The Bride! (2026)
Directed by: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Premise: A riff on The Bride of Frankenstein. Set in the 1930s, Frankenstein’s Monster (Christian Bale) pleads with a mad scientist (Annette Bening) to make him a mate. The monster and his bride (Jessie Buckley) become outlaws.
What Works: The Bride! is a feminist reimagining of a classic character. Frankenstein’s bride is a curious character in that she is rooted in the original Mary Shelley novel and the character seen in 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein is an enduring cinematic icon despite only having a few minutes of screentime. In all versions, The Bride is created specifically to be the companion of the male character. She doesn’t have an identity of her own. Filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal is aware of that history and The Bride! is a pastiche of references to other Frankenstein films and depictions of women in cinema in general. The Bride! is primarily a style piece which it has in abundance. The cinematography by Lawrence Sher uses color and shadow in interesting ways that channel both horror movies and film noir. The music by Hildur Guðnadóttir is at turns moody and romantic and the film includes effective and ironic needle drops. The Bride! mashes together various genres including horror, crime drama, and romance and despite being a period piece it integrates elements from various eras. The Bride! is also frequently funny and Jessie Buckley gives a committed performance in the title role.
What Doesn’t: The story of The Bride! is all over the place. The romance between the Monster and The Bride is perfunctory and the lie at the root of their relationship is never properly addressed. The couple is pursued by two detectives (Peter Sarsgaard and Penélope Cruz) but the investigation doesn’t yield anything and the history between the male detective and The Bride ultimately doesn’t matter. The monster obsesses over a movie star (Jake Gyllenhaal) but when they finally meet it doesn’t go anywhere. The Bride inspires women to take a stand against misogyny and in Joker fashion she becomes a feminist symbol but the film doesn’t do anything with that idea. Other aspects of the movie are incoherent. In the opening, The Bride is possessed by the spirit of Mary Shelley and throughout the picture her mind is fragmented between two identities. Nothing actually comes of this and having Shelley exist in the same world as her literary creation doesn’t make sense. Christian Bale’s accent is also odd, sometimes sounding like Boris Karloff’s Monster and at other times sounding like Robert De Niro.
Bottom Line: The Bride! is a hot mess. It’s an interesting mess with a bold style and a maelstrom of ideas. It’s not entirely coherent but it is unique and creative, giving us a Frankenstein story we haven’t seen before. If it finds its audience, The Bride! could become a cult title.
Episode: #1090 (March 8, 2026)