Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, which is now streaming on Netflix, stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his monster. This is the thirteenth feature film for the celebrated director, a personal project that he pursued for decades.
Mary Shelley's novel follows the titular scientist as he strives to bring a dead person back to life. It is an iconic story that has enthralled audiences for over a century. The Netflix movie follows these story beats and the tragic events that follow Victor's crowning achievement. In fact, many films have put Shelley's story and characters on the big screen. But what about TV?
I would like to take some time to divert your attention away from all the movies featuring the creature and to highlight one of my favorite adaptations of the iconic monster tale. There is one specific TV show that features a beautiful take on the Frankenstein monster, and it is still one of the best Gothic horror series to ever hit the small screen: Penny Dreadful. If you have never seen it, I highly recommend that you visit Paramount Plus and add it to your watchlist right now.
Rory Kinnear stars in Penny Dreadful. Showtime
Named after penny dreadfuls — the serial fiction pamphlets that were popular in 19th century Britain, which cost a penny per issue — the horror series, created by John Logan, hit television over a decade ago. One could easily describe the show as if the X-Men or the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen were centered around characters taken straight from the horror literature of the era.
Penny Dreadful has a stellar cast: Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Billie Piper, Harry Treadaway, Josh Hartnett and Reeve Carney are at the top of their games. What other title, aside from, perhaps, The Monster Squad of 1987, brings together the likes of Dracula, the Wolfman, Dorian Gray and Dr. Henry Jekyll to battle the forces of evil? I can't think of any.
Victor Frankenstein is here, too, and so is the monster he gives life to. Actor Rory Kinnear fills the giant shoes of Frankenstein's creation. His performance is brutal, compassionate and downright beautiful.
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Josh Hartnett, Eva Green, Danny Sapani, Harry Treadaway and Timothy Dalton star in Penny Dreadful. Showtime
When you think of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff's performance is probably the one that most people think of. Since he graced the big screen in the original Frankenstein movie, released by Universal Pictures in 1931, the legend of the lumbering creature has endured throughout pop culture for nearly a century. But if you look at Mary Shelley's description of the Frankenstein Monster, you can see drastic differences in how he has been portrayed all this time. Like Elordi's take on the monster in del Toro's latest feature, Shelley wrote the creature as being highly intelligent with lustrous black hair, pearly white teeth, large eyes and straight black lips.
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