I must admit, when Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein was first announced, my heart sank. Do we really need yet another film version of such an iconic story? Like many I’m getting a bit tired of the recycled tat we get in cinemas these days and would rather see a truly original story. Surely AI hasn’t grasped us yet to the point where we can’t come up with new ideas?

Grumbling aside, I decided to give the film a go, if only to support my local cinema. Frankenstein is getting a limited cinematic release, at least here in the UK, and it’s worth making the trek to see it on a big screen if you can. For, spoiler alert, I really enjoyed the film. I even found it a bit moving.

Del Toro takes some liberties with the original story, as most film makers have done. I won’t spoil what they are, and I understand that some literary tricks don’t translate well to screen, but I don’t really understand why a whole new character needed to be invented. She’s played well by the always intriguing Mia Goth, who does add a sense of feminine mystique to the film, but I didn’t feel her character was necessary.

But that’s really the only negative I can think of. Fans of Del Toro’s lush strange worlds won’t be disappointed and, once again, will want to try and see the film on a big screen. The costumes and sets are gorgeous and I would happily watch the film again just to get a closer look at them. The soundtrack is haunting, the acting solid, the pacing never off. I’ve sat through many a recent film that sagged in the middle due to film makers feeling pressured to go along with the trend for ever-longer run times, but Frankenstein felt just right. Plenty of action, but also plenty of opportunities to let the story breathe.

What Del Toro truly does well is bring out the human side of the monster. Shortly after its chaotic birth (if you can call it that) his maker takes it to a damp cellar and chains it up. “I never thought about what would happen next,” Victor Frankenstein muses. Hard not to see a metaphor here for neglectful parents and scientific hubris. The result could easily have been overtly sentimental but I found myself truly rooting for the monster.

As with the novel, the monster’s story is one of loneliness. Despised by all except a blind man, seeing his best intentions being misunderstood by humans, the monster is desperate for company and love. Again, this could have turned out horribly sentimental in the hands of a lesser film maker but Del Toro manages to stay on the right side of melodrama. What he has done is bring out the most powerful elements of Shelley’s original story and add his own unique vision. The result is thoroughly enjoyable.

I should say there is some gore (as is to be expected) but the film’s 15 rating in the UK feels appropriate. Gorehounds will find little to entertain them, lovers of the gothic won’t be put off by excessive bodily fluids.

May I conclude by urging everyone to read Shelley’s original novel if you haven’t already. It truly has stood the test of time and offers philosophical depth that simply can’t be crammed into a film. If you go see this film and enjoyed it, the novel will offer an opportunity to delve deeper into its themes and truly consider what it has to say about the world we live in. Over a hundred years after its first publication, the story of a man who thinks he can cheat death has lost nothing of its original power.

Photo by Cederic Vandenberghe on Unsplash