Mary Shelley shocked the world and forever altered the course of literary history when she published her horror novel Frankenstein in 1818. This now timeless tale of a mad scientist who reanimates a corpse and then abandons his monster has influenced countless authors, artists, and filmmakers. While some Frankenstein movies are direct adaptions of the book, others take Shelley's ideas into new territory.
The films below rely on iconic tropes from Frankenstein while telling their own unique stories. From deranged inventors to vengeful, abused creations, these films explore the consequences of altering the natural cycle of life and death while raising questions about it means to be human. These features are also critically acclaimed, entertaining works of science fiction and horror.
Ex Machina (2014)
Alex Garland's AI revenge thriller is definitely indebted to Frankenstein. In Ex Machina, Alicia Vikander serves as the Frankenstein monster, while Oscar Isaac plays her problematic creator a la Victor Frankenstein.
Vikander's character Ava is a sentient AI who years to escape her imprisonment, and she recruits Domnhall Gleeson's character Caleb Smith to help her. Meanwhile, Isaac's character Nathan Bateman evolves into a self-serving engineer with a propensity for abusing and misusing his inventions.
RoboCop (1987)
Paul Verhoeven's cult classic RoboCop takes the concept of a reanimated corpse and turns it into a dystopian tale rife with social commentary. In the film, Peter Weller plays Detroit police officer Alex Murphy, whose body is used by Omni Consumer Products to make a cyborg after he's killed in the line of duty.
As RoboCop debuts on the streets, his human memories begin to haunt him. A psychodrama of biting social satire and Frankenstein-like proportions ensues, one where the distinction between the good guys and the bad guys is blurred.
The Fly (1986)
Jeff Goldblum is both mad scientist and monster in David Cronenberg's remake of the 1958 film of the same name. As the obsessive Seth Brundle, Goldblum gives a harrowing performance, one that raises questions about humanity's insatiable search for innovation.
Brundle invents teleportation pods, which he is excited to show off to his love interest, a scientific journalist named Ronnie played by Geena Davis. Brundle decides to put himself through the pods, but he doesn't notice the fly that joins him on the journey – which causes Brundle to turn into a human-fly hybrid. From a science experiment gone bad to a monster that blurs the lines between humanity and monstrosity, The Fly shares a lot of parallels with Frankenstein.
Moon (2009)
Moon is a smart and inventive science fiction film that raises an important question: what happens when the creature doesn't know it's not a human?
Sam Rockwell stars in Duncan Jones's directorial debut as a lunar miner nearing the end of his stint drilling for alternate fuels on the far side of the Moon. Sam Bell (Rockwell) is aided by an AI system known as GERTY, but things go awry when Sam finds a clone of himself on board the ship. Soon, Sam finds evidence of even more clones and the truth behind this strange discovery.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Tim Burton's classic social satire stars Johnny Depp as an artificial man whose inventor dies before finishing him, leaving his creature with scissors for hands. The humanoid is rescued by a local Avon saleswoman, who brings him out of his Gothic mansion and into her bright, suburban community below.
Like the Frankenstein monster, Edward struggles to make do in the human world, especially as neighbors swindle him left and right. There's no doubt Burton based much of Edward's development on Frankenstein, even if his movie feels more like a dark fairy tale when compared to Shelly's tragedy.
The Skin I Live In (2011)
Pedro Almodóvar takes Shelley's story into shocking and refreshing territory with his Spanish-language thriller The Skin I Live In. Antonio Banderas stars as Dr. Robert Ledgard, a fanatical plastic surgeon working to develop skin that is resilient to burns.
As Dr. Robert Ledgard's personal life unravels, culminating in the loss of both his wife and daughter, the mad doctor captures the young man he believes to be responsible for his daughter's death. What Dr. Ledgard forces the prisoner to endure is the stuff of nightmares.
Blade Runner (1982)
In Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Dr. Eldon Tyrell represents the uncaring maker whose Replicant creations rebel against him. Harrison Ford's character Rick Deckard is a police officer tasked with eliminating the rogue Replicants before they engender an uprising. People in this line of work are referred to as "Blade Runners."
While technically based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the film is stock full of allusions and subtle nods to Frankenstein. Rutger Hauer's Replicant Roy Batty expresses philosophies in the film that seem to come straight from the mind of the monster in Shelley's book.
Upgrade (2018)
Leigh Whannel, one half of Saw's directorial team, takes Shelley's story into cyberpunk territory with this cyberpunk feature film starring Logan Marshall-Green.
Following a terrible accident that leaves him paralyzed and wife dead, Marshall-Green's character Grey Trace allows a tech CEO to implant an AI chip named STEM into his brain that allows him to walk again. In addition to walking, Trace soon realizes he has superhuman strength. Unfortunately, the STEM chip has its own goals and plans to use Trace's body to achieve them.
Re-Animator (1985)
Jeffrey Combs plays the fervent H.P. Lovecraft character Herbert West in Stuart Gordon's cult classic about a medical student who develops a serum that brings people and animals back from the dead. While Lovecraftian through and through, Gordon's take on the Re-Animator tale is funneled through a Frankenstein-inspired lens.
Like Victor Frankenstein, Combs's character Herbert West is driven by a passion to defy logic and prove his dissenters wrong. West also plunges into insanity when he goes too far with his work.
May (2002)
In May, instead of making friends, the title character decides to build her own perfect friend using various body parts from people who strike her fancy. Angela Bettis plays the title character, an emotionally stunted woman who finds it impossible to connect with people.
The concept of piecing a person together through disparate parts originates from Frankenstein. May's creation even becomes animate at the end of the film, which may or may not be a figment of her imagination.