Guillermo del Toro’s horror classic will be given a new lease on life this upcoming Halloween. There’s no name more synonymous with horror than del Toro, the mastermind behind iconic films such as Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone, and Crimson Peak. Even his romance and superhero films have an element of horror, whether that’s vampires in Blade II or half-demons from the depths of Hell in Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The Shape of Water featured an immortal humanoid amphibian creature winning the heart of Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a mute cleaner at a high-security government lab, which took home the Best Picture Oscar.
The Shape of Water was a dream come true for del Toro, who’d wanted to remake The Creature from the Black Lagoon from the perspective of the Gill-man as a romantic hero. In 2025, del Toro achieved another ambition: adapting Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Last October, the world got to see his vision when Netflix released the film on its platform — and it was lauded by critics and audiences alike. Now, the writer-director will revive Frankenstein again via the Criterion Collection this fall, including not just the original cut but also“The Reborn Cut,” which adds eight additional minutes to the runtime.
But that’s not all, as there’ll also be several director-approved special additions, which include a 4K digital master of the film and “The Reborn Cut,” new audio commentary on “The Reborn Cut” featuring del Toro, a documentary on the making of the film called The Anatomy Lesson: Director’s Cut, and a collection of conversations between del Toro, stars Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Oscar Isaac, and other crew members called The Parlor. Aside from Frankenstein’s actors and crew, Martin Scorsese and musician Patti Smith also make appearances in moderated Q&As, as well as an essay by scholar and author Christopher Frayling.
Del Toro had long teased that an extended cut of Frankenstein was in the works. In January, during a special screening of Cronos at the Sundance Film Festival, he reportedly described the new version as the “all the stitches” cut for the movie’s most ardent fans. Frankenstein stars Elordi as the iconic Creature, while Isaac portrays his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Meanwhile, Goth acted in dual roles, first as Victor’s mother, Baroness Claire Frankenstein, and then as his brother William’s fiancée, Lady Elizabeth Harlander. Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), Lars Mikkelsen (The Witcher), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), and David Bradley (Hot Fuzz) also co-star.
Frankenstein also received nine nominations at the 98th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. While it sadly lost out on Best Picture to Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, it did take home the wins for Best Production Design, Best Costuming, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling — a passion for historical aesthetics is something which MovieWeb‘s Zachary Lee said del Toro “brings to all of his projects.”
