#lukegoss

Frankenstein (2004)

★★★★ Watched 27 Oct 2025

Finally, someone actually adapts the book! Yes, there are a few minor deviations here and there, but for a miniseries clocking in at just under three hours, this is by far one of the most faithful versions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ever put to screen. As critic Kim Newman quipped, this makes it a much more deserving candidate for the title Frankenstein: The True Story than the 1973 production that actually bore that name.

Produced by the same creative team behind the Dune (2000) and Children of Dune (2003) miniseries, Frankenstein (2004) shares that same earnest, literary tone; a lush but grounded adaptation that respects the source material without turning it into spectacle. The overlap in cast makes it even more of a spiritual sibling. Alec Newman (Paul Atreides) plays Victor Frankenstein, William Hurt (Duke Leto) appears as Professor Waldeman, and Ian McNeice (Baron Harkonnen) briefly shows up as Professor Krempe. Though, given his minimal screen time, Krempe is a role that feels truncated from an earlier cut.

As Victor, Alec Newman perfectly captures the book’s combination of brilliance, obsession, and youthful arrogance, while Luke Goss (of Blade II and Hellboy II: The Golden Army fame) delivers one of the best portrayals of the Creature to date. He may not have the black lips, but Goss looks astonishingly close to Shelley’s description. He is gaunt, corpse-like, yet beautiful. Almost too beautiful, as he portrays the Creature's tragic aspects well, though loses his menace in the process. Robert De Niro remains the best creature. For despite the design showing more influence from the Universal and Hammer Frankenstein films than Shelley, De Niro balances rage and tenderness in equal measure, portraying the Creature as sympathetic without ever letting us forget his danger. 

This 2004 miniseries softens the Creature slightly, making William’s death accidental (a change also made in the Dan Curtis version), though he remains a true monster by the end, framing Justine and murdering both Henry and Elizabeth in cold blood.

The supporting cast is full of interesting faces. Donald Sutherland lends quiet gravitas as Captain Walton, the doomed explorer who frames the story, while a very young Dan Stevens plays Henry Clerval with wide-eyed enthusiasm and warmth.

What’s most impressive, though, is how many small but significant details from the novel make their way onscreen, details nearly every other adaptation ignores. We get Walton’s letters to his sister Margaret, Victor’s fascination with electricity after witnessing a tree struck by lightning, Justine’s coerced confession to a priest, and even the philosophical debates between Waldeman and Krempe that shape Victor’s thinking. These inclusions give the story a sense of authenticity and texture that makes it feel genuinely literary.

Of course, there are still two major creative liberties. The first is the expanded role of Professor Waldeman, clearly written to take advantage of William Hurt’s presence. In Part One, this makes sense. He’s Victor’s mentor and moral counterweight. But by Part Two, when Victor returns to Ingolstadt (instead of a remote Scottish isle) to create a mate, Waldeman’s return feels redundant, repeating the same “man should not play God” lecture we’ve already heard.

The second change borrows a touch from Universal’s 1931 Frankenstein. The Creature befriends a small girl, who here is combined with the De Lacey family subplot as the blind man’s granddaughter. It’s a decent idea, but it dulls the emotional impact of the blind man scene. Shelley’s point—that only someone incapable of seeing the Creature’s ugliness could truly love him—loses some of its sting when a sighted child can also see the good in him.

Visually, it’s a handsome production, all candlelit laboratories, icy landscapes, and lavish period costuming. It occasionally feels “stagey” in that cozy, BBC-matinee sort of way, but that’s also part of its charm. Like the 1977 BBC Dracula with Louis Jourdan, this version is perfect rainy Sunday afternoon viewing.