{"id":553879,"date":"2025-11-06T23:09:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T23:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/553879\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T23:09:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T23:09:21","slug":"the-5-extraordinary-london-museums-that-helped-inspire-netflixs-horror-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/553879\/","title":{"rendered":"the 5 extraordinary London museums that helped inspire Netflix\u2019s horror movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

A near-guaranteed Oscar nominee for production design, Guillermo del Toro\u2019s Frankenstein<\/a> marries body horror, science fiction and gothic romanticism with an early 19th century period detail that deepens and enriches its world-building to hyper-immersive levels.
To help create this world, production designer Tamara Deverell and del Toro explored a handful of lesser-known London museums, gathering visual references and doing what we can only describe as\u00a0historical vibe-farming. Watch the film and then head to these spots for a full immersion into the science and wonder behind this new Frankenstein.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Sir
\nPhotograph: Jess Hand for Time Out <\/p>\n

Sir John Soane\u2019s Museum<\/p>\n

Like the British Museum\u2019s exhibits crammed into a single Georgian townhouse, this collection founded by 18th century architect Sir John Soane<\/a> is a glorious overwhelm of Ancient Egyptian antiquities, Roman sculpture and architectural models. \u2018Guillermo told me to go there,\u2019 says Deverell, \u2018and everything about it was inspiring\u2019.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udccd\u00a0<\/strong>How to Sir John Soane\u2019s Museum<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Frankenstein\"
\nPhotograph: \u00a9 Hufton and Crow, courtesy of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandHunterian Museum <\/p>\n

Hunterian Museum, Lincoln\u2019s Inn Fields<\/p>\n

To create Victor Frankenstein\u2019s scientific tools \u2013 and a few jars of grisly gubbins for his lab \u2013 Deverell and del Toro visited one of London\u2019s most esoteric exhibitions. Run by the Royal College of Surgeons, the Hunterian<\/a> is the legacy of 18th century surgeon John Hunter. Its Evelyn table, an original 17th century anatomical chart, is replicated in the movie. \u2018They had all this surgical equipment, photos, etchings and engravings from Dr Frankenstein\u2019s time period,\u2019 she says. \u2018We visited two days before the museum reopened after a renovation and we saw them putting out all the pickled body parts in jars \u2013 it was fantastic.\u2019<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udccd\u00a0<\/strong>How to visit the Hunterian Museum<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Frankenstein\"
\nPhotograph: Steven Elliott James {steeljam}Crossness Pumping Station <\/p>\n

Crossness Pumping Station, Abbey Wood<\/p>\n

This Victorian architectural marvel has already starred in one Frankenstein movie \u2013 2015\u2019s Victor Frankenstein \u2013 and it plays an informational role in Guillermo del Toro\u2019s new version. \u2018I fell in love with its high-arched windows that have a circle motif that I knew Guillermo would love \u2013 I used those in Victor\u2019s lab,\u2019 says Deverell, who spent time there with her art department and set decorator. \u2018It’s a bit stinky around there, because it’s still an active sewage treatment plant, but the old part of it is priceless.\u2019<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udccd\u00a0<\/strong>How to visit Crossness Pumping Station<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dennis
\nPhotograph: Lucinda Douglas MenziesDennis Severs’ House <\/p>\n


\nDennis Severs\u2019 House, Spitalfields<\/p>\n

A Californian Anglophile, Dennis Severs bought this Grade II-listed Georgian terrace house<\/a> in 1979 and transformed it into a hushed snapshot of London life for the Jervis family, a fictional Huguenot clan with a home full of Georgian and Victorian artefacts. This historical tableau was \u2018inspirational to our historic time period and colour palette\u2019, says Deverell. \u2018I loved some of the tones, the ambience, the plaster and wood textures, and the use of draped fabrics in the house.\u2019
\ud83d\udccd\u00a0<\/strong>How to visit Dennis Severs\u2019 House<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Frankenstein\"
\nPhotograph: ShutterstockThe Cutty Sark <\/p>\n

Cutty Sark, Greenwich<\/strong>
<\/strong>
Two ships helped inform the design of Frankenstein\u2019s ice-bound vessel, The Horisont. \u2018I spent some time at the Cutty Sark,\u2019 says Deverell, \u2018and I visited the Tall Ship Glenlee in Glasgow in April 2023. It was so helpful to see the details of wood decking, masts and sails, and brass fittings. I took 84 photos on that visit and we used them in designing our fictional ship.\u2019<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udccd\u00a0<\/strong>How to visit the Cutty Sark<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When can I watch Frankenstein?<\/p>\n

The movie is on Netflix worldwide now. Read our verdict<\/a>.
The 25 best museums in London you can\u2019t miss<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find out where <\/strong>Frankenstein<\/strong> lands on our best movies of the year<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A near-guaranteed Oscar nominee for production design, Guillermo del Toro\u2019s Frankenstein marries body horror, science fiction and gothic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,61592,393,3063,4884,257,61593,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-553879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-categories-film","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-film","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-news-film","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115505277906446370","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}