Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro adapts Mary Shelley’s incredibly influential 1818 Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus – the classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation. 

Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a story about stories, about fathers and sons, innocents and monsters, and the madness of creation, letting both Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and the creation (Jacob Elordi) tell their sides of the tale.  The film opens in the desolate Arctic, where Victor has chased his creation, and flashes back as Frankenstein relates his life’s story.  Aptly, this screen rendition is composed of stitched-together subgenres. It’s part fairy tale, part dark fantasy and part body-horror. But it’s perhaps best tagged as Gothic romanticism.  Every frame is filled with burnished images, elaborate symbolism, ornate production design and a lyrical score. It’s resolutely performed by all, dazzles with craft, and throbs with the passion of its creator.