By Zachary Krady
Netflix recently released a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein directed by Guillermo del Toro. The movie stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi and Frankenstein’s monster.
The movie follows protagonist Victor Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with creating life, who creates a creature by combining the corpses of dead soldiers.
After the creature comes to life, Frankenstein is horrified by his creation, but the creature becomes extremely intelligent, which allows him to understand his situation and ultimately seek revenge against Frankenstein for abandoning him. However, the monster isn’t very violent, instead sympathetic and caring to many characters whom he meets along his journey to find Frankenstein.
Sophomore Max Bergman says “I haven’t watched the movie yet, but I have read the book and I really liked it, so I’m very excited to see how good the film will be. It’s definitely one of my favorite stories so I think it’ll be pretty entertaining.”
The film differs slightly from Shelley’s original story as the film focuses on emotional trauma as well as forgiveness. However, Although this adaptation isn’t without its deviations from the original novel, it gives a much more accurate depiction of Frankenstein’s monster than movies in the past.
Previous movies, such as the 1931 adaptation, depicted the creature as a large, lumbering, and often silent or monosyllabic being, a stark contrast to Shelley’s original text. Frankenstein (2025) portrays the monster as a sympathetic and intelligent character, adhering much closer to Mary Shelley’s original novel.
As of now, the movie has received much positive feedback from viewers, an audience score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Another sophomore, Hagai Frechter, gives his thoughts on the movie, saying “I thought that the movie was really good. I really enjoyed how the creature is humanized very well and how you can easily understand his feelings in the film.”
The film Frankenstein has quickly become one of the most popular movies of 2025, and it leaves viewers thinking less about the terrors of monsters, but more about the humanity of all individuals and the importance of being sympathetic.
Comments are closed.