Did you love Netflix’s “Frankenstein”? Then you need to see this forgotten horror series

Guillermo del Toro Frankensteinwhich is now broadcast on Netflixstars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his monster. This is the famous director’s thirteenth feature film, a personal project he has been pursuing for decades.

Mary Shelley’s novel follows the titular scientist as he strives to bring a deceased person back to life. It’s an iconic story that has captivated audiences for over a century. The Netflix film follows these story beats and the tragic events that follow Victor’s coronation. In fact, many films have brought Shelley’s story and characters to the big screen. But what about television?

I’d like to take the time to divert your attention away from all the films featuring the creature and highlight one of my favorite adaptations of the iconic monster tale. There is a specific TV show that features a beautiful version of the Frankenstein monster, and it remains one of the best gothic series. horror series never arrived on the small screen: Penny Dreadful. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend you visit it Paramount Plus and add it to your watchlist now.

Named after penny dreadfuls – the serial fiction pamphlets that were popular in 19th century Britain and cost a penny per issue – the horror series, created by John Logan, appeared on television more than a decade ago. One could easily describe the series as if the X-Men or the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen were centered on characters taken straight from the horror literature of the time.

Penny Dreadful has an A-list cast: Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Billie Piper, Harry Treadaway, Josh Hartnett and Reeve Carney are at the top of their game. What other title, other than maybe 1987’s The Monster Squad, brings together characters like Dracula, the Wolf Man, Dorian Gray and Dr. Henry Jekyll to fight the forces of evil? I can’t find any.

Victor Frankenstein is there too, as is the monster he brings to life. Actor Rory Kinnear fills the giant shoes of Frankenstein’s creation. Her performance is brutal, compassionate and downright beautiful.

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When you think of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff’s performance is probably what most people think of. Since appearing on the big screen in the original Frankenstein film, released by Universal Pictures in 1931, the legend of the lumbering creature has endured in pop culture for nearly a century. But if you look at Mary Shelley’s depiction of Frankenstein’s monster, you can see drastic differences in the way he has been portrayed throughout this time. Like Elordi’s version of the monster in del Toro’s latest feature film, Shelley wrote that the creature is highly intelligent with shiny black hair, pearly white teeth, large eyes, and straight black lips.

You won’t see the creature like this in many titles, but this is how it is depicted in Penny Dreadful. Victor Frankenstein’s creation, as audiences have already seen, is a monster who possesses the capacity for good but turns to the proverbial dark side, driven by the painful loneliness brought on by the sheer otherness of his existence. He is confined to the shadows and is ostracized from society. He is a fitting reflection of his creator, a tortured outcast in his own right.

The monster is called Caliban in the series, but the resurrected corpse eventually takes the name John Clare, after the English poet, signifying the civilized and refined identity that the monster aspires to embody. Kinnear’s interpretation of the character carries a wealth of emotional power that both cuts to the bone and tugs at the heartstrings. There’s a reason he takes the name poet, because we see his own penchant for beauty, empathy, and compassion, as he pursues the one thing that makes us all human: connection.

But even as he longs for love, Caliban takes violence with him wherever he goes. It’s a visceral push-pull that makes this iteration of Frankenstein’s monster so unpredictable, dangerous and relentless. Yes, when I first watched Penny Dreadful, I absolutely wished that Caliban would become John Clare, mind, body and soul. Her journey to find an agency lasts three seasons, and the conclusion of her character’s story is one of the most satisfying elements of the series. It left such a lasting impression on me that whenever Frankenstein enters a conversation, I immediately jump in and ask, “Have you watched Penny Dreadful?”

Well, what about you? Because if the answer is no, consider this your call to action. Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a magnificent achievement of horror cinema and a beautiful representation of Shelley’s monster. Although I’m a fan of Karloff’s work, Kinnear’s portrayal is my favorite version of the monster. Ultimately, there is no other title, in my opinion, that goes as far as gothic as Penny Dreadful.