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.
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.
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.
You will not see the creature like this in many titles, but this is how he is depicted in Penny Dreadful. Victor Frankenstein’s creation, as audiences have seen before, is a monster who possesses the capacity for doing good but turns to the proverbial dark side, driven by the aching loneliness brought on by the sheer otherness of his existence. He is confined to the shadows and becomes ostracized by society. He is a fitting reflection of his maker, a tortured outcast in his own right.
Rory Kinnear stars in Penny Dreadful.
The monster is referred to as Caliban in the show, but the revived corpse eventually takes on the name John Clare, after the English poet, signifying the civilized and refined identity the monster yearns to embody. Kinnear’s rendition of the character carries a wealth of emotional power that both cuts to the bone and tugs at the heartstrings. There is a reason he takes the name of a poet, as we see his own penchant for beauty, empathy and compassion, as he pursues the one thing that makes us all human: connection.
But as much as he strives for love, Caliban carries violence with him everywhere he goes. It is a visceral push-pull that keeps this iteration of the Frankenstein monster so unpredictable, dangerous and unrelentingly rootworthy. Yes, when I first watched Penny Dreadful, I absolutely rooted for Caliban to become John Clare, mind, body and soul. His sojourn to find agency lasts three seasons, and the conclusion of his character’s story is one of the more satisfying elements of the series. It has left such a lasting impression on me that, whenever Frankenstein comes up in conversation, I immediately jump in and ask, “Have you watched Penny Dreadful?”
Well, have you? Because if the answer is no, consider this your call to action. Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a magnificent achievement in horror cinema and a beautiful depiction of Shelley’s monster. While I am a fan of Karloff’s work, Kinnear’s portrayal is my favorite version of the monster. When it comes down to it, there is no other title, in my mind, that goes the Gothic distance than Penny Dreadful.
