Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” novel was first published in 1818 and it took nearly 100 years before the characters were brought to the silver screen during the silent film era – 1910 to be specific.
Since the beginning, the story has a cultural phenomenon and parodies and satires of its characters began cropping up after its movie debut.
And while it’s basically the same story in every iteration since its inception, there are also unique ways to present said story.
However, I think Netflix’s recent Frankenstein release harkens back to the novel’s roots and pays homage to the source material better than any others I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Though all that credit is due to Mexican director Guillermo del Toro insisting on practical special effects and his talented knack for finding poetic beauty in monsters while celebrating imperfections.
Del Toro has also produced and written dozens of other films varying from science fiction and action to epic fantasies and horror stories.
Needless to say, I’m a fan of his works and was eagerly awaiting the movie’s streaming appearance.
Frankenstein is categorized as an American gothic drama film produced, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro based on Shelley’s novel.
The film stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as the Creature, and Mia Goth as Elizabeth, with Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz in the supporting roles.
While clocking in at 150 minutes long, the film is rated R for bloody violence and grisly images.
In 1857, the Royal Danish Navy ship Horisont is on an expedition to the North Pole, but becomes trapped in the Arctic ice.
The crew, led by Captain Anderson (Mikkelsen), finds the gravely injured Baron Victor Frankenstein (Isaac) and brings him aboard.
They are soon attacked by a Creature (Elordi) with superhuman strength whose wounds can regenerate, who demands Victor’s surrender.
Victor explains that he is the creature’s maker, and recounts the events leading to its creation to Captain Anderson.
Victor’s mother Claire (Goth) died giving birth to his younger brother William, who became the favorite of their aristocratic father Leopold (Dance), a renowned physician.
Disillusioned by his abusive father and grieving his beloved mother, Victor resolved to overcome death and grew to be a brilliant, arrogant surgeon.
In 1855, he was expelled from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh after demonstrating his research into reanimating corpses before a disciplinary tribunal.
After witnessing Victor’s demonstration, arms merchant Henrich Harlander (Waltz) offers Victor unlimited funding and an abandoned tower to conduct his experiments.
Victor enlists William’s (Kammerer) assistance in building his laboratory, and grows smitten with his brother’s fiancé Elizabeth (Goth) – who also happens to be Harlander’s niece.
Despite their growing friendship, once Victor voices his deeper emotions to her, Elizabeth rejects his advances.
When an impatient Harlander demands results, Victor harvests body parts from hanged criminals and soldiers killed in the ongoing Crimean War.
He then uses those parts to assemble a corpse to reanimate.
He prepares to harness lightning during a storm, planning to send electric currents through the lymphatic system to produce energy for the heart and brain.
Victor discovers Harlander is dying of syphilis, and he demands to be transferred into the new body – naturally Victor refuses as Harlander’s vital organs are already infected by the disease.
Attempting to sabotage the experiment, Harlander ends up accidentally falling to his death.
However, that isn’t enough to distract Victor from the task at hand and he is successful in animating the corpse.
But, that’s pretty much the last thing to go right in Victor’s life and del Toro doesn’t sugarcoat Victor’s descent into borderline madness.
Regardless, I think you’ll be surprised at such a downward spiral and how the movie’s ending deviates from the novel – I found it better in del Toro’s vision.
