Guillermo del Toro says his Frankenstein adaptation is not a ‘horror film’

Guillermo del Toro says his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is not a “horror film” but more of an “emotional story”.

Set to be released on Netflix in November 2025, the story follows Dr Pretorious, played by Christoph Waltz, as he seeks to find Frankenstein’s Monster, played by Jacob Elordi, so he can continue Dr Victor Frankenstein’s experiments.

In a conversation with composer Alexandre Desplat at the Cannes film festival, del Toro explained his approach towards the 1818 novel.

“Somebody asked me the other day, does it have really scary scenes?” del Toro was quoted as saying by Variety. “For the first time, I considered that. It is an emotional story for me. It’s as personal as anything. I’m asking a question about being a father, being a son… I’m not doing a horror movie – ever. I’m not trying to do that.”

On how The Shape of Water director and Desplat were working together to finalise a score for the film, del Toro said: “We are finding the emotion. And what I can say is, for me, it’s an incredibly emotional movie.”

Desplat, an Oscar winner, said: “Guillermo’s cinema is very lyrical, and my music is rather lyrical too. So I think the music of Frankenstein will be something very lyrical and emotional… I’m not trying to write horrific music.”

In January last year, it was announced that Elordi had been cast as Frankenstein’s Monster, after Andrew Garfield, who was del Toro’s first choice, became unavailable due to scheduling conflicts.

The film also stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Mia Goth as Victor's fiancée Elizabeth Lavenza.

At the Fantasia Film Festival in 2016, del Toro had talked about his interest in the story and described being “moved” by a sculpture of the monster by artist Mike Hill.

“When I was a kid, I saw the movie, I was incredibly moved by the fact that the creature was an innocent. When I saw him, there was such a serene, innocent essential grays in the way Boris portrayed the creature. There was a beauty that was truly holy, truly transcendental in the way he portrayed it, and then I read the book and I realised the book has not been made,” he said.

“To this day, nobody has made the book, but the book became my bible, because what Mary Shelley wrote was the quintessential sense of isolation you have as a kid. It’s the quintessential teenage book. ‘You don’t belong. You were brought to this world by people that don’t care for you and you are thrown into a world of pain and suffering, and tears and hunger, and you learn to talk…’ It’s an amazing book written by a teenage girl. It’s mind blowing.”

In August 2024, while filming in Scotland, del Toro made a series of posts on X saying his hotel room in Aberdeen seemed to be the “most haunted room” and the “angry and territorial” ghosts were keeping him up at night.

“Whilst in Aberdeen, I am staying in an old 1800’s hotel. I am in the Most Haunted room of it – which was vacated this morning by one of our producers. Odd electrical and physical occurrences scared her into leaving asap. Stay tuned – if anything happens I will report,” the Pan's Labyrinth director posted.