Guillermo del Toro is an acclaimed Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. He has directed films such as Cronos (1992), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Crimson Peak (2015)—one of my personal favorites—and The Shape of Water (2017). Del Toro also co-wrote The Hobbit (2012) screenplay, and has worked on more “family-friendly” productions including The Book of Life (2014), The Witches (2020)―based on the 1983 novel by Roald Dahl—and the Netflix series Troll Hunters: Tales of Arcadia (2016). His affinity for the dark fantasy, horror, and gothic genres have distinguished him as a director and creative within the arts overall, and I hope that Frankenstein (2025) will earn him respect with a new audience.
In an interview with Variety Magazine, Guillermo del Toro discusses Frankenstein and shares that his film has been in the works for thirty years. Del Toro has been very open about his admiration for Mary Shelley and her novel, citing the text as a consistent source of inspiration for his art. In another interview, del Toro expresses to Netflix Tudum that “I’ve lived with Mary Shelley’s creation all my life […] For me, it’s the Bible. But I wanted to make it my own, to sing it back in a different key with a different emotion.” In the same Variety interview mentioned earlier, del Toro reveals that the film will take a closer look at “familial pain,” and as he further specified at the Toronto International Film Festival, the father-son relationship. Victor’s familial relations hold great significance in the text, especially the representation of “parent and child.” It will be interesting to see how the film expresses these nuances.
It’s incredible how so many film adaptations of Frankenstein involve an inarticulate creature. This decision diminishes the integrity and characterization of the creature, along with the audience’s ability to feel sympathy towards him. In the novel, Shelley establishes a character that—in my opinion—is the most human-like of them all. The creature seeks acknowledgement of his existence and acceptance from his creator, a companion to soothe his loneliness, and is fluent in German, French, and English. In the official Netflix teaser, the audience hears a monstrous and agonizing roar followed by a call for “Victor” from the creature. With this, I’d say that it’s safe to assume that del Toro’s creature is articulate. Given how eloquently spoken the creature is in the text, it would be satisfying to see moments in the film where the Creature is learning to speak and read, given how important this detail is to the development of the character.
“Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.”
– The Creature
The first time I read Frankenstein, this quote was one of the many striking lines I flagged in my copy. The role of religion, specifically Christianity, within the novel follows the questions and complexities of humanity, morality, and loneliness. The creature refers―if not mockingly―to Victor as “my maker,” an appellation that signifies how the creature uses Christianity to understand his relationship to Victor Frankenstein. Other of my favorite allusions to religion in the novel include references to John Milton’s Paradise Lost, the Creature comparing himself to both Adam and Satan, and the Creature requesting Frankenstein to make him a “female partner.” In the Netflix official teaser trailer, the tag-line for the film “Only monsters play God,” shows that religious themes, whether overarching or minuscule, will be present in this adaptation.
Overall, based on the press releases, interviews, and trailers, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) will likely be a respectful and unique homage to the literary text. I’m personally thrilled to watch the film in theatres because I get to experience one of my favorite novels on the big screen, directed by someone whose artistic vision I admire. This R-rated film is set to run for two hours and 29 minutes and will be shown in select theatres starting October 17th. It will also be available for streaming on Netflix as of November 7th, 2025.
Abigail Ortiz, Pine Reads Review Writer and Editor