When Guillermo del Toro makes a film, you know it’s going to be good. He puts his heart, soul, and creativity into everything he does, whether it’s his own material or an adaptation. Despite the fact that I haven’t seen his 2025 interpretation of Mary Shelley’s immortal novella Frankenstein, I’m sure del Toro really added his own gothic sensibilities and darkly beautiful spin on it.
As if you didn’t know by now the story, it centers on brilliant but egotistic scientist Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Issac) who brings to life a creature (Jacob Elordi) made from lifeless body parts that he cruelly mistreats. However, del Toro seems to add in a layer of potent trauma about fathers and sons and about men who shouldn’t have children but do anyway. But at the end of the day, it goes along with other versions of the classic story about men who dare to play God but live to regret it.
Being released this week from Criterion on 4K UHD/Blu, Blu-ray, and DVD editions, they all come with the theatrical cut and The Reborn Cut (del Toro’s director’s cut) with a new commentary by del Toro on The Reborn Cut. They also have new supplements such as The Anatomy Lesson: Director’s Cut, a new documentary on the making of the film; The Parlour, a collection of conversations on craft featuring del Toro; actors Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, and Oscar Isaac; cinematographer Dan Laustsen; production designer Tamara Deverell; costume designer Kate Hawley; and creature designer Mike Hill; Q&As moderated by filmmaker Martin Scorsese and musician Patti Smith; interview with composer Alexandre Desplat conducted by film-music scholar Jon Burlingame; and trailer. There is also a new essay by author Christopher Frayling.
Of course, I 100% recommend it, not just because it’s sounds like a universal story about outsiders and misfits, but it cements del Toro’s place in film history as a legendary storyteller and sublime crafter of art.
Other releases:
The Frighteners (Arrow): Sir Peter Jackson’s 1996 cult classic starring Michael J. Fox as a former architect who claims to have a special gift of exorcising evil demons. But when a series of killings start taking place in the small town he lives in, he tries to solve the mystery behind them while falling in love with the wife of a victim and dealing with a bizarre FBI agent.
Blackboard Jungle (Warner Archive): Glenn Ford stars in the riveting 1955 classic as a new teacher who tries to make a difference in an inner-city high school where racial and sexual tensions, delinquency, and violence unfortunately never ends.
Megadoc (Utopia Distribution): a revealing behind-the-scenes documentary that chronicles the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s now infamous flop, 2024 Megalopolis.
Le Joli Mai (Icarus Films): Chris Marker’s two-part 1963 direct-cinema poem that expresses the certainty of happiness in France after the end of the Algerian War.
