Goth Cinema is Back: Frankenstein (2025)

By: Valerie Menendez

Gothic cinema is a subgenre of film that consists of fictitious scenery consisting of such things like dark dreary Victorian castles from far away lands long forgotten, mania, ancient curses, and often derives authenticities through horror and psychological dramas. The term’s roots  can be traced to the mid-18th century where fellow ladies and gentlemen found that through their writing they can emerge themselves out of the dark treacherous times many faced. The Age of Enlightenment produced  many new writers in spite of the world around them crumbling. They found foreseeable light through their very ironic, dark, gloomy, stories between their dusted,grimy pages. One such writer that emerged was a young woman who just turned 18 when she first began writing her short story, Frankenstein. Now, to create a condemning story such as Frankenstein, you're bound to create varying controversies, but isn't that what a great piece of fiction is supposed to create? Even if you do not like the genre itself and the depictions Mary Shelley decided to implement in her classic Gothic novel, you always have an outlet to talk about it by sharing how much disgust, hatred, or any sort of feelings you manifested while reviewing Gothic pieces such as hers.

​Let's shift gears by a century when cinema began to bask in the limelight and writers were given a new platform (film) for their expression. Films like Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1942) were the forerunners of Gothic cinema and would go on to lay the foundation for more modern examples of the genre, including Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The Phantom of the Opera (2005), and Crimson Peak (2015). 

Although Frankenstein has been turned into various adaptations (since Shelly’s writing in 1818), which has kept its story alive, the most recent film in 2025 has gathered much attention and acclaim in our modern world. And rightfully so – it’s a masterpiece. 

The cast includes a variety of talented actors such as Jacob Eloridi (The Creature), Oscar Issac (Victor Frankenstein), Mia Goth (Lady Elizabeth Harlander).. Interestingly,  director Guillermo Del Toro decided to not implement an “Igor.” While Igor is not seen in Shelley's original text, we do see him appear in the other older adaptations like the 1942, 1993, and 2015 versions. Given the popular nature of Igor’s character, a hunch-backed laboratory assistant who helps Victor create his creature, Frankenstein, it was most intriguing to not see the character emerge in this version.

However, it actually works to the film’s advantage – viewers are provided a rare opportunity to directly  focus on  the evil scientist Victor, rather than get distracted by a cringey lab assistant who supplies evil dramatic laughs behind Victor’s shoulder. We get to see the raw mania that goes on behind the eyes of Victor Frankenstein while he constructs his project that goes against many laws of human nature. We are invited to see why he believes so much in his own work, and what he is willing to put on the line to have it come to fruition. Isaac’s on-screen portrayal of Victor is entirely skillful and graceful, which is why I was so enamored by this adaptation in the first place. Guillermo del Toro did what many directors strive to accomplish in their works, supplying rich human authenticity through their craft.

Something I find also very captivating in this film is how the directorial view switches from the first half which is telling the audience Victor Frankenstein’s side of the story, then shifting to The Creature’s point of view.. It is achieved in such a natural way while also  staying true to Shelley's novel, where the story is  told by a sailor that comes across Victor and The Creature in the midst of their vivid fight. 

We are first introduced to The Creature from Victor's point of view, which reveals  his long awaited project as a highly anticipated failure. While Victor did what he sought out to do in the first place, he was disappointed that the life he newly brought into the world does not function as highly as he wanted it to. Although The Creature was created to behold a physical body that of a grown man, he was far beyond the mental capacities of one. It was almost newborn-like in which Guillermo del Toro decided to portray –well,at least in The Creatures point of view –a rather innocent life that had never been able to be behold any sort of evil besides that in which Victor treated him when he believed him a failure. He believed it to be an almost slap in the face given how much he risked in creating him, and so he deflected all of his insecurities and anger onto Frankenstein instead of actually helping him adapt to understanding life in of it itself. I believe that Jacob Elordi did as great a job in reflecting The Creature’s feelings throughout the film as his colleague Oscar Isaac did when playing Victor Frankenstein. While both of the performers were tasked at providing vastly differing emotions, they still managed to derive a kind of raw gravitational act that really had me and many audience members silenced in the best way possible. 

Now, if we are going to talk about acting, we can’t forget the showcasing of Lady Elizabeth Harlander brought to us by the one and only Mia Goth. Before I sat down to watch this film I had previously already seen a few of Goth’s performances – one thing I can attest to is that she will always act out every character with everything in her. I anticipated every time she graced my screen, and enjoyed every line as if she actually was Elizabeth. This and her working alongside the aforementioned actors  helped me situate the story as a viewer. I could genuinely believe every word she uttered. Her facial expression down to the morals she specifically attributed towards The Creature cemented her as my favorite character.  All of which brings me to how devastated, yet drawn in I was, during her death scene when Victor took  another life to satisfy himself yet again. Now, Victor never meant to murder Elizabeth – she stepped in front of The Creature to take his bullet. This stems back to their transcendent bond they had formed, while Victor was angry and vulgar, Elizabeth was calm and empathetic.

As much as I can and want to go on and on about this film, I do care for you as my reader enough to not put you to sleep. Overall I loved every second of this movie. It nearly had me in a chokehold, and I’m sure it will be the case for first-time viewers. Don’t trust me? Then watch for the  amazing cinematography and directorial view points achieved by the inexplicable Guillermo del Toro, along with the amazing acting roles from Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth. 

Frankenstein  is not just a film;it is a cautionary tale intended for those who may find themselves holding such high power that Victor Frankenstein held. As Mia Goth in the film playing Lady Elizabeth Harlander told Victor, “Only Monsters play God.”