A Field Guide to This Year’s ‘Frankenstein’ Movies

Published in 1818, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus still inspires new movies and takes on the old tale. With several new Frankenstein movies in the works, 2024 might be the real year of Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in a competition amongst her friends and future husband to see who could write the best horror story. While we might still read the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, Frankenstein has a certain power over us. The story follows a hubristic rich boy, Victor Frankenstein, as he goes to medical school. He decides he knows more than everyone else and builds a man out of discarded human remains. When Frankenstein brings “the creature” to life, he flees in horror.

The monster must learn what it is to be human and how to communicate on his own, which leads to some scary encounters for unsuspecting village people. Frankenstein runs from the mess he made until the monster ultimately catches up to Frankenstein to tell him how awful Frankenstein is. Although the creature is terribly lonely, he’s a better man than his creator.

Many argue the novel started the science-fiction genre while also working with elements of the Gothic and Romantic movements. Those elements, along with Shelley’s earnest look at human behavior, have made it such an enduring tale. Just in 2023, we had three different Frankenstein-inspired movies: Birth/Rebirth, Poor Things, and The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster. And 2024 is already shaping up to give us a slew of new Frankenstein-inspired movies. Let’s take a look.

Lisa Frankenstein

The title of Lisa Frankenstein evokes images of Frankenstein mixed with 1990s favorite neon animal artist Lisa Frank. (I’m ready for a monster line of folders and pencil cases, Lisa Frank!) Starring Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) and Cole Sprouse (Riverdale), this tale set in the 1980s is a different take on the monster story.

Lisa pines over a man in a graveyard who has been dead for centuries. One day, he is brought back to life and she must help freshen up his body parts by harvesting new ones and assembling them in a tanning bed. This movie marks the directorial debut of Zelda Williams. Lisa Frankenstein hits theaters in less than a month, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein Movie

According to Deadline, this Frankenstein movie shows a creature who has been around for a while and seeks meaningful relationships.

“A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.”

Since most Frankenstein movies focus on the creation of the creature, it will be interesting to see more of what drove him to want the Bride and how that figures into things. The film will be produced by Warner Bros. after starting life at Netflix. Starring in the film are several big-name actors, including Jessie Buckley, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, and Christian Bale (who may play the creature Frankenstein). This film is pre-production with no set release date.

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein

Sometimes I feel like I’ve been waiting for this movie my entire life. Guillermo del Toro has the unique ability to understand how appealing monsters are to us and why we need them displayed beautifully in movies. I need his take on Frankenstein.

This Frankenstein movie follows the original story of the creation of the monster. According to IMDB, “Dr. Pretorious, who needs to track down Frankenstein’s monster who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein.”

Originally, the film starred Oscar Isaac and Andrew Garfield and I was ready for the copious amounts of fanfiction. Garfield dropped out of the project to be replaced by Saltburn‘s Jacob Elordi. Yes, I’m sure it will still be a fandom favorite. The roles of the doctor and monster keep shifting around between the two leads. Right now, it is believed Elordi will be the creature with Isaac as the doctor. Mia Goth also stars in the film and many believe she will play the Bride. But that may be the Bride of the creature, or the Bride of the doctor (which would be his adopted sister that he’s in love with). Currently, this film is in pre-production with everyone hoping it will get a 2024 release date.

(featured image: 20th Century Studios)