Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the most frequently adapted novels in cinema. In it, Victor Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with conquering death, brings a creature to life with an electric shock, only for his creation to turn into a curse that relentlessly haunts him. The story feels almost made for Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, a master of fantastical worlds whose films are never without monsters. This film was like a dream for Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, and he finally brought it to life with a massive Netflix budget. It went on to compete at the Venice International Film Festival, where he won the Golden Lion for The Shape of Water (2017). The director and screenwriter presents his adaptation in two main chapters. The first is told from Victor Frankenstein’s (Oscar Isaac) perspective  and traces his lifelong obsession with death and the possibility of overcoming it, following him from his childhood preoccupations through his various experiments until he succeeds in bringing the creature to life. The second chapter is told from the monster’s (Jacob Elordi) perspective, recounting what happens after Frankenstein abandons him to face his fate. The original novel draws its power from the many themes it explores, including scientific ambition, life and death, and the nature of power, ideas that remain timeless and can be revisited again and again. As del Toro himself has said, “It’s a novel that changes as you yourself change.” In his adaptation, he chooses to humanize the monster, presenting him in a way that differs from many classic interpretations, while portraying Frankenstein himself as capable of cruelty. This approach feels deliberate and fitting, especially in the context of recent films that explore human cruelty one way or the other.Andrew Mohsen