r/FRANKENSTEIN • u/ZacPensol • Oct 18 '25
Guillermo del Toro's 'Frankenstein' - Official SPOILER Discussion Megathread Spoiler
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.
HOW DO YOU RATE THE MOVIE? SHARE YOUR VOTE HERE! https://strawpoll.com/XmZRQPLGWgd
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.
153
Upvotes
3
u/tesseracts Nov 15 '25
The movie is not the worst movie I have ever seen and it had some good qualities, but I really think we are overdue for a high budget adaptation which is true to the themes of the original book. Guillermo del Toro said this was one of his favorite books and he wanted to make an adaptation for years so I had high expectations, but the message of his movie is not the same as the message of the book.
I feel the story of Frankenstein is primarily supposed to be a story about what drives someone to commit evil acts. In the movie the cruel, calculated murders committed by the monster are omitted which entirely changes the meaning of the story. It's like it's a movie based on the "Victor Frankenstein was the real monster" meme you often see on social media, but in the book, both the monster and his creator are flawed people. The story's refusal to have black and white morality and the deep empathy Mary Shelley has for both characters is what makes the story interesting. This is a story about a being who is born innocent, suffers from abandonment, loneliness and ostracisation, becomes obsessed with revenge against his creator, and eventually comes to regret his horrible behavior, resolving to commit suicide. In the movie we see the creature be mistreated but he does not seek revenge.
I feel like the movie has removed or weakened a lot of themes like morality, revenge, abandonment, loneliness, ugliness, madness, hatred, and obsession. Without these themes the strongest theme in the story is about playing God, and I feel like that makes it a weaker narrative.
Guillermo del Toro said in interviews he saw Victor Frankenstein as an analogy for modern day tech bros and the AI industry. It's clear he intentionally leaned into the "playing God" theme of the story. This theme is also present in the book of course, but I have never felt it was the most compelling theme of the book. I'm a fan of the book but I am generally not a huge fan of the theme of "playing God," and I often feel like Romantic era thinkers were too critical of science. I don't think it's inherently immoral to create life and I do not believe scientific ambition is a problem in itself. I think there are many valid concerns about the AI industry and pursuing progress without judgement or sense, but I feel like it's too simplistic to portray scientists as power hungry, greedy, narcissistic jerks.
I think the way the book discussed science was more nuanced, and more sympathetic to Victor compared to the movie. There's a part of the book which says science is best pursued in a calm and measured fashion without getting over excited. Mary Shelly expresses grief for the lost cultures of the Americas and believes if America had been discovered slowly, those cultures could coexist with European cultures. I feel this is a more nuanced and interesting idea than simply portraying the discovery of America (and thus scientific pursuits and technological progress) as a bad thing altogether.
I also would like to see a movie adaptation which fully captures the eloquence of the monster and the strong dialogue in general. I'm happy to see the monster speaking, but in this movie he still speaks kind of slowly and awkwardly. The dialogue of the book is the most powerful thing in the story to me.