Frankenstein review: Oscar Isaac stars in Guillermo del Toro's overlong squeamish epic

Guillermo del Toro has been desperate to write and direct his reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for decades.

And now the Oscar-winner, best known for his macabre fantasy flicks, has had his wish come true.

Oscar Isaac stars as a particulary charismatic Victor Frankenstein, playing with Promethean fire in an unnatural quest to extend life through the reanimation of corpses.

Funded by Christoph Waltz' arms manufacturer, he tinkers with the oozing flesh of fallen soldiers and hanged convicts in a sacrilegious attempt at playing God, before it comes back to bite him hard.

Del Toro's tendency towards fairy tale imagery and the Roman Catholic themes of his youth are as present as ever in his take on the sci-fi horror classic; with its whimsical set pieces, howling statues and cabinets of oddities.

Meanwhile, the gangly Jacob Elordi replaces Andrew Garfield as Frankenstein's monster, who looks more Lord Voldemort than Boris Karloff, only with lengthy locks. Del Toro's incarantion of the Creature is imbued with superhero strength and healing abilities, allowing for action-packed sequences involving the hurling of arctic explorers and CGI wolves. The Aussie actor (rumoured to be in the running to be the next Bond) masterfully embodies the tragedy and suffering of the monster, who longs to be known in some of the film's more emotional scenes. Sadly, there's not enough with scream queen Mia Goth's Elizabeth, who could well have ended up as his Bride.

At 150 minutes, Frankenstein is over long, plodding along at times between its two halves of Victor and the Creator's perspectives. But, hey ho, this film's main audience will be on Netflix where longer runtimes aren't so bothersome. Yet methinks a trimming of this particular specimen's fat would have served the story better over all.

Frankenstein is out now in cinemas and is streaming on Netflix from November 7, 2025.