Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a pᴀssion project years in the making, and the Netflix movie is not your typical Gothic horror retelling, as writer and director del Toro explains. Del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein movie is set for a limited theatrical release on October 17 and will later be available to stream on Netflix from November 7.

Following the events of Mary Shelley’s original 1818 classic novel, Frankenstein stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, an egotistical scientist who brings a monster (Jacob Elordi) to life, ultimately leading to his undoing. Alongside the leads, Mia Goth, Ralph Ineson, Charles Dance, Lars Mikkelsen, and Christoph Waltz also feature as members of Frankenstein‘s cast.

Now, in an interview with Variety, Guillermo del Toro has shed a little more light on Frankenstein and its creation. Del Toro explained how he has reimagined one of the most iconic scenes in horror history, the moment Frankenstein’s creature is brought to life, stating that he wanted something radically different from previous adaptations. Check out his comments below:

Almost nobody shows the creation of the monster. Everybody shows thunder, and the monster is already put together. And I thought, if you are following a rock star, you want to shoot the concert. So instead of making it horrible that he is putting all these things together from bodies, I made it into a waltz. I made it into a joyous fun, sort of crazy concert. He’s running around the lab, putting this body together, grabbing this part and placing it together here or there.

Frankenstein‘s Jacob Elordi also listed the scene showing the creation of the creature as one of his favorite moments from the film. In another Variety interview, Elordi said: “I want a couple of teenagers kissing in the back to see that and have those memories. You may not have that experience if you’re just at home on your iPad.“

What Guillermo Del Toro’s Comments Mean For Frankenstein

Unlike past versions, which skip over the creation, reducing it to a flash of lightning or another sinister marker, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein purposely lingers on it. Treating the monster’s creation as a performance instead of a horror beat certainly shifts the tone away from previous traditional and more fear-driven interpretations of Frankenstein, showcasing his more personal and humanistic approach.

By turning Frankenstein‘s monster birth into a “waltz,” del Toro is once again pushing genre boundaries, rejecting horror conventions in favor of something more theatrical, surreal, and emotionally charged. The creative gamble plays to his strengths as a director who’s never shied away from finding beauty in the grotesque, and links to other statements he’s made about Frankenstein‘s musicality.

Our Take On Frankenstein’s Creation In The New Movie

In the same interview, del Toro says, “Frankenstein is a song of the human experience” and compares Victor to “a Byronic rock star,” who is “as much an artist as he is a surgeon.” These comments all seem to tie into a musical theme for Frankenstein, showcasing how the film is not necessarily one about manmade horrors, but about creativity.

Frankenstein is a notoriously tricky story to adapt due to its complex themes, especially concerning the monster. However, in the hands of del Toro, it looks promising. Guillermo del Toro’s movies have always been more interested in metaphors than jump scares, and these comments only hint at Frankenstein‘s potential to be another poignant masterpiece from the award-winning director.