Two Frankensteins Walk Into 2026: One Scary, One Stitchy

I am just a regular player who watches too many movies and occasionally talks to his TV like it owes me money. In 2026, I finally sat down with both of the Frankenstein-ish movies that everyone was yelling about in late 2025: Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein on Netflix and the animated underdog Stitch Head. One is a gothic, R-rated nightmare buffet. The other is a PG-rated cartoon about a little stitched guy protecting his friends. Both are technically Frankenstein stories. Only one made me check under my bed. The other made me check if my heart was still working. ❤️

Mary Shelley's 1818 novel has been adapted more times than I have reheated leftovers. The 1931 Frankenstein and its sequel Bride of Frankenstein are still the gold standard for many horror fans. So when del Toro, the Oscar-winning director of Pan's Labyrinth, Blade II, Hellboy, Pacific Rim, The Shape of Water, and Pinocchio, announced his take, the internet did a collective gasp. Then Netflix dropped it on November 7, 2025, after a limited theatrical run. By 2026, it is just sitting there in the streaming library, waiting to ruin your cozy evening. And I mean that as a compliment.

Del Toro's Frankenstein has an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, at least when I last looked, and I look often because I have no hobbies. It stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz. That cast is so stacked it could audition for a sequel to a prestige drama about furniture. The MPAA gave it an R for bloody violence and grisly images, which is the rating equivalent of a monster saying, Please do not bring your toddler. It is dark, operatic, and full of that del Toro magic where even the wallpaper looks like it has a tragic backstory.

Meanwhile, Stitch Head is the film that flew under the radar like a paper airplane in a thunderstorm. It hit theaters on October 29, 2025, just in time for Halloween. It is an animated family adventure with a PG rating and an 89-minute runtime, which is perfect for anyone whose attention span has been stitched together from social media scraps. It currently has a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the humor and the important life messages for kids, though some called the story predictable. Fair. It is predictable in the way a hug is predictable. You know it is coming, and you are still glad when it arrives.

The movie stars Asa Butterfield in the titular role. You probably know Butterfield from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Hugo, Ender's Game, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and the Netflix show Sex Education. The rest of the cast includes Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Rob Brydon, Seth Usdenov, Alison Steadman, Fern Brady, and Jamali Maddix. It was written and directed by Steve Hudson, with Toby Genkel also credited as director, and produced by Sonja Ewers and Mark Mertens. The plot: a mad professor brings all of his creatures to life, and Stitch Head tries to protect them and the castle they live in. It is basically a tiny, stitched-together bodyguard with anxiety and a good heart. Same, little buddy. Same.

The film is based on the Stitch Head book series by Guy Bass. The books came out from 2011 to 2016 and include Stitch Head, The Pirate's Eye, The Ghost of Grotteshaw, The Spider's Lair, The Beast of Grubbers Nubbin, and The Monster Hunter. In recent years, they have started being re-released as graphic novels, which is great news for kids who prefer their monsters with pictures and fewer words. Bass has also written other books like Teething Trouble, Scrap, Taking Shelter, and Skeleton Keys. The man clearly has a brand: weird, funny, and slightly sticky.

Here is my extremely scientific comparison table:

So why did Stitch Head get overshadowed? Because del Toro's Frankenstein is a massive, star-studded, awards-friendly beast, and Stitch Head is a small animated film about a creature who probably apologizes when someone else bumps into him. But in 2026, I think there is room for both. Not every Frankenstein story needs lightning, existential dread, and a castle full of regrets. Sometimes you want a movie where the monster's biggest problem is protecting his weird little family from a world that does not understand them. That is still Frankenstein. It is just Frankenstein with a softer stitch.

If you have already watched del Toro's version and need something to calm your nerves, try Stitch Head. If you watched Stitch Head and thought, That was cute, but I need more grisly images, then del Toro has you covered. One is a PG animated adventure. The other is an R-rated nightmare. They are marketed toward completely different audiences, and yet they both come from the same 1818 novel that refuses to die. Mary Shelley really created a monster, and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible.

Final verdict from a regular player in 2026: watch both, but maybe not back-to-back unless you want emotional whiplash. Start with Stitch Head, hug a pillow, then switch to del Toro's Frankenstein and hide behind the pillow. That is cinema. That is balance. That is me avoiding my laundry for another weekend. 🧟‍♂️🎬