15 Best Movies Like Netflix's Frankenstein

Throughout the centuries since Mary Shelley's Gothic horror novel "Frankenstein" released to great acclaim, plenty of creatives have put their own spin on this story of a doctor horrified by his own mangled creation ... and in 2025, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro released his take on this classic tale for Netflix. Split into a prelude and two distinct chapters, del Toro's simply titled "Frankenstein" casts Oscar Isaac as Baron Victor Frankenstein, a man determined to use death to create life; in doing so, he produces "the Creature," a hulking man-like mass portrayed by "Euphoria" and "Saltburn" star Jacob Elordi. With Felix Kammerer as Victor's younger brother William and Mia Goth as William's fiancée Lady Elizabeth Harlander, del Toro's "Frankenstein" is an amazing version of a familiar classic.

When you've finished watching Netflix's "Frankenstein," though, what should you watch next? We've got you covered. From other movies made by del Toro to other takes on the "Frankenstein" story to other stories rooted in Gothic horror, here's what you should watch after Netflix's "Frankenstein."

Written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins, the underrated Gothic horror movie "Crimson Peak" will definitely scratch the same itch as "Frankenstein," and not just because it shares a director. An original tale by the duo, "Crimson Peak" centers around Mia Wasikowska's wealthy heiress Edith Cushing, who has a dream warning her about a mysterious place called Crimson Peak. After a series of events — including the unexpected death of her father Carter Cushing (Jim Beaver) — Edith, an aspiring novelist, marries her suitor Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), and the two move to a run-down house called Allerdale Hall. 

At Allerdale, Edith starts experiencing strange occurrences and visions and also finds herself totally unnerved by Thomas' sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain). In the vein of stories like Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca," Edith must uncover the secrets of Allerdale and figure out if Thomas and Lucille are up to no good; by the end of "Crimson Peak," you'll have whiplash from the twists and turns ... and some of them are even more shocking than you could imagine.

Another Gothic horror film from Guillermo del Toro that's told entirely in the Spanish language, 2006's "Pan's Labyrinth" is, arguably, what put this writer-director on the map internationally thanks to success at that year's Cannes Film Festival and subsequent American distribution by Warner Bros. The protagonist of this film, Ivana Baquero's Ofelia, finds her life uprooted after her mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) marries Captain Vidal (Sergi López), a high-ranking official in the Armed Police Corps of Francoist Spain in 1944. Thankfully, Ofelia is able to literally escape her troubles by entering the titular labyrinth, into which she's guided by a strange fairy; there, she meets monsters like the Pale Man and kind entities like The Faun (both of whom are played by Doug Jones).

"Pan's Labyrinth" is, without question, one of the most original and unique fantasy films ever made and produced, and it speaks to del Toro's incredible creativity and magical mind that he was able to create a Gothic sort of fairy tale set during one of the most oppressive periods in Spanish history. If you love del Toro's "Frankenstein," you can't miss "Pan's Labyrinth."

The winner of the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion and best picture at the 90th Academy Awards in 2018, Guillermo del Toro's 2017 dark fantasy "The Shape of Water" won him his first Oscar for directing, and it's easy to understand why. When we first meet Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a mute woman who communicates via sign language, she's working as a cleaner at a Baltimore-based, government-controlled lab during the Cold War ... and one night at work, she meets a human-like amphibian creature brought into the lab for testing and further studies. (The creature, referred to only as Amphibian Man, is played by Doug Jones.) After Elisa and the Amphibian Man strike up an unlikely connection that even turns romantic, she decides to try to free him from the lab, turning to her friends Giles (Richard Jenkins) and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) for help, as they all try to evade the watchful Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon).

"The Shape of Water" is a thoughtful, strangely beautiful, and emotionally resonant story of how love can overcome anything, and like in "Frankenstein," there's also a creature who's trying, against all odds, to be something close to human. After "Frankenstein," check out del Toro's most lauded film to date.

Despite what you might think, William Oldroyd's 2017 drama "Lady Macbeth," starring Florence Pugh, isn't an adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy that made this antiheroine famous; it's actually an adaptation of "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District," a novella penned in 1865 by Russian writer Nikolai Leskov. In Oldroyd's film, written by Alice Birch, Pugh plays Katherine Lester, a young and beautiful maiden stuck in an unhappy marriage to the much-older Alexander Lester (Paul Hilton). Controlled by both Alexander and his father Boris (Christopher Fairbank), Katherine is overjoyed when her husband and father-in-law briefly leave her alone at the massive Lester estate with just the maid Anna (Naomi Ackie) for company. As Katherine and Anna become friends, Katherine also embarks on an illicit affair with Sebastian (future "Shogun" star Cosmo Jarvis), a landworker ... and when Alexander returns, he's met with some ugly surprises.

It won't come as a surprise to you, dear reader, that Pugh is phenomenal in the lead role, and this story, with its claustrophobic Gothic vibes, is a perfect pairing with "Frankenstein." Monsters come in all forms, as "Lady Macbeth" makes quite clear.

Besides Guillermo del Toro, few writer-directors pull off Gothic and period piece horror better than Robert Eggers, and his talent in this area is on amazing display in his 2024 take on "Nosferatu." Like "Frankenstein," "Nosferatu" turns to classic horror lore — a vampire instead of an undead man this time — and is inspired by Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (which may or may not appear, in another form, elsewhere on this list). When Ellen Hutter (an astonishly well-deployed Lily-Rose Depp) starts experiencing strange nightly visions and what appears to be a violent illness — but is actually a psychic connection to the titular Nosferatu, portrayed by Bill Skårsgard — her husband Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) knows he need to seek help. Desperate, he asks Professor Albin Eberhart von Franz (Eggers regular Willem Dafoe) to aid Ellen while Thomas travels  to the castle of Count Orlok, a wealthy and mysterious man — who, by night, is the vampiric Nosferatu himself — to complete a business transaction.

"Nosferatu" is thrilling, unexpectedly beautiful, and gripping, and while it hits some of the same beats as "Frankenstein," it's still definitively different. Fill out your horror creature bingo card after "Frankenstein" with "Nosferatu."

Adapted from William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel of the same name by Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan, del Toro's 2021 film "Nightmare Alley" casts Bradley Cooper as Stan Carlisle, a lowly carnival worker who ends up rising through the ranks at the local attraction before spinning his cold-reading skills into a full psychic act. Despite initially falling in love with his colleague Molly (Rooney Mara), the two drift apart as Stan pretends to be a psychic for masses of people. During one performance, he's accosted by a psychologist named Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who's determined to prove that Stan is a fraud ... an event that, much later, leads to Stan's downfall.

"Nightmare Alley" does differ from "Frankenstein" in many ways, but del Toro's talent for taking unsettling, bizarre situations and making them compulsively watchable is on full display here. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Cooper, as the film's lead, delivers a truly unforgettable performance.

Is "Bram Stoker's Dracula," directed by Francis Ford Coppola, a genuinely absurd adaptation of its source material? Yes. Is nearly everybody in this movie wildly miscast? Also yes. Is it still a great watch? Absolutely. Years after the titular Vlad Dracula (Gary Oldman) becomes a vampire in the wake of his wife's death, a young and handsome solicitor named Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves) starts working with Count Dracula, fully unaware that the guy is a full-on bloodsucking demon. 

Unfortunately for Jonathan, when Dracula sees a picture of the solicitor's fiancée Mina Murray (Winona Ryder), he's convinced beyond reason that Mina is the reincarnation of Dracula's late wife Elisabeta (also Ryder), so he promptly tries to murder Jonathan and absconds with his future bride. Alongside Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins), Jonathan tries to rescue Mina from the vampire's clutches. Again, nobody would call "Bram Stoker's Dracula" a perfect adaptation, but it's also a blast. Combine it with "Frankenstein" for a fun, dishy movie night featuring classic monsters.

Sure, Frankenstein's monster is cool and all, but what about his girlfriend? In James Whale's 1935 film "Bride of Frankenstein," a sequel to 1931's "Frankenstein" (more on that soon), we first see Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley herself before we shift to the fictional events of the novel "Frankenstein" and their aftermath, in which villagers believe that the Monster (Boris Karloff) is dead and gone. When he saves a beautiful young shepherdess from drowning (also played by Lanchester), she becomes a creature of her own, known only as "The Monster's Mate," who eventually becomes the titular Bride.

Undeniably one of the most influential horror movies ever made besides 1931's "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" takes this classic story even further and manages to throw that cool framework involving the book's author in the process. Lanchester also, not for nothing, delivers one of the best horror performances in the entire genre.

We had to include this one. Mel Brooks' masterful comedy "Young Frankenstein" is, of course, based loosely on Mary Shelley's novel — very loosely — and it's also one of the funniest comedy movies ever made. Released in 1974 and starring Gene Wilder as a descendent of the famous scientist Victor Frankenstein named Frederick Frankenstein, "Young Frankenstein" imagines an alternate version of Shelley's story wherein Frederick's experiment on a corpse goes awry thanks to his bumbling assistant Igor (Marty Feldman), who steals an "abnormal" brain instead of a brilliant one. As a result, when Peter Boyle's Creature rises from the dead, he's a huge idiot ... literally.

There is no other adaptation of "Frankenstein" that features the Creature and his creator duetting on the showstopper "Puttin' on the Ritz" in front of an adoring crowd, and that's precisely what makes "Young Frankenstein" so undeniably perfect. Come for Wilder and Boyle's central performances, and stay for scene-stealing turns from Teri Garr and Cloris Leachman as Frederick's assistant Inga and stern housekeeper Frau Blücher, respectively.

Alex Garland's astonishing 2014 film "Ex Machina" certainly isn't a traditional take on "Frankenstein," but what else would you call a story where a human, somewhat foolishly, creates an entire being just because he can? In one of the lowest-budget movies to ever win an Academy Award for its special effects, Garland casts Oscar Isaac (another connection to Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein," about a decade ahead of schedule) as tech CEO Nathan Bateman, who runs a company called Blue Book and who agrees to host one of his employees, Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), after Caleb wins a contest at work.

While he's at Nathan's massive estate, Caleb encounters Nathan's creation Ava (Alicia Vikander), a hyper-realistic humanoid robot that possesses artificial intelligence. From there, Nathan asks Caleb to see if he's convinced of Ava's humanity based on her programming. If you're thinking that Nathan's creation will eventually turn against him, you're right — but the journey throughout Ex Machina is well worth it anyway. Make it an Isaac-centric double feature with 2025's "Frankenstein" and Garland's "Ex Machina."

You might not know that Leigh Whannell's 2020 Elisabeth Moss vehicle "The Invisible Man" is based on a literary horror classic, but it is — at least, it's loosely based on the 1897 novel of the same name by H.G. Wells. In this modern retelling, Moss plays Cecelia Kass, a woman trapped in a horrible relationship with Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), the powerful and wealthy CEO of a tech company that creates incredibly advanced gadgets. Even though Cecelia and her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer) manage to subdue Adrian and get Cecelia out of the house, Cecelia starts experiencing increasingly strange and horrifying things, even after she receives word that Adrian was found dead.

Remember those "incredibly advanced gadgets?" One of them is a suit of invisibility, which Adrian does use to torture Cecelia. Thankfully, our heroine eventually gets the upper hand in a thrilling conclusion ... but if you want to watch an original take on a horror class and you've already watched "Frankenstein," try "The Invisible Man."

Another radically unconventional take on a tale of a reanimated corpse, "Poor Things," adapted by Tony McNamara and director Yorgos Lanthimos from the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, earned Emma Stone her second Academy Award for best actress in a decade — and it's pretty easy to see why when you watch the film. After dying young, Stone's Bella Baxter is brought back to life by scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), but he uses the brain of an infant in place of Bella's, creating a fully-grown woman who has to learn basic functions. After getting a handle on concepts like "walking" and "eating," Bella experiences a self-actualization journey which does, yes, include a ton of sexual exploration — particularly with cad and attorney Duncan Wedderburn (a delightfully weird Mark Ruffalo).

The performance Stone gives as Bella Baxter is nothing short of extraordinary, and beyond her, the film is bolstered by McNamara's hilarious script, stunning visuals and direction from Lanthimos, and supporting turns from Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael, just to name a few. A "Frankenstein" story for a new generation, "Poor Things" is a female-centered take on this classic tale.

Also directed by James Whale, the 1931 version of "Frankenstein" still certainly feels like the defining film adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, and it's easy to imagine how much Guillermo del Toro was inspired by this classic movie. With Boris Karloff as the Monster, Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein, and Mae Clarke as Henry's beloved fiancée Elizabeth Lavenza, the film follows all the expected beats: Henry and his assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye) dig up corpses, reanimate one of their choosing, and are then forced to rein in their unstable creation.

What more is there to say, honestly, about the "Frankenstein" movie that started it all? Karloff is still the Monster most people envision when they think of this creature, and it's easy to see why: he's perfectly cast as the violent yet frightened creation. If you loved 2025's "Frankenstein," you can thank 1931's "Frankenstein," and you should check it out right away.

How does Tim Burton's 1990 classic "Edward Scissorhands" compare to any given adaptation of "Frankenstein?" Well, the backstory of the title character, played by Johnny Depp, is that he's the fanciful creation of an unnamed offbeat scientist (horror legend Vincent Price) who ends up having to navigate the human world. When the scientist dies suddenly before he can give Edward proper hands, kindly Avon lady Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest) brings a confused but well-intentioned Edward home with her, baffling her husband Bill (Alan Arkin), son Kevin (Robert Oliveri), and daughter Kim (Winona Ryder).

Still, as Edward gets settled in the suburban neighborhood, he attracts attention — he's very good at haircuts and hedge-shaping! — and dubious friends, including Kathy Baker's thirsty neighbor Joyce and Kim's awful boyfriend Jim (Anthony Michael Hall). Unfortunately, when Edward makes genuine mistakes, the suburbanites turn against him, forcing the Boggs family to defend their new adopted son of sorts. "Edward Scissorhands" is a phenomenal take on a "Frankenstein"-style story, right up to the part where Kim sees through Edward's strange exterior to love the man inside. Also, if you don't cry over the ending of this movie, you might be dead inside.

Helmed by Robin Williams' daughter Zelda Williams and written by Diablo Cody, the deeply underrated 2024 comedy "Lisa Frankenstein" offers a tongue-in-cheek take on this tale in the vein of "Young Frankenstein," but for a much more modern audience. As Lisa Swallows (an impeccably cast Kathryn Newton) mourns the loss of her beloved mom as the end of the 1980s draws closer, she starts hanging out by herself at a cemetery and "bonding" with the grave of a young piano player from the Victorian era who was killed by a sudden lightning strike. After Lisa heads home, lightning strikes the young man's grave, and the Creature (Cole Sprouse) emerges, intent on finding his love Lisa.

Even though the Creature understandably spooks Lisa by breaking into her house as a form of greeting her, but once she understands what happened, she hides him from prying eyes, leading her remaining family — including her father Dale (Joe Chrest) and his new wife Janet (Carla Gugino) — to think she's lost her mind. Undaunted, Lisa and the Creature embark on a relationship, and to say things get delightfully ridiculous is to undersell just how wild this movie gets. "Lisa Frankenstein" is a great take on this story, and one can imagine that Mary Shelley herself would probably get a kick out of it.