It’s been a pretty great time to be a Frankenstein fan. While Mary Shelley’s iconic story has been retold and homaged in so many different formats, these past few years have been a feast of interpretations.
There are official comics, a cutting-edge theme park, and a romp through the animated corner of the DC Universe. Plus, the next few months are going to bring us two completely different movie adaptations of Frankenstein’s world. The first trailer for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride has me counting down the days until its March 2026 release… but until then, it looks like Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein will keep us absolutely fed.
On Wednesday, Netflix released the second official trailer for Frankenstein, ahead of its limited theatrical release later this month. Admittedly, there is a lot to unpack in the trailer: gowns and cinematography that carry the torch of Crimson Peak, squishy practical effects and disembodied eyeballs, just how unbuttoned Oscar Isaac’s Victor Frankenstein’s shirt seems to be. But one thing in this new batch of footage especially surprised me: the extended glimpses we get of Jacob Elordi’s take on Frankenstein’s monster.
After only being a brief part of the first teaser trailer that was released earlier this year, this new Frankenstein footage centers the monster almost completely. Not only does he narrate the entire trailer (which I will touch on in a minute), but we see glimpses of him making the journey to reunite with his creator.
A Misunderstood Monster
Whether the monster is holding his own against guns and a ship full of people, or is being tenderly embraced by Mia Goth’s Elizabeth Lavenza, there’s already something mesmerizing about the snippets we see of Elordi’s performance. It’s not just the impressive practical makeup that’s making him appear unrecognizable: it’s his posture, simultaneously massive and attempting to make himself seem small. It’s also his voice, as he delivers a monologue of sorts that seems to be directed at Victor.
In just a few sentences, he sums up the beautiful dichotomy of Frankenstein’s monster that has endured for centuries: a man who had no choice in how and why he was brought to life, and now chooses to go about the world carrying a flurry of emotions within him. I hope his line about remembering the “memories of different men” who make up his body becomes part of the movie’s plot, because that feels like an aspect of the character that del Toro can have a lot of fun with.
While Elordi definitely has the physical stature to play the monster, his filmography in projects like Euphoria and The Kissing Booth (and the fact that he was replacing Andrew Garfield in the role) led some to be a little bit skeptical when he was first cast. I will admit, I was in that camp at first, but now I am fully invested. Just based on this footage, he seems to be the right combination of heartbreaking and menacing, especially with a director who has already helped us fall in love with so many monsters. As we build towards the end of the trailer, and the monster’s line of “If you are not to award me love, then I will indulge in rage,” I legitimately got a little emotional.
Frankenstein is set to be released in select theaters on October 17, followed by a debut on Netflix November 7.
(featured image: Netflix)
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