The 2025 Netflix film adaptation of the classic novel, “Frankenstein”, directed by Guillermo Del Toro has become available to stream receiving positive reviews across multiple platforms and some going as far as saying that it’s Netflix’s best film the streaming service has released.
Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of “Frankenstein” premiered at the Venice FIlm Festival on August 30th and was given immense praise from critics receiving an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was released to stream on November 7th and is now in its second week of availability and reviews are pouring in and has received a 3.9/5 star rating on the movie review app, Letterboxd.
“Frankenstein” stars Oscar Issac as Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi as The Creature and Mia Goth as Elizabeth. Mia Goth even plays another smaller role in the movie as well by also playing Claire Frankenstein, Victor’s mother. Critics have praised Elordi as The Creature tremendously because it is such a turn in his career and this role is cementing his place in Hollywood.
The film covers many genres including gothic, horror, science fiction while also being a period piece taking place in the mid 1850s. The many genres are reflected in many parts of the film but viewers find the costuming and set design that really inserts the characters into that time period.
“I think I can see what they were going for, with the costumes, but i dont think they reached it correctly”, said Prairie senior Audrey Sprowls when asked about the film’s period accuracy. Although Audrey’s opinion varies from most, some costumes are done to extremes and feel out of place in comparison to the film at times.
The film reflects on how abandonment truly affects a person’s moral compass and life as a whole, this is seen in Victor Frankenstein and The Creature’s complicated relationship. This film also challenges the idea of whether some are born evil or if evil is developed as a person grows and develops. While asked about the theming of the film, senior Audrey Sprowls responded, “He was touching on the question of if you are just born evil versus if it’s pushed into you. They did a perfect job of that.”
Many people believe that the movie being not released in theaters was a disservice to the film because of its large budget of 120 million dollars and its production that would’ve shined on the big screen. In fact, Netflix is currently in hot water after buying Warner Bros for 82 billion dollars because Netflix doesn’t tend to do theatrical releases. However, Frankenstein 2025 is proof that films can achieve success by releasing exclusively on streaming services by having over 29 million viewers within its first 3 days of release.
Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of “Frankenstein” has shined a new light on Netflix original films and opened new doors for the company becoming one of their successful films of the year.
