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Jacob Elordi, Jessie Buckley… Why is pop culture obsessed with Frankenstein?
Over the course of just a few months, two feature films inspired by the world of novelist Mary Shelley are set to be released. First, Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro, starring Jacob Elordi. Then, The Bride! by Maggie Gyllenhaal, starring Penélope Cruz. An opportunity to reflect on the timeless appeal of the myth of Frankenstein’s monster, which has captivated artists and celebrities, from Rina Sawayama to Emma Stone, Kylie Jenner and drag queen Paloma.
By Violaine Schütz.
Published on 6 November 2025. Updated on 2 March 2026.
It’s one of the best scenes in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, released in September 2024. Monica Bellucci, who drains human beings of their souls as the wicked ex-wife of the clownish exorcist, reassembles herself like a dismembered doll, stapling her limbs stored in boxes in the afterlife back on one by one.
From Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to Kylie Jenner, the myth of Frankenstein has never been so trendy
Resuscitated like that, Monica Bellucci appears like the corpse bride from Corpse Bride (2005) but above all, like Frankenstein’s monster – a fashionable figure.
Halloween 2022 already saw influencers and businesswomen Kylie Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian opting for the same costume as the bride of Frankenstein. Was offering a meta-reflection on the multiple surgical procedures the sisters have undergone their initial intent when dressing up as an altered creature? While we will never know whether or not their outfit was ironic, it certainly matches with the zeitgeist. The novel behind this cult myth has been fascinating pop culture for decades…
Emma Stone in Poor Things: a creature that reminds us of another one
There are countless cinematic references to Mary Shelley’s epistolary novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818). Films like Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Young Frankenstein (1974), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) by Kenneth Branagh, or Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie (2012) among others, have constantly revived the myth. But recently, the story of how Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, crafted a “monster” from dead flesh using electricity, seems more alive than ever.
Last January, Greek director Yórgos Lánthimos (The Favorite, The Lobster) offered a feminine rewriting of the myth of Frankenstein with his baroque feature Poor Things. Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone played the role of the creature brought back to life and patched up with a baby’s brain, while Willem Dafoe embodied the figure of the brilliant, yet mad and troubled surgeon.
Jacob Elordi slips into the skin of the monster
This year, the great Guillermo del Toro is back with a new feature titled Frankenstein and set for release on Netflix on November 7th, 2025. The cast is quite impressive and include Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi in the role of the monster, which required a powerful on-screen presence, and Mia Goth (X, Pearl, MaXXXine).
This well-crafted production, presented at the Venice Film Festival, unfolds as follows: “Eastern Europe, 19th century. Doctor Pretorious, who is tracking down Frankenstein, who is believed to have died in a fire forty years earlier. His goal is to continue the experiments of Doctor Frankenstein, the monster’s creator.”
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s female version of Frankenstein
In March 2026, another film is set to overshadow Guillermo del Toro’s feature. The Bride! by actress and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal, will star Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, Annette Bening and Peter Sarsgaard. Inspired by the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, the storyline focuses on a dead young woman: “Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the help of Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two bring a murdered young woman back to life.”
“The role was a challenge in itself. It’s not a character who has only been played by a handful of actors. Since Boris Karloff, there have been hundreds of interpretations. I went back to Mary Shelley’s novel and tried to reinvent the character for The Bride!,” Christian Bale, who portrays the monster, shared in the columns of Le Devoir
In addition to that, another project by Romanian director Radu Jude, starring Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice), will be coming out soon. In the meantime, Zelda Williams’s feature Lisa Frankenstein (2024), starring Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse, is available on Netflix. This teenage version of the myth is set in 1989 as “a nerdy teenage girl accidentally brings back to life the corpse of a handsome young man from another time.”
Rina Sawayama, Paloma… The influence of Frankenstein in music
The story of Frankenstein has also been a source of inspiration for musicians. From Over at the Frankenstein Place (1975), sung by Barry Bostwick, Richard O’Brien and Susan Sarandon on the soundtrack of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), to tracks by the New York Dolls, Death from Above, and Alice Cooper, the creature who escaped the mad scientist is everywhere.
In 2022, singer Rina Sawayama entitled one of her tracks Frankenstein and proclaimed: “I don’t wanna be a monster anymore.” She explained: “I’ve taken out the horror aspect of the story of Frankenstein. Prosaically, this song revolves around the idea of someone putting me back together and repairing me when I’m broken. I’m in pieces, only to be put back together by someone who reassembles the parts. It’s a very human and realistic experience of rebuilding and creating a new me. That’s why I sing, ‘I don’t want to be a monster anymore.’ At the same time, it’s pretty toxic to depend on someone to feel good, so these lyrics are a bit sad actually…”
Another recent reference to Frankenstein? Rapper Tyler, The Creator crafted a Frankenstein-like alter ego to introduce his album Chromakopia, released in October 2024. Artist Paloma released the music video for her track P.A.L.O.M.A, directed alongside Rebeka Warrior and RAUMM, which hint at Mylène Farmer and the Bride of Frankenstein. It is no coincidence that queer artists, such as bisexual singer Rina Sawayama and drag queen Paloma, are the ones taking on the figure of Mary Shelley’s fictional creature.
Is Mary Shelley’s monster a queer icon?
Several academics and media have analysed why Mary Shelley’s novel, which she wrote at the age of 18, speaks so strongly to LGBT+ communities? The New Yorker asked that same question in the article “How Queer is Frankenstein”. On the one hand, there are numerous allusions to the hidden homosexuality of the mad scientist who gives birth to a creature without going through a heteronormative relationship.
On the other hand, the story of a monster being ostracized by villagers because of its difference resonates with the prejudices that queer people face. Besides, the fact that his soul doesn’t seem to align with his physical appearance can also mirror the issues faced by transgender people.
Despite the uncanny modernity of this 1818 novel, one has to keep in mind that the original tale is the revenge story of someone who was considered a freak because he didn’t fit in. Victor Frankenstein abandoned his “child” because he thought he was hideous. Except that the child was gifted with intelligence and eventually turned against his creator and the society that rejected him. In that sense, his life is a parable about otherness, and a symbol of the minorities’ struggle to be accepted (and loved) as they are.
Frankenstein (2025) by Guillermo del Toro, available on Netflix. The Bride! by Maggie Gyllenhaal, coming out in theatres on March 4th, 2025.
