Frankenstein- 61st Chicago International Film Festival
October 16th, 2025
MOVIE: FRANKENSTEIN
STARRING: OSCAR ISAAC, JACOB ELORDI, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, MIA GOTH
DIRECTED BY: GUILLERMO DEL TORO
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 3 ½ STARS (Out of 4)
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 149 MINUTES
There have been countless interpretations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein brought to life on screen, but for legendary director Guillermo del Toro, creating his own version has long been a dream project. That dream, now realized, is a gift to audiences. Following the Oscar-winning success of his stop-motion Pinocchio, del Toro takes on the madness of Victor Frankenstein and the timeless tale of a man who dares to play God. What sets this version apart is its discovery of a soul within the man-made monster. With meticulous attention to detail, haunting themes of life and death, and a phenomenal ensemble cast, Frankenstein comes alive with spectacular results.
The film opens in the icy Arctic, where Victor (Oscar Isaac) is attacked by the Creature (Jacob Elordi). Rescued by soldiers struggling to free their ship from the frozen landscape, Victor recounts the events that led him there. This framing device allows del Toro to divide the narrative into two parts: one from the creator’s perspective, and the other from the Creature’s. Together, they form a profound examination of both man and maker—Victor’s obsessive pursuit of his work, followed by his shame and rejection of the result, and the Creature’s desperate search for love and acceptance. In classic del Toro fashion, this is a story about outsiders—those deemed “other”—whose longing for love drives them to obsession and despair.
Del Toro takes a full-circle approach, beginning with Victor as a boy, deeply attached to his mother and submissive to his stern father (Charles Dance). When his mother dies in childbirth, he’s shattered, setting him on a path to conquer death. Rejected by academia, Victor finds an unlikely patron in aristocrat Harlander (Christoph Waltz), while Harlander’s niece Elizabeth (Mia Goth) becomes Victor’s muse and moral compass. Del Toro fills every frame with richness—intricate sets, discarded body parts, cryptic journals, and uncanny medical devices. 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.
But it’s the second half—told from the Creature’s point of view—that truly elevates the film. Jacob Elordi delivers a haunting, transcendent performance. His Creature is tragic, yearning for love, terrified by his own existence, and unable to fully articulate his needs. Fleeing from destruction, he hides in a forest and later within the gears of an old farmhouse mill. There, he secretly helps a family who believes the benevolent acts are from a forest spirit. He also forms a deeply moving bond with a blind man (David Bradley), through which he finds connection and humanity. It’s in these quiet, tender moments that the Creature becomes something more than a cast-off experiment—he becomes painfully, beautifully human.
What lingers most in this Frankenstein is its depth. Like Prometheus or Alien: Covenant, it grapples with the psychology of creation and destruction. Its true horror lies not in the grotesque, but in the emotional void—the need for love, the fear of death, the obsession with legacy. Del Toro clearly draws inspiration from the Universal Monster classics of James Whale, the authenticity of Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 version, and the boldness of Hammer Films, yet this film remains unmistakably his own.
Frankenstein is a stunning, deeply thoughtful work of cinema. Its pacing may feel slow at times, keeping it just shy of perfection—but with repeat viewings, those flaws fade. At its heart lies a career-defining performance from Jacob Elordi and a production crafted with reverence and artistry. Yes, it’s another retelling—but this version is unlike any other. Guillermo del Toro has made his dream real—and in doing so, created something unforgettable.
3 ½ STARS
FRANKENSTEIN IS PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS OCTOBER 17TH, 2025, EXPANDING OCTOBER 24TH, AND AVAILABLE ON NETFLIX NOVEMBER 7TH, 2025.
Written by: Leo Brady
