Fans Love the New 'Frankenstein' Movie, but Most Would Agree It Truly Earns It's "R" Rating
“It works. It's dark, it's classical Guillermo, it's very bloody — it's Frankenstein.”
Updated Nov. 12 2025, 2:50 p.m. ET
The 2025 Frankenstein film from legendary horror director Guillermo del Toro has done well with critics and fans alike, winning an 86 percent critics score and a 95 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Reviews point out the cinematography, stunning imagery, and devastatingly beautiful themes. Both Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac have received praise for their acting performances. But just how scary is the film?
How scary is the new 'Frankenstein' movie?
Fans tend to agree that del Toro's Frankenstein is very gory but not necessarily "scary" in the typical sense of the word. Much of the discomfort comes from the nature of Frankenstein's task — assembling the monster with human body parts.
One Reddit user notes, "del Toro set out to make this the most anatomically correct version of The Monster, so you get a lot of scenes of methodical fiddling and cutting with lumps of flesh and tendons."
Another notes, “Gore, yes. It's violent at times. The fright level is low IMO.”
Most of the discomfort comes from realistic and graphic scenes of exposed body parts. However, the movie is worth watching if you can stomach it.
Tim Cogshell of LAist wrote, “It works. It's dark, it's classical Guillermo, it's very bloody — it's Frankenstein.”
Linda Holmes of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour said, “As much as I appreciate it thematically, I think what really blew me away about it is that this is a really, really beautiful movie, even though it's a very gruesome movie, in many respects. There's some really gross stuff ... that goes on in this movie.”
Read on for specifics about the types of uncomfortable things that happen in 'Frankenstein.'
Please note there are small spoilers ahead.
Per IMDb's Parents Guide, viewers should be warned that some animals are harmed (wolves, killed graphically by the creature). It also lists shootings, bones breaking, and limbs being broken. It says the film is "bloody, brutal, and very graphic."
There are gunshot wounds in graphic detail, a wolf attack, and a person falling to their death, with the impact shown. In a flashback scene, young Victor is harmed by his parent.
One Reddit user notes that there are some "pretty gory deaths" in the first five minutes that are surprising. "I'd caution you if you hate gore," they concluded.
Fans on Reddit disagree on how hard the film is to watch, with one saying they had to look away from the screen for about "20 percent of the movie" and another saying the "violent" scenes only make up about five minutes of the film.