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In this episode, we discuss Guillermo del Toro’s gorgeous and gothic adaptation of Frankenstein, an epic, operatic exploration of creation, obsession, abandonment, and the horror of living after being rejected by the world. We discuss our own life goals and the hollowness that can follow achieving your greatest ambition, before diving into this reimagining of Mary Shelley’s ground-breaking novel. We unpack the cinematic devices, symbolism, use of light and colour, as well as each character and what motivates them. We explore themes of immortality as a curse, intergenerational trauma, scientific overreach, colonialism, class violence, and what happens when society decides someone is a monster.

Content & Spoiler Warning:

We spoil Frankenstein (the novel and film), and the film and our dicussion has body horror, animal death (wolves), child abuse, death during childbirth, toxic father–son relationships, and corpse desecration.

Palate cleanser:

Star Wars (Original Trilogy) – Caroline is revisiting the entire Star Wars universe in timeline order, and despite some CGI should never have happened, these movies hold up.

Recommendations:

• Little Shop of Horrors – mad science, creation, and unintended consequences
• My Cousin Vinny – for unexpected tonal callbacks
• Marvel films (Frankenstein connects to Captain America, Ultron, and Hulk lore)
• Inglourious Basterds, Indiana Jones, The Sound of Music – confronting Nazi violence and persecution
• Death Becomes Her and Vampire lore– immortality is its own horror
• Alice in Wonderland and Beetlejuice – embracing the strange and unusual
• Little Women (2019) – the dance scenes are similar.
• Dr. Death (podcast) – psychotic doctors and medical hubris
• Book Cheat (podcast) – a comic shortcut to classic literature
• Epistolary horror: Dracula, Carrie
• “The Monkey’s Paw” – the danger of subverting death
• Jurassic Park, Terminator, M3GAN, Oppenheimer, Edward Scissorhands – losing control of creation
• Guillermo del Toro’s other works: Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, Pinocchio, Hellboy, Blade II

Homework:

Watch Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers (Netflix)
A documentary that continues exploring how society punishes those it deems monstrous.

Special thanks to Nancy Azano for the podcast cover art (Instagram: @nancyazano) and Harry Kidd for the opening and closing score (Instagram: @harryjkidd, Spotify).