Frankenstein reviews: Fantastic Jacob Elordi’s monster era buries his Kissing Booth past for good

If you still think of Jacob Elordi as that tall drink of water from The Kissing Booth or from Euphoria, brace yourself, you have another think coming. In Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, now streaming on Netflix, Elordi disappears beneath an 11-hour makeup routine and re-emerges as a creature so unrecognisable that you won't ever remember his Kissing Booth days.

The New York Times calls him “the standout”, writing, “He’s under a lot of makeup, of course — following early stage productions of Frankenstein, del Toro elects to give the creature’s skin a bluish cast, the pallor of dead skin, rather than the green we’ve more often seen in cinema. He’s almost beautiful, but otherworldly: Starting out innocent, he grows slowly more wretched as he is broken down first by his maker-father, then by everyone else. Elordi has to move like a baby, then an animal, then a man and then a menace; it is a breakout performance worthy of serious attention.”

Vulture was equally entranced, saying, “Elordi makes the creature’s awakening, his growing curiosity and hurt, feel fresh, vital, new. We know the Frankenstein story... And yet, the dawning of light in Elordi’s eyes breathes life into the old tale. Of all the parts that make this movie, it turns out his is the one that holds its soul.”

Meanwhile, The Guardian described the film as,

“An epic bromance between scientist and monster, both of whom speak with plummy British accents, the monster’s one having a touch of John Hurt in The Elephant Man. The visual style of the movie is utterly distinctive and unmistakably that of del Toro: a series of lovely, intricate images... pictures whose luxurious beauty underscores the film’s reverence for the source material and for itself.”

And though the review gently teases the film for being too polished — “for all the guignol, this movie is not going to risk actual bad taste” — it’s clear del Toro’s gothic extravaganza has impressed nonetheless.

Even over at Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus is simple: This is a win for Jacob Elordi. And, with reviews this glowing, an Oscar nod doesn’t sound so far-fetched.