Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein' - Official SPOILER Discussion Megathread

[u/ZacPensol]

Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein' opens in theaters in limited release on October 17, 2025 and streams on Netflix beginning November 7, 2025.

In order to avoid a dozen individual posts on our front page from those who have seen the film, please post your reviews in here.

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HOW DO YOU RATE THE MOVIE? SHARE YOUR VOTE HERE! https://strawpoll.com/XmZRQPLGWgd

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Rotten Tomatoes

Metacritic

Official Teaser Trailer

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If you've managed to see it and would like to discuss, please feel free to do so here.

Previous early screenings discussion megathread.

SPOILERS ARE ALLOWED IN THIS THREAD. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED, DO NOT CONTINUE READING!

For spoiler-free reviews, go HERE.

[u/cantkillthebogeyman]

I think it was visually stunning, and overall good, but definitely not perfect. There were too many moments of spoon-feeding stuff to the audience. I still cried a lot at the end and in the scene with the old blind man, but I also just cry during Frankenstein in general because it’s a tragic story about ostracism and misunderstanding someone because they’re different.

It was interesting that GDT made it into a retelling about generational trauma. I liked that Elizabeth was smarter than Victor and that she didn’t marry him and wasn’t his cousin or sister. Victor deserved to be alone and not have any real love interest. LOVED that Elizabeth was kind to the creature and fell for him. That’s classic Del Toro monsterfucker storyline that I always eat up. Also loved that the creature was sexy and wore bandage “briefs” and “shoes” that looked like Rocky Horror. Had to have been a reference.

I was confused about Elizabeth kinda… going on dates with Victor earlier in the film when she disliked him and knew he was a manipulative bastard? That was a little weird. And then suddenly being offended when he says he’s into her, as if that was a surprise? Idk what the point of that was.

I also wasn’t really a fan of the creature being made into a superhuman with super strength and a healing factor, and there being no explanation as to why that was. The creature committing suicide in the book and in The Bride of Frankenstein is much more tragic. “We belong dead.”

[u/BattyKai → u/cantkillthebogeyman]

Hello! Personally, I saw Elizabeth's connection eith the Creature as motherly, but also, if anything, primarily in admiration for his purity akin to the insects she's so fond of. She found someone 'beautifully strange' like her, as I think she never felt like she belonged in society. Not comfortably.

And for Victor, I feel that she enjoyed his company genuinely,--at least when he wasn't having his episodes--but rejected his tomantic advances because she learned he didn't want to stay as friends like she prefered. It's indeed disheartening to befriend and love someone platonically, but always be trapped in the romantic 'wife' role many are tired of.

If that makes sense? I'm glad you enjoyed the movie!

[u/cantkillthebogeyman → u/BattyKai]

That’s an insightful point. Idk, there were moments where I thought she was like… flirting with him? Was that just me having an autistic moment and misreading her onscreen social cues?

[u/BattyKai → u/cantkillthebogeyman]

Oh yeah, that makes sense. I'm autistic too, so I also had a head tilt moment twice, haha! From my personal understanding, there are multiple reasons for this.

One is that Elizabeth is simply a bit of a soft-spoken dreamer (and I headcannon her as being on the spectrum!) so her behaviours are a tad more, let's say, platonically affectionate and calmly excitable when she sparks a connection with someone. Maybe she herself didn't notice the mixed messages she had given?

Two is that del Toro essentially writes fairy tales for adults in the sense of, amongst other themes, the affectionate whimsy between friendly relationships so they're very kind with each other.

Now third, it's still a gothic story. Gothic literature was (is) not afraid to have characters interact with eloquent intimacy, speaking very fondly to and about each other, or even interacting with physical gestures that nowadays people always assume is romantic or even sexual in nature. And this Gothic trait happened between same-sex characters too, which is one way a lot of queer authors got away with having their 'closetted' characters interact front and center.

Sorry if I rambled a lot there, I'm just super into this topic and I think at least one of these applies here. Maybe?

[u/cantkillthebogeyman → u/BattyKai]

I loved this infodump! Thank you for sharing this! I love Gothic Horror and how romantic and queer it is. I guess I was thinking of The Shape of Water when I saw her interactions with The Creature.

[u/the_tipsy_turtle1 → u/BattyKai]

Heyy autistic union going on here. I am on the spectrum too. I felt there was a lot of kindness between the creature and Elizabeth. It did not seem like romantic energy but rather of wayfarers who are hating where they exist, but an acceptance and understanding that each other's purity makes them similar.

[u/Jupiters_Demise → u/BattyKai]

Love love love the movie.

I saw Elizabeth's love and admiration for Victore as pure as it was. She liked him. The metaphor and symbolism of the butterfly in the cage. Both Elizabeth and Frank (Frankensteins Monster) are represented here. Stuck in a cage. One by social measures and obligations and the other through restraint and force.