Guillermo del Toro Reveals the Brilliant Fear Everyone Overlooks in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
After a limited October 17 bow, Guillermo del Toro is priming Netflix viewers for Frankenstein, telling Tudum that the story’s enduring power comes from the very real fear Mary Shelley buried at its core—and how that pulse fuels his new vision.
Guillermo del Toro just rolled out Frankenstein in a limited theatrical run and it hits Netflix next. He also sat down with Netflix's Tudum to talk about what he thinks Mary Shelley actually smuggled into the book: not just fear of monsters, but the knotty, teenage panic of realizing the world is messy, unfair, and full of half-truths. It is a surprisingly human way into a story people usually file under 'mad science' and lightning bolts.
The fear under the stitches
Del Toro is blunt about it: for him, Frankenstein is as much about growing up as it is about playing God. He points to the book's jittery, adolescent energy — that stomach-drop feeling when you clock that adults do not have all the answers — and he wanted to put that sensation on screen. A neat craft detail: because English is his second language, he says he is extra tuned to the music and rhythm of words. He chased the cadence of Shelley's dialogue in the script, aiming for something that feels true to her without sounding like it was embalmed in a museum.
"For me, only monsters hold the secrets I long for."
Creator vs. creation (and the real horror)
In the film, Victor Frankenstein is smart, proud, and dangerously sure of himself. He builds a being who is labeled a monster, but the Creature is after the basic things everyone wants: love, family, a place to exist without being hunted. Del Toro frames their story as a duel of responsibilities and identities — two lives orbiting the same question: who actually behaves like the monster here, the maker or what he made?
He is also very clear that the scariest parts of this tale are not the sutures. Monsters, in his view, reflect our fears and our secrets back at us. The true horror often comes from ego, cruelty, and selfish choices. If he has his way, you leave feeling as much as thinking, carrying the Creature's beauty and sadness with you.
Keeping Shelley modern, not mothballed
Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818, but del Toro agrees with the critics who argue it reads startlingly modern. He did not want a stately, pastel period piece. He wanted charge. That meant bold, swaggering looks for Victor and designs that lean into rich color and dramatic lines — "luscious and full of color" instead of fussy and faded. The goal was to meet the book's forward-looking spirit with an equally alive visual pulse.
"When Shelley wrote Frankenstein, it was not a period piece. It was a modern book, so I didn't want you to see a pastel-colored period piece."
- Movie: Frankenstein
- Director: Guillermo del Toro
- Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, Mia Goth
- Runtime: 2h 29m
- Rotten Tomatoes score (so far): 85%
- Limited theatrical release: October 17, 2025
- Streaming: Netflix from November 7
Curious to hear where you land on this one — especially how the Creature plays for you under del Toro's lens. Frankenstein hits Netflix on November 7.