Frankenstein

“What do you mean the monster is not Frankenstein?” I can’t be the only one who had this revelation after actually reading the book at some point during early high school. I was absolutely intrigued by the story: what used to be a black-and-white impression of scientist versus monster quickly evolved into a nuanced narrative of playing god, revenge, and a creator’s duty. The story was so ahead of its time that I began to question, who is the real monster here? After watching Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of one of my most favorite works of fiction, I had the same questions and “impression” as when I read the original book. I cannot think of a better director to helm a modern film adaptation of Frankenstein. His gothic horror, as I remember it strikingly in Pan’s Labyrinth and Cabinet of Curiosities, makes sense with the spirit of Frankenstein. As expected from this skilled director, the cinematography is excellent. Watching this movie on TV at home does not do it complete justice, and  I wished I had seen it in the theater because the visual and sound engineering were primed for the big screen.

My biggest complaint with this movie is that the first half was arduously slow, mostly spent building up the most anticipated monster’s creation for an hour or so. Then, the heart of the story starts to click when the POV shifts to the monster. This is where del Toro leans fully into novel’s most compelling theme: the possibility that a monster possesses agency, intelligence, and the capacity for human-like suffering. The story of Frankenstein was never horror in the traditional sense. Its creepiness comes from the idea that a lifeless flesh can awaken and reason like a human, as well as seek revenge against its creator. However, the core theme of both the novel and movie is deeply satisfying, in that the cycle of cruelty and revenge between the creator and monster finally ends with redeeming themselves through compassion. Though this is a long movie that demands patience, the slow burn pays off in the end with a deeply satisfying redemption arc for both characters. Del Toro’s attention to atmosphere, characters, and themes makes this possibly the truest adaptation of the novel while still feeling distinctly his own.