Frankenstein 2025: The Monster Movie That Refuses To Die

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) brings Mary Shelley’s classic to Netflix, starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth. This sci-fi thriller hits your screens on November 7, 2025.

About the Film

Directed by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, the film is an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic, with the tagline, “Only monsters play God.” It tells the story of a gifted but conceited scientist named Victor Frankenstein (played by Oscar Isaac), who gives life to his monstrous creation (played by Jacob Elordi). The creation turns out to be a tragic, misunderstood being that brings chaos and sorrow instead of the glory he expected, and in the end, the monster destroys both its creator and itself.

“Mary Shelley’s novel asks: What does it mean to be human? My movie tries to show imperfect characters and defend our right to remain imperfect,” Del Toro mentioned in a conversation with a group of journalists.

Cast and Crew

Launched at the Venice Film Festival on the evening of August 30, Frankenstein, featuring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth in leading roles, will have a limited theatrical release on October 17 in theatres, followed by an OTT release on Netflix worldwide on November 7. This is Del Toro’s first project in three years, following Pinocchio (2022), which also streamed on Netflix.

Along with co-stars Christian Convery, Charles Dance, Felix Kammerer, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, and Christoph Waltz, the picture is produced by Del Toro in collaboration with J. Miles Dale and Scott Stuber.

Originally written by Mary Shelley, the film was a novel, first published in 1818. The story came into being when Lord Byron recommended that each member of her circle of friends write a horror story to pass the time. Mary’s emerged as the best one- and the rest, as they say, is history.

Division Among Critics

For the two-and-a-half-hour-long film, neither of the leading actors’ performances fully resonated with critics. Part of this may be because the Euphoria star doesn’t resemble the monsters from earlier adaptations of the Frankenstein films. Additionally, since the movie is largely told through Del Toro’s perspective- the demonic creature cannot die and is instead condemned to live, remaining indestructible. It must confront the same existential dilemmas that many times plague us all.

At one point, the Mexican director considered telling the entire tale as two separate movies, each approached from a different lens-first from Frankenstein’s perspective and then from the monster’s. However, he ultimately decided to stick to a single film.

When asked about the plans for a theatrical release during the Venice Competition film’s press conference, Del Toro responded,

“Look at my size, I always want more of everything,” “I have to stop myself.”

“The battle we’re going to fight in telling stories is in two fronts,” “Obviously, the size of the screen, but the size of the ideas is very important, the size of the ambition, of the artistic hunger that you bring to cinema. Can we reclaim scale of ideas? Can we challenge ourselves to that?” He added.

Frankenstein- F.A.Q.

1. Is Netflix making a Frankenstein movie?

Ans. Yes.

2. When is the film releasing?

Ans. In theatres October 17th and on Netflix November 7th.

3. What is the plot?

Ans. A gifted but conceited scientist named Victor Frankenstein gives life to his monstrous creation, which turns out to be a tragic, misunderstood being that brings chaos and sorrow instead of the glory he expected.

4. Why is the movie rated R?

Ans. For bloody violence and grisly images.