Frankenstein (2025)

Frankenstein (2025) – Tech bros, trauma, and a super-horny monster movie on Netflix

Mary Shelley by way of Guillermo del Toro feels almost too perfect, and Frankenstein (2025) absolutely leans into that match-up: lush Gothic sets, grotesque body horror, tender fairytale beats, and a very modern anxiety about people who build things they can’t control.

In this episode, the Bad Dads dig into Netflix’s lavish new take on the classic, framed in the icy Arctic as Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and his Creature retell their shared nightmare from two sides. Along the way we get abusive fathers, creepy power dynamics, “18th-century tech bro” energy, and more limb-sawing than is probably healthy for a school night.

We also talk about how weird it is that this $120m movie technically “bombed” at the box office but only because it was dumped into cinemas for a week to qualify for Oscars, and what that says about modern streaming, awards campaigning and how success is measured now.

In the episode we cover:

• Netflix’s blink-and-you-miss-it theatrical release strategy and why the film only made $144k in cinemas
• Oscar Isaac’s monstrous turn as an abusive, glory-hungry surgeon vs the Creature’s unexpected gentleness
• Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz with gold shoes, Charles Dance as the worst dad alive, and why this is a strangely “horny” Frankenstein
• That brutal opening on the ice: shattered legs, ship-tipping strength and a monster that just won’t die
• Generational trauma, perfectionism and how Victor immediately becomes the same kind of father he hates
• The forest/fairytale stretch: mice, a blind old man, found family, and the heartbreaking deer scene
• All the grisly stuff: hanging bodies, severed limbs, skinned wolves and why the practical sets and make-up look incredible
• Frankenstein as an AI / tech parable – creating something powerful, sentient and uncontrollable, then trying to kill it
• The big split on the pod: is 2.5 hours richly earned or just too long for a story we already know?
• Mary Shelley’s original novella, written at 18 on a dare, and how its ideas still infect modern thrillers, conspiracy stories and sci-fi

If you like your horror Gothic, your monsters tragic, and your movie chat equal parts thoughtful and filthy, this is a good jumping-on point. Hit play, hear us argue about runtime, thirst over Oscar Isaac, side-eye Mia Goth, and decide for yourself whether this Frankenstein is a modern classic or just an overbuilt monster.

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Until next time, we remain...

Bad Dads