What Guillermo del Toro Keeps and Changes from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Guillermo del Toro and Mary Shelley’s minds meld with Frankenstein. No mixing and matching and stitching required, à la Doctor Frankenstein, for the smooth marriage between two gothic storytellers. In the delicate hands of del Toro, Shelley’s classic story of a monstrous god and unlucky child is a unique adaptation.

Victor’s Tale

Victor’s father, Alphonse (Charles Dance), is another monster in del Toro’s vision of Shelley’s creation. In the book, not so – he’s a loving father and husband. Alphonse doesn’t die when Victor is young, either, but fights to bring his son back to reality. When Victor’s mind unravels as he’s hunted and taunted by The Creature (Jacob Elordi), the father is there every step of the way for his son, always with open, warm arms.

In del Toro’s vision, those arms are