Since it opened in select theaters and premiered on Netflix, Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has found an enthusiastic audience. If you’re surprised by how much you liked the gothic thriller, here are some other movies you might enjoy across a wide spectrum of genres.
These are not all adaptations, “Frankenstein stories,” or even all supernatural. These are movies if you like del Toro’s film, not movies like it… get it? That said, it’s too bad that my personal favorite, the PBS and Pemberley Digital webseries Frankenstein MD, is no longer streaming. (Remember the public domain web series crave of the 2010s? The Lizzie Bennet Diaries won an Emmy! What a time to be aliiiiiive.) I’m also doing a little experiment of my own and focusing on movies that have female protagonists, female creatures, and/or female directors with as few exceptions as possible.
Do you like cozy, spooky movies that give you lots to think about? Want to have sympathy for monsters? I see how attached people are to Jacob Elordi’s sensitive Creature and Oscar Isaac’s Byronic Frankenstein, and I get it. Step into my lab for this vibes-only list of recommendations.
Lisa Frankenstein
Let’s start with the obvious. This scrappy, modern-ish take on a Frankenstein-like dark comedy has a young female protagonist and a brooding creature. It was directed by Zelda Williams, written by Diablo Cody, and stars Kathryn Newtown and Cole Sprouse as a grieving teenager and the dead guy she falls in love with even before he springs back to life. Vibe-wise, it’s definitely errs more on the side of Winona Ryder than Marie Shelley.
One of the appeals of del Toro’s Frankenstein is the tender relationship between the Creature and Mia Goth’s Elizabeth. It’s always fun when a story examines the “beauty and the beast” romance trope from a new angle. And romantasy lovers can attest to there being a certain appeal to stories about human characters who like to snuggle with furry, scaly, and/or dead things. There’s another movie that came out in 2024 about a girl with a creature in her closet called Your Monster that (I have yet to see, but) you might want to check out as well.
Poor Things
As for “what if the creature was a woman” scenarios, I think the 2023 Yorgos Lanthimos film Poor Things is a pretty thorough examination of the pros and cons there. We’ll have to wait and see how Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming movie musical The Bride! tackles a similar subject matter in 2026.
Academy Award winner Emma Stone’s creature is almost immediately sexualized by the men around her despite having the mind of a baby… possibly even because she does, to be honest! It’s disturbing to think about, though it does ultimately lead her to a place of empowerment and enlightenment.
Venom
Alright, allow me this film with a male protagonist. Why? Because the popular reading of Venom as a twisted, toxic, but ultimately sweet romantic comedy between Eddie Brock and the symbiote that attaches himself to him is for queer and/or female audiences.
While Brock is more of a content creator than a mad scientist and Venom is far from his creation, the ethics of scientific research and experimentation is a theme in both. It’s a thin connection, but a connection nonetheless. To be honest, the creature in Frankenstein would probably be thankful for a companion like Eddie.
The Shape of Water
In del Toro’s filmography, the two most comparable films to Frankenstein are Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water. Yes, everyone needs to see the gothic romance starring the Tom Hiddleston in Byronic hero mode, as well as Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, and Charlie Hunnam.
But there are other gothic tales on this list and I want to highlight the tender romance in between the mute Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and Amphibian Man (Doug Jones) in The Shape of Water. This movie contains one of the more intelligent musical numbers committed to film in a decade that really understands how singing and dancing function emotionally in a narrative. Like Venom, it has a happier ending than Frankenstein too.
Warm Bodies
I’m going to restrain myself from putting three Nicholas Hoult movies on here and stick with Warm Bodies. If you like Frankenstein, you probably know about Nosferatu and odds are you’ve at least heard of Renfield. So let’s talk about this one.
In this film, he plays a zombie who finds love with a still living young woman in a hopeless place, a.k.a. the apocalypse. It’s not the most intellectual movie, despite basing its narrative in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but it’s a fun time. Definitely watch this after Frankenstein if you’re looking for lighter fare.
Phantom Thread
Not supernatural, but Phantom Thread is about a man matching a woman’s freak and not the other way around. It’s not a total reverse of the beauty and the beast trope, but it’s a step in the right direction. Reynolds Woodcock, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, has as much genius and hubris as Victor Frankenstein.
He’s obsessive, like Frankenstein and the salty sea captain in Shelley’s tale. He has mommy issues too, something that del Toro’s take on the character really wanted to highlight. Woodcock’s creations, however, are sartorial. His dangerous, deadly lover is his muse Alma (Vicky Krieps).
Practical Magic
As much as we may want to see ordinary men falling in love with supernatural women as much as ordinary women fall in love with supernatural men, of the inherent issues with that as a concept is that men, uhhhhhhhhh, suck. The women of Practical Magic, who hone their skills to take care of abusive men in their lives, certainly know that. They’re magic, but they’re not the monsters!
Jennifer’s Body
Let the misandry bubbling, boiling and troubling under Practical Magic be the perfect tee-up for the perfect female monster movie: Jennifer’s Body, also from Diablo Cody. It’s easy to root for a succubus, a.k.a. Megan Fox’s Jennifer, who has to kill boys to survive when every single one of those boys reveals himself to be a bad person in one way or another over the course of the film. The only person who understands her, even when she has to tragically destroy her, is her girl-next-door best friend Needy, played by Amanda Seyfried.
The Invitation (2022)
One of my favorite modern gothic horror/romance movies is a modern take on Dracula called The Invitation, starring Nathalie Emmanuel as a freelancer who takes a DNA test and learns she’s 100 percent from a family of vampire familiars and ritual sacrifices. Can Evie and “De Ville,” as Thomas Doherty’s Dracula calls himself, make it work?
Does the characterization of the two lady vampires in this movie remind you a bit of Alice Cullen and Rosalie Hale, even though their names are ripped from Bram Stoker’s pages? Why couldn’t Dracula marry a man? Hugh Skinner’s character was absolutely down to clown! On that note, isn’t it nice that both Grey Worm and Missandei from Game of Thrones went on to find love with vampire boyfriends? This movie is a dang delight.
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
In this underrated film and worthy entry to the “the monster’s a woman” section of this list, a young girl with telepathic and mind control powers escapes from a psych ward and tries to make it on her own in New Orleans. While there’s no romance in this film, Mona Lisa (Jun Jong-seo) bonds with a stripper played by Kate Hudson named Bonnie Belle and her young son Charlie (Evan Whitten). Much like Frankenstein’s creature, Mona Lisa learns by the end of the film that the only person she can really trust is herself.
Ex Machina
Is this film trying to tell me that Ava passed the Turing Test because human women are inherently liars? That question has plagued me since I first watched Ex Machina. It kept me from fully enjoying the film despite great performances from Isaac playing another morally grey and untrustworthy mad scientist, as well as Domnhall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander as Ava. But in researching this list, I saw some folks categorize Ex Machina as a gothic romance. I love that. Gleeson is the young ingenue who goes to a rich man’s remote, haunted estate. He falls in love with a scary creature. And there’s a tragic ending, depending on your point of view. This reading contextualizes the film in a way that I can get behind.
The Beguiled
Finally, let’s also include a Southern Gothic! Sofia Coppola’s adaptation of the 1966 novel by Thomas P. Cullinan has everything: a creepy and creaking old house in the middle of nowhere, the female gaze, and sexuality laced with murder. What The Beguiled doesn’t have is women of color, and there’s more than one non-white character in the source material.
So your mileage may vary with how Coppola chose to reinterpret the Civil War-era story. That’s fair and valid. But as an atmospheric, dark tale of lust and women who are just as dangerous as their male counterparts and moody as any Byronic hero, The Beguiled totally works. The beating sun can be just as scary as dark shadows, you know??
(featured image: Ken Woroner/Netflix)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
