Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Roars to Life in Netflix Trailer as Jacob Elordi’s Creature Hunts Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein
Fire up the electrodes: Guillermo del Toro flips the switch on the first full Frankenstein trailer, crackling with gothic grandeur and a monstrous heart.
Guillermo del Toro finally pulled back the curtain on his Frankenstein, and the new trailer is exactly the kind of glossy-gothic, wet-and-weird vibe you want from him. It also gives the clearest look yet at Jacob Elordi as the Creature, who is very much on a mission to track down the man who made him.
What the trailer is actually selling
It opens on the Creature narrating his own origin, which is a nice mirror to the usual Victor-centric setup. He talks about remembering fragments from "different men" while we see a particularly squelchy shot of an eyeball getting pushed into a skull. If you were hoping del Toro would go light on the bodily horror: absolutely not.
"My maker told his tale. And I will tell you mine... I demand a single grace from you. If you are not to award me love, then I will indulge in rage."
That threat is aimed squarely at Oscar Isaac's Victor Frankenstein, and the rest of the footage leans hard into the fallout: flames, violence, and the kind of operatic tragedy del Toro loves.
The players (and the messy dynamics)
Oscar Isaac is your brilliant, narcissistic Victor. Jacob Elordi is the Creature, stitched together from multiple bodies and not exactly thrilled about it. Mia Goth plays Elizabeth, who is engaged to Victor's brother but is also Victor's not-so-secret obsession — a very Gothic, very messy triangle. Christoph Waltz shows up as Victor's benefactor, which is never a comforting title in this story. Rounding out the cast: Charles Dance, Lars Mikkelsen, and Ralph Ineson.
Classic roots, del Toro flourish
This is del Toro tackling Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic landmark head-on: a genius scientist brings a being to life, and the creation ends up exposing (and then destroying) the creator's hubris. The logline is faithful; the execution looks like pure del Toro — romantic, morbid, and tactile in all the right ways.
Release plan
Frankenstein hits theaters on October 17, then lands on Netflix on November 7.