India, Nov. 8 -- Guillermo del Toro has always had a flair for the macabre. This Halloween, the Oscar-winning director turned Hollywood into his very own laboratory, in the run-up to the Netflix release of Frankenstein, lighting up Los Angeles with a weekend of gothic spectacle. Over the city's most famous landmarks, including the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and the Capitol Records building, 1,500 drones danced through the night sky, spelling out the film's title before simulating a crackling lightning storm worthy of Mary Shelley's imagination.

The theatrics built to a fever pitch at a sold-out IMAX screening at the TCL Chinese Theater, where Frankenstein made its cinematic debut. Fans, some clad in del Toro-inspired costumes, filed in c...