“Frankenstein” on Netflix: Guillermo del Toro has a few surprises in store.

"You are the monster," are William Frankenstein's last words to his brother Victor. It is the day the young man was supposed to marry his beloved Elizabeth, who now lies dying, just as he himself sits on the floor, near death.

His older brother Victor, whose bullet accidentally struck Elisabeth, has once again blamed someone's death on the creature he created years before. Meanwhile, outside in the snow, William's bride, in her final moments, vows "love" to the creature she cared for—a word this being has never heard before.

"Frankenstein" returns. One of the classics of fantastic literature, written by the 19-year-old Mary Shelley in 1816, when she and her traveling party were unable to take any excursions due to endless rain on Lake Geneva. The chilling tale, which is also science fiction – but above all a tragedy – was written during the "Year Without a Summer" (due to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia).

Guillermo del Toro, Mexican master of the fantastic ("Pan's Labyrinth"), delivers yet another "Frankenstein" film. The first screen version dates back to 1910, the last noteworthy one was Kenneth Branagh's 1994 version. In between, there have been countless adaptations.

Boris Karloff gave the creature its iconic face from 1931 onwards, which is always depicted as green because Karloff's skin in the black and white film was given the appropriate pale tint through green makeup.

Del Toro has placed the emphasis on the father-son drama. Driven by the selfish motive of revenge for a perceived slight – his mother died giving birth to his brother – and by scientific arrogance, the obsessive surgeon Victor Frankenstein works on creating a "new Adam".

The scholars of his profession suspect hocus-pocus, even when his first model catches a spontaneously thrown apple with its dead hand during a hearing. "That's godless," one professor exclaims. "What if God is incapable?" Frankenstein counters.

And once again, we soon follow Frankenstein's work, his large, uncouth "son," this tabula rasa, on his journey to self-discovery. He demonstrates the fundamental goodness in humanity, constantly striving for community, being helpful and industrious. But because he looks different from the others, he is driven away, beaten, and even shot at as soon as he reveals himself.

Because, from a cosmetic surgery perspective, Victor Frankenstein was a complete bungler in his role as God. As if that weren't enough, he also fails in his family life. He takes his own experience of rejection and violence at the hands of his father (Charles Dance) to an extreme in his interactions with his patched-up "child."

Offended by the perceived intellectual deficiencies of his offspring, he attempts to murder the "son," failing to realize that despite his enormous stature, the child is still a baby.

Jacob Elordi plays the creature. The attractive Australian has enjoyed star status since his role as the toxic Nate Jacobs in the HBO series "Euphoria," and is likely to attract a young audience to del Toro's film. Their sympathy will be all the more likely to lie with the creature, as Elordi's puzzle-like face reveals sensual features. Oscar Isaac portrays Frankenstein as a self-pitying, hateful figure who feels no responsibility towards anyone and even tries to steal his brother's (Felix Kammerer) bride.

One could have liked to see more of Mia Goth's philanthropist and pacifist Elizabeth, as she is a champion of genuine social progress. Christoph Waltz, as her super-rich uncle Heinrich Harlander, is really only there to make the financial basis for Frankenstein's contraptions plausible.

Great emphasis was placed on costumes and sets. The ancient tower in which Frankenstein awaits the perfect thunderstorm is a stone monster, black and staring like Saruman's Orthanc in the "Lord of the Rings" films. With its large round windows, the enormous Medusa relief on the wall, and the lichens and tendrils that symbolize nature's destructive power, it looks like something out of Victorian nightmares.

Everything visual here is darkly beautiful. But the film, in its love of imagery, also feels a bit stiff. And the conciliatory ending the director offers seems contrived. Forgiveness instead of futility. A kiss on Daddy's forehead in the Arctic Ocean, where the chase ends at a three-masted ship frozen in the pack ice.

All you need is love? After everything that's happened? And then a quick push for the ship that's sliding out of the ice into the sea – the creature not only has self-healing powers, it's also as strong as Superman. What would Mary Shelley say about that? Where's the tragedy in that?

Thirty-one years ago, two sentences from Robert De Niro's character were enough for Kenneth Branagh to convey the full misery of this unloved child to the audience. "He was my father."

And: “He never gave me a name.”

"Frankenstein", film, 151 minutes, directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance, Ralph Ineson, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Lauren Collins, Netflix, available to stream now