humanity.

The other high points of the film

Acting performances aside, there were other aspects of the film that I enjoyed throughly. I found the direction to be very well done and the overall gothic aesthetic of the film to be beautiful in a haunting sense. But I think that my favorite part of the film hands down would happen to be the castle sets and the costume design. One of my favorite parts of the costume design were the dresses worn by Mia Goth throughout the entire film. My other favorite costume design would be The Creature design for Jacob Elordi, which was so well done that I initially forgot it was him.

Overall thoughts

I enjoyed this film a lot. I found it to be a very well-crafted and visually stunning movie. However, my only real gripe about the film is I would have liked to have seen more. I wanted more of the moral ambiguity and the line between humanity and monstrosity, as I believe that is the most important part of this story. Overall, I give this film a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Frankenstein (2025) is now available to stream on Netflix and available in select theaters.