Hack or Slash - A Horror Movie Review Podcast · Hack or Slash

Frankenstein (2025)

November 14, 2025·1 hr 19 min·20 clips

Chris opens the show with Mac, Sean, and Binks for a Frankenstein conversation that starts in familiar horror-fan territory and quickly gets more interesting. The episode focuses on the latest adaptation of a Mary Shelley novel. Del Toro's take is treated less like a warning about science and more like a story about failed parenthood. That shift gives the discussion its center. The panel keeps coming back to grief, ego, accountability, and the refusal to accept death. The hosts also place this film against the long run of Frankenstein adaptations. They point out that the story has taken on a lot of different forms over the last century. Some versions lean gothic, some lean moral, and some make the creator-versus-creation tension the whole point. This one gets credit for choosing a different center of gravity. It seems to understand the emotional structure of the story instead of stopping at the old "if we could" question. A big part of the conversation is Victor Frankenstein. The panel finds him more interesting and more relatable, even when he is still deeply annoying. That reading ties back to the film's focus on reflection, absence of love, and the damage that shapes both creator and creation. The hosts keep returning to the idea that the movie gives familiar characters more texture than expected. The talk does not stay fully reverent. Sean pushes back on the need to revisit the movie over and over, and the group agrees it could have done more with some other characters. Even so, the verdict stays positive. The film is described as making its choices with confidence and clarity. One host even says it may not be a movie they need to watch again, but it still works. The episode keeps a lively pace. Chris opens with playful banter, and that energy carries into the heavier material. The hosts joke around, challenge each other, and then circle back to the actual argument. That rhythm gives the episode its shape. It feels like a horror hangout that knows how to have fun without turning the movie into a gimmick. The discussion stays close to the emotions the film is trying to hit. The hosts care about why the story matters now, not just whether the movie looks expensive or faithful. They talk about tragedy, accountability, and what happens when someone refuses to accept loss. The result is a review that treats Frankenstein as both a familiar monster story and a fresh emotional thesis. The episode also points listeners toward the show's supporter content. There is a promised b-side that goes deeper into the differences between the film and the novel. That extra material fits the episode's larger approach. The main conversation is not just about whether the movie works. It is about what this version of Frankenstein thinks the story is really about. The show closes on a Universal Slash and leaves room for more debate later. The hosts make it clear that there is more in the film than one watch can cover. That unfinished feeling suits the subject. Frankenstein comes off as a confident, emotionally loaded adaptation that wants to be argued with as much as watched.

As heard by us

A sharp Frankenstein conversation that finds grief, accountability, and fresh bite in a familiar story.

Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is framed less as a mad-science replay than as a tragedy about ego, grief, accountability, and failed parenthood.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a sharp, spirited discussion of Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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