Oscar Isaac
Victor Frankenstein
Overview
Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min read AI-generated editorial review
The Monster in the Mirror
It feels like Guillermo del Toro has been walking toward Frankenstein for so long that I almost forgot the movie might actually arrive. He’s talked about wanting to make it for decades—fifty years, going back to seeing Boris Karloff on a tiny screen as a child—and you can feel the weight of that obsession all over the finished film. I went in expecting the usual del Toro comforts: amber liquid in glass tubes, metal groaning in the dark, Catholic gloom hanging in the air like incense. Some of that is here, sure. But the movie that emerges is less a haunted-house reverie than a raw family rupture. Instead of leaning on the lightning-bolt iconography, del Toro keeps dragging the story toward grief, rejection, and the awful banality of parental failure.
The structure is bold enough to throw people. I’m still not fully sure it balances cleanly. Del Toro splits the film almost straight down the middle: first Victor’s fever dream, then the Creature’s lonely passage through the world. That abrupt pivot creates a strange lurch in the pacing. Just when the laboratory section reaches peak hysteria, the movie drops into cold open air and stays there. Still, the disruption makes thematic sense. The moment the Creature opens his eyes, Victor is already emotionally gone. Del Toro keeps the camera low so we mostly see the creator’s back retreating from his own work. The sets are gorgeous in the expected way—part industrial cathedral, part slaughterhouse—but he’s less interested in admiring them than in the wet, bodily mess of what it costs to make life.
It feels like Guillermo del Toro has been walking toward Frankenstein for so long that I almost forgot the movie might actually arrive. He’s talked about wanting to make it for decades—fifty years, going back to seeing Boris Karloff on a tiny screen as a child—and you can feel the weight of that obsession all over the finished film. I went in expecting the usual del Toro comforts: amber liquid in glass tubes, metal groaning in the dark, Catholic gloom hanging in the air like incense. Some of that is here, sure. But the movie that emerges is less a haunted-house reverie than a raw family rupture. Instead of leaning on the lightning-bolt iconography, del Toro keeps dragging the story toward grief, rejection, and the awful banality of parental failure.
The structure is bold enough to throw people. I’m still not fully sure it balances cleanly. Del Toro splits the film almost straight down the middle: first Victor’s fever dream, then the Creature’s lonely passage through the world. That abrupt pivot creates a strange lurch in the pacing. Just when the laboratory section reaches peak hysteria, the movie drops into cold open air and stays there. Still, the disruption makes thematic sense. The moment the Creature opens his eyes, Victor is already emotionally gone. Del Toro keeps the camera low so we mostly see the creator’s back retreating from his own work. The sets are gorgeous in the expected way—part industrial cathedral, part slaughterhouse—but he’s less interested in admiring them than in the wet, bodily mess of what it costs to make life.
Audience Opinions
AI summary of viewer review patterns
Audience 7.4/10 AI
"A visually lavish, emotionally charged take on Frankenstein powered by standout performances, but held back by simplified morality and uneven pacing."
Gothic production design, striking imagery, and an emotive score combine with Jacob Elordi’s deeply sympathetic Creature and Oscar Isaac’s intense Victor to create a powerful, memorable rendition of the classic story. At the same time, a slow-burning opening, a rushed final act, and story changes that turn Victor into a straightforward villain and the Creature into an almost purely virtuous figure leave the drama feeling less morally complex than the novel.
What viewers praise
- Gorgeous gothic visuals Elaborate sets, costumes, and makeup, especially in the lab and arctic sequences, create an immersive, painterly world that feels both grand and tactile.
- Jacob Elordi's Creature The Creature is portrayed with vulnerability and pathos, making his journey moving and empathetic and often cited as the film’s emotional core.
- Oscar Isaac's Victor Delivers a feverish, morally bankrupt scientist whose obsession and ego drive the tragedy with real intensity.
- Powerful set pieces and score Key scenes like the body-assembly sequence are praised for precise staging and a swelling Alexandre Desplat score that captures both horror and beauty.
- Respect for core themes The story still foregrounds creation, abandonment, and the line between human and monster, feeling like a passionate, personal vision rather than a generic remake.
Common complaints
- Inconsistent pacing The first act can feel sluggish and unfocused, while the climax and ending rush through major events and emotional turns.
- Flattened moral ambiguity Reframing the Creature as almost entirely justified and shifting key acts of violence onto Victor makes the story’s ethics feel simplified and less thought‑provoking.
- Contentious deviations from the novel Changes such as the handling of Elizabeth’s fate, an added romantic complication, and the role of Christoph Waltz’s character are seen as weakening the original’s impact.
- Thin characterization of Elizabeth Despite extra screen time, Elizabeth’s relationships and motivations come off shallow and contrived, with altered engagements and connections that rarely pay off.
- Hit‑or‑miss CGI Certain visual effects and shots, including some late‑film sequences and regeneration moments, look artificial enough to break immersion.
Recommended for
Guillermo del Toro devotees Gothic fantasy and horror fans Jacob Elordi admirers Oscar Isaac followers Literary adaptation enthusiasts Epic slow-burn drama fans
Full Plot (Spoilers)
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Buzz & Rumors
Public reports AI-researched entertainment notes
Frankenstein (2025): The JUICIEST Behind-the-Scenes Tea You NEED to Know
Guillermo del Toro's monster movie has taken over Netflix — but the REAL drama happened off-camera. We've got the scoop on casting shakeups, on-set romances, and Hollywood A-listers playing editor. Grab your popcorn, franken-fans.
Casting Chaos & Last-Minute Panic
- Andrew Garfield was originally cast as the Creature but dropped out just nine weeks before filming because of “scheduling conflicts,” forcing a frantic last‑minute recast
. - Del Toro’s own daughter and Netflix’s CEO apparently nudged him toward Jacob Elordi by telling him to watch Saltburn and Priscilla; after that mini‑marathon, del Toro reportedly said, “This is the guy” [1].
- The director insists he casts “by the eyes”: Oscar Isaac’s eyes have “brilliance, madness, seduction and pain,” while Elordi’s are “completely disarming,” full of innocence — perfect for his tragic monster boy [1].
On-Set Secrets & Spanish-Speaking Shenanigans
- On set, things were less Gothic tragedy and more chaotic telenovela. Del Toro and Oscar Isaac often slipped into Spanish together, with the director giving notes in a deliberately melodramatic soap‑opera tone and even cracking dirty Mexican jokes between takes [1].
- For Victor Frankenstein’s over-the-top ego, del Toro’s big directing note to Isaac was literally: “Be more Mick Jagger.” Rock‑god energy in a gothic lab coat [1].
- Forget test screenings — del Toro screens his movies for a tiny Avengers-level director squad: Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Rian Johnson, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron. They all have permission to be “brutal” with their notes .
- James Cameron went full Terminator on one “beautiful” seven‑minute sequence, telling del Toro it had to go; del Toro trusted him so much he cut the entire scene from the final film [2].
Romance Rumors: Jacob & Olivia’s Monster-Sized Drama
- Relationship status: “It’s complicated”. In August 2025, sources told People that Jacob Elordi and influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli had split again after an on‑off run dating back to 2021 .
- One month later, Olivia Jade turns up at the Frankenstein premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, quietly waiting at the end of the carpet until Jacob finishes photos — then walking into the theater with him while he carries the train of her dress like a very tall, very glamorous gentleman [4].
- TMZ breathlessly noted that it’s “not crazy to think they could be trying to get back together” after this sighting, fueling a fresh round of reconciliation rumors across stan Twitter and TikTok [4].
The 11-Hour Makeup Marathon That Broke the Internet
- Elordi’s daily transformation into the Creature bordered on horror in real life: up to 10–11 hours in the makeup chair, sometimes starting at 10 p.m. and running straight through the night in full prosthetics [1][4].
- A time‑lapse of this ordeal went mega‑viral, pulling in over 285 million impressions worldwide and basically turning “Jacob Elordi in pieces” into its own marketing campaign .
- Del Toro’s design brief was wild: the Creature should look like an anatomical chart come to life, inspired partly by a 16th‑century statue of the flayed apostle St. Bartholomew and old‑school phrenology diagrams [1].
- On set, the team even nicknamed one rig “the crucifixion” — the Creature strapped to a cross‑like apparatus, marble-pale with metal thorns crowning his head [1]. Despite the nightmare fuel, Elordi’s dog reportedly loved the look and didn’t bark once [1].
Fan Frenzy & The Great Leaf Emoji Conspiracy
- Netflix’s marketing department basically reanimated the algorithm. In the first five days of streaming, Frankenstein generated 1.2 billion impressions across Netflix’s own social pages, hit #1 worldwide, and sat in the Top 10 in 93 countries, topping the charts in 84 of them [5].
- Fans dubbed themselves “franken‑fans” and quietly adopted the 🍃 leaf emoji as their secret symbol — a nod to the film’s tender moment where the Creature offers Elizabeth a single leaf [5].
- The obsession spilled into bookstores: Penguin Classics saw a 180% spike in sales of the Mary Shelley tie‑in edition the week after the movie dropped [5].
- Netflix juiced the frenzy by mailing exclusive merch packages to hyper‑online fans, plus partnering with cosplayers and even puppeteers who showed up with tiny puppet versions of the cast on red carpets [5].
Mia Goth’s Wholesome Performance Hack
- While the boys were busy bleeding for their art, Mia Goth had the sweetest secret weapon: her young daughter. One day the child crossed paths with Jacob Elordi in full Creature makeup and, instead of screaming, ran up to him out of pure curiosity. Goth says that moment directly shaped how Elizabeth meets and reacts to the Creature — with intrigue, not fear .
- Goth calls Elizabeth “like smoke,” someone who can’t be contained, and points out that she’s playing both Victor’s mother Claire and his love interest Elizabeth, leaning into the era’s unsettling idea that women exist mainly as mothers or wives [6].
- She spent about a year in and out of fittings in Toronto, building the character “from the outside in” with costume designer Kate Hawley until she felt she could completely lose herself in del Toro’s twisted, operatic world [6].
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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