Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein creeps ever closer to its wide release on Netflix, but it’s been making the rounds at film festivals and showings. So, we’re already getting reviews and comments on this new take on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s science fiction groundbreaker. Unsurprisingly, there are already a few reactions that give the impression folks are surprised and/or confused at how romantic del Toro has treated this take on the story.

Seriously, there have been write-ups that seem to be taken aback by such a familiar horror tale being treated as a more romantic endeavor. Now, it’s not like I’m unaware or unsympathetic to those who would feel that way, and we’ll get into that, but it’s also a clear indication that folks have not familiarized themselves with the actual novel. Because for as much as it is unquestionably a horror story, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is also an inescapably romantic novel.

And that’s part of why I’m so excited to see Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.

The Romantic Horror Of Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s actual prose for Frankenstein is unavoidably romantic due to the stylings of its era. But that is by no means a detriment to the story. Far from it! It is Shelley’s poetic leanings — including some actual poems, the most romantic of the writing forms — that infuses such a unique and deep flavor to the horrific mad scientist story. There are moments in the story where the perspective narrator (usually Victor Frankenstein, but also the Creature himself and other characters) is often musing on the wondrous qualities of whatever subject is their focus. Some of the best parts of the story aren’t the outright horror but the quiet moments like Victor and his friend Henry on a small boat, or the Creature recounting the rural family he came to love.

If you have ever read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and seen a single Guillermo del Toro movie, you won’t be surprised in the least to learn that these elements of the story are being brought to the forefront in a way uncommon to those who only associate the story with the Universal Monsters version. That lumbering, more zombielike iteration and eventual caricature has crafted a pop culture where it’s not surprising to see folks shocked at the innate romanticism of the story getting its biggest canvas since the original text.

But, if you even look at one of the core themes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, you’ll see it is an idea born from the most romantic of ideas: to find a companion who loves you.

Every Man Needs A Companion

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is reinstating the framing device from the novel in which an Arctic explorer is the one who finds Victor Frankenstein and the Creature at the end of their story. In the novel, this character is named Robert Walton and one of the first things Shelley has him talk about is how he’s sad he will not have a fellow peer to share in his discoveries. He longs for an equal, someone to complete him. This is obviously echoed by the Creature himself as he later asks Frankenstein to create for him a mate. Frankenstein himself is in the center of a romance with the character of Elizabeth, his adopted family member whom he has loved since they were both young.

There are deeply romantic roots in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and it looks like Guillermo del Toro recognized how much those roots have not been watered in the multitude of Frankenstein takes we’ve seen in cinema. I can’t wait to see this Creature’s heart as well as the horror he brings to the monster that created him.