#Netflix
Language – English
Year of release – 2025
Cast – Oscar Isaac as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as the Creature, Mia Goth as
Lady Elizabeth Harlander, Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein, Lars Mikkelsen as Captain Anderson, Charles Dance as Baron Leopold Frankenstein, Christoph Waltz as Henrich Harlander
Trigger warning – Body horror, gore, violence
Plot – Mary Shelly’s classic Gothic science fiction movie is adapted beautifully in this Guillermo Del Toro’s telling of the Frankenstein. The movie is split in three parts and the first part is called the Prelude which opens with a Danish Royal ship getting stranded on the icy waters of the northern most region. The Captain notices an explosion on the horizon and on investigating it, finds a severely wounded man lying on the snow. The ships crew begins to carry him to safety when they are attacked by an enormous monstrous being. They manage to fend off the beast and carry the wounded man onboard their ship and the Captain asks him of his whereabouts. The man responds by saying that he is Victor Frankenstein and narrates his story.
Part two is Victor’s story which dates back to when he was a young boy being tutored by his renowned surgeon father Leopold Frankenstein. His mother dies during childbirth and in many ways shatters young Victor’s childhood. He becomes a very arrogant and obsessive doctor himself whose sole purpose is to play God and restore life in dead human beings. His purpose brings him in contact with Henrich Harlander who is an arms dealer and a very wealthy man. His niece Elisabeth is set to marry William, Victors younger brother.
Harlander encourages Victor on his mission and funds his experiment on being able to assemble a human from other dead humans and being able to give it life. Which Victor succeeds in and creates the Creature. This Creature has the ability to heal its wounds and has immense physical strength but intellectually doesn’t exactly know how to learn the lessons that Victor teaches it. Elisabeth and William visit the laboratory and Elisabeth develops a gentle bond with the Creature and teaches it her name. Victor also ends up killing Harlander but puts the blame on the Creature. Once William and Elisabeth leave the laboratory, Victor in a fit of rage burns the place down. In the ensuing fire, Victor loses his leg and is badly wounded. The Creature manages to escape the fire and heads into the nearby woods.
Part three is the Creature’s story. The Creature manages to board the ship and starts to talk to the Captain and explain its story from its perspective. After escaping the burning lab, the Creature manages to hide in the woods only to be hunted by a few hunters. While escaping the hunters, the Creature finds a lonely cottage in the mountains and stays there. While it is hiding it learns to speak the language the home owners speak and eventually befriends their blind grandfather. The blind man teaches it to read and speak and learn about itself. Wolves attack the cottage and maul the grandfather and the Creature now has to run away from that home and seek his destiny. Along the way, it decides to go back to the lab and learns of the madness of Victor and how he assembled the Creature with the body parts of other dead people. Seeking Victor and finally confronting him to seek a companion for himself. Victor denies him that and tries to kill the Creature. He instead kills Elisabeth and the Creature leaves with Elisabeths body. The Creature is immortal in the sense that its body regrows after every wound and that to it is a curse! Immortality with no one to share your life or your feelings is a curse and it warns Victor that it will haunt him till he dies!
This movie scores very highly on its execution! From the sets to the production to the costumes to the detailing in the make-up, everything is flawless. The CGI used here is also of a very high quality and every frame is perfect! The actors were absolutely brilliant and brought to life their characters in the film. The script and the cinematography were also flawless!
I have been searching for horror movies that are truly horror but so far have not been able to find that one wow horror movie! Brahmayugam, Dies Irae, Hereditary,, Tumbbad and The Shining are probably the only ones that held my attention till the end! If any of you has any recommendations, do let me know!
I will give this a 10/10 not for horror but for its technical aspects!
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