tech
March 7, 2026
'The Bride!' Is a Failed Experiment
Monster movies come in strange bunches. Vampires dominated the screen in the 2010s, as gritty zombie hordes had the decade before that. Lately, we’re awash in Frankensteins, each adding stylized flavor to Mary Shelley’s novel: Zelda Williams’s goofy high-school version, Lisa Frankenstein; Yorgos Lanthimos’s steampunk reimagining, Poor Things; and Guillermo Del Toro’s faithful-to-a-fault take, currently up for nine Oscars. All used Shelley’s tale to sow sympathy for the creature, a relatable innocent navigating a world they didn’t ask to live in.
TL;DR
- Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Bride!' is a new take on 'Bride of Frankenstein' that mixes various genres and tones.
- The film incorporates elements of gangster pictures, musicals, and feminist uprisings, leading to a disjointed narrative.
- Jessie Buckley stars as Ida, a gangster's moll who becomes possessed by Mary Shelley and is later revived by Frankenstein's monster (Christian Bale).
- The movie's ambition results in a chaotic and unfocused story, with Gyllenhaal struggling to pick a consistent tone.
- Despite its flaws, the film is praised for its bold, large-scale approach, reminiscent of other Warner Bros. passion projects.
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