Considering the cinematic style that Guillermo del Toro wields, that dabbles with surreal fantasy and fairytales and horror and gothic themes, it was really only a matter of time before he focused on the classic Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.

This is del Toro’s second production with Netflix, after they produced his 2022 Pinocchio, and he certainly gets his money’s worth, with so much of the $120 million budget dazzling on screen, with the story of scientist Victor Frankenstein.

1857, aboard A Danish ship that is trapped in the ice in the furthermost part of the North Pole.

On the surrounding ice, they find a badly injured man, who goes by the way of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac). Once in the safety of the captain’s office, he begins to retell his story, from his troubled past with his difficult father (Charles Dance), to then finding himself in Edinburgh, as a surgeon showing off his skills in front of eager students.

It’s there that he’s approached by Henrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz), with a proposition for him; he will support him financially so that he can throw all his efforts into his main passion, creating life from death.

Victor quickly agrees, but his experiments take a life all of their own, literally, that Victors finds his undoing.

Del Toro proves to be the perfect match of Shelly’s classic tale, bringing to the screen in a sumptuous visual fashion.

It is cinematically impressive, as he creates a gothic world to the nth degree, working with a dark palette and even darker themes.

Isaac is impressive as Victor, and is matched by the young Jacob Elordi, who rips a page out of Bill Skarsgård’s book, by giving a selfless performance where he is physically unrecognisable delivering it.

Del Toro is competed devoted to the production, and perhaps a little too much in terms of the script, where his keenness to expand on the story makes the film uncomfortably long at two and half hours in length. There’s a sense that a few aspects of the story, most particularly Elizabeth’s storyline, as played by Mia Goth, which is overly bloated and not terribly necessary.

Still, he does well with his other themes, mostly those that involve roles and the changeable relationship status between Victor and his monster, as it constantly re-defines itself.

The Mexican director’s passion is evident, as he breathes magical life into Shelly’s iconic tale, which is produced with a theatrical performance that does its best to get under your skin.