Frankenstein

A lifelong dream film: this seems to be what 'Frankenstein' is for Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican director who declared how watching James Whale's 1931 classic of the same name when he was only seven years old completely changed his existence. It is certainly nothing new for Mary Shelley's famous masterpiece to be adapted on the big screen, the first film adaptations of which date back to the silent era and many more have been made in recent times.

Del Toro remains faithful to the source text, while managing to bring his own personal vision to telling the story of a brilliant but egocentric scientist who gives life to a creature created by assembling various parts of corpses. It is likely to win several technical awards (the one for make-up and hairstyling, for instance) while the chances of getting the major Oscar are practically nil.