Classic Movies Live Season 6, Episode 26 – Frankenstein
November 19, 2025
It’s part two of our series on Frankenstein this week on Classic Movies Live!
In the previous episode, Pierre and Jeff talked about James Whale’s 1930s films Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. This week, our hosts are back to discuss an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic that goes in a very different direction.
Starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein sees the director returning to a gothic horror period piece a la Crimson Peak. Boasting a more “book-accurate” version of the story, Frankenstein features both Victor (Isaac) and the Creature (Elordi) recounting events from their points of view to a neutral sea captain (Lars Mikkelsen), who holds the fate of both in his hands.
del Toro’s interpretation is quite different from Whale’s, focusing on entirely different themes and sections of the story. Is it better for it? Well, the answer to that question is a bit more complicated than it may initially appear….
For more Frankenstein discussion, you can check out Jeff’s appearance on the Halloween episode of Contra Zoom Pod, where he joined Dakota Arsenault and Matthew Simpson to talk about Whale’s vision, del Toro’s, and also Young Frankenstein!
