As nights get longer, and shadows grow deeper, the screens are, once again, filled by jump-scares, thrills and uneasy laughter – what a treat! Are you excited? Every October, I find myself in the same haunted company: vampires drunk on their immortality, ghosts that cling to the past, and monsters who are “patron saints of our blissful imperfection”. This year, I have found myself in a close relationship with the monstrous creations of one man: Guillermo del Toro. From Cronos (1992) to Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), monsters are not just frightening – they feel (and so do we!). In his long-awaited new release, Frankenstein, a new monster tells us what it means to be human.

One could tell the story of the monster assembled under the light of thunder, without telling the story of del Toro, but to tell the story of this director is to tell the story of this monster. Fascinated by Mary Shelley’s creation since he was a child, del Toro has had ambitions to make this film for over 50 years (and has been serious about it since the 1990s)! His long-awaited adaptation is not a translation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel onto the big screen, but a transmutation to a new medium, and a new time. Del Toro looks inside, creating a highly biographical narrative that tells us about del Toro as a son and as a father. In doing so, he takes a story that is over 200 years old and makes it highly reflective of the present and our modern fears.

After Crimson Peak (2015), it comes as no surprise that del Toro does justice to the Gothic visual spectacle, delighting us with elaborate settings and lavish costumes. However, it is the performances on the screen that make Frankenstein a modern masterpiece. Victor Frankenstein, brought to life by Oscar Isaac, is eager and outstandingly mad. Mia Goth, as Elizabeth Lavenza, is never just a side character and often steals the show. The role of the monster, originally earmarked for Doug Jones, then Benedict Cumberbatch, and then Andrew Garfield, is given to Jacob Elordi, who runs with it! The up-and-coming actor steps away from Boris Karlov’s monstrous shadow and gives us a creature that is beautiful, naïve, and traumatised.

After all this time, Del Toro managed to piece together all the body parts and ‘It’s alive!’ But please don’t be ‘Spooked’, because in its epic scale, Frankenstein is a deeply human and melancholic story about fatherhood and our human imperfections. Del Toro holds a mirror to our faces so we can see the monster within, but unlike Victor, he doesn’t abandon us; he tells us it is good to be weird… to be the creature… to be the monster.

Written by João Eduardo Lima Belchior

See the beautifully monstrous Frankenstein from Fri 31st - Thu 6th November.

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Frankenstein is part of Spooked Lancaster Horror Festival. Wonder what else is on? Take a peek here...Spooked Programme