Key Insights
- Director’s Vision: Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein showcases his passion for horror and unique storytelling.
- Critical Reception: Initial reviews highlight both praise for visuals and performances, as well as criticism regarding the film’s length.
- Audience Expectations: The film’s long-awaited release has resulted in mixed reactions, with some feeling it doesn’t meet high expectations.
- Personal Connection: Del Toro expresses a deep personal connection to the story, influenced by his childhood experiences.
In so many ways, Frankenstein seems like the movie Guillermo del Toro was born to make. An avid lover and historian of all things horror, del Toro has particularly cited Frankenstein’s Monster as one of his favorite characters and James Whale’s 1931 classic as one of his favorite films (if you’ve seen his personal tour of “Bleak House”, then you’ll see what we mean). Now, audiences have finally seen his long-gestating version of Mary Shelley’s novel. So, what are people saying about it?
Coming out of its debut at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the reviews that have leaned positive for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein have found the director by and large being praised for its visuals, with further admiration for key performances (chiefly Jacob Elordi, who plays The Creature) and the music.
There has been a lot of hype for del Toro’s Frankenstein to be sure (again, it’s the perfect project – although I’ll take his version of The Haunted Mansion any day), but that doesn’t mean all of the reception has been positive. Some have been vocal in criticizing the movie’s two-and-a-half-hour runtime, a length that puts it just shy of his longest – and another remake of a classic – Nightmare Alley, while others point out that it seems destined that the perfect pairing of Guillermo del Toro and Frankenstein was too difficult to live up to. As of publication, the movie currently holds a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Guillermo del Toro recently spoke of his history with Frankenstein as both a viewer and director, telling Variety, “It took 30 years. It’s a movie I wanted to make before I even had a camera. There’s the DNA of “Frankenstein” on “Chronos,” on “Blade Two,” on “Hellboy.” And we were developing it at Universal before they passed. I pitched it everywhere. It’s been my Mount Everest to climb…When I saw the James Whale “Frankenstein” as a kid, I completely emptied my soul into the creature. I thought, “That’s me.”…Even at that early age, I felt, “my God, this is so soothing for me to see the creature and his innocence.” He was an outsider. He didn’t fit into world. He was out of place in the same way that I felt as a kid.”
Notably, the Venice Film Festival screening of del Toro’s Frankenstein took place on August 30th, the birthday of Mary Shelley.
What do you make of the first reviews of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein? Are you let down by the subpar reactions?
