THE BRIDE! – Review by T.J. Callahan
The Bride!: “I prefer not to.”
Frankenstein’s monster is lonely. If he’s going to live, he wants to live life to the fullest…in EVERY way…wink, wink. He needs someone who’s like him in mind and body. Abby someone. Abby Normal. Or in this case, Ida, and he wants her to be his (The) Bride!
Guillermo del Toro gave movie lovers yet another interpretation of Frankenstein in 2025, but what about the rest of the story? This is where actress turned writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s interest peaked. She not only reanimates The Bride of Frankenstein, but channels her inner Mary Shelley by reimagining the 1935 Elsa Lanchester classic through the author’s own eyes by giving the ghoul not just a bigger part in her own movie, but a strong individual voice that, in turn, sparks female empowerment among the gals in gangster run 1930’s Chicago.
Award winning actress Jessie Buckley, fresh off all the accolades as Shakespeare’s wife in Hamnet, breathes life into the monster’s betrothed as well as Shelley herself playing a dual role in this feminist Frankenstein. Christian Bale is the stitched together creature looking for a partner in crime in more ways than one. The two take off on an unintentional cartoonish killing spree throughout the Midwest that makes them look more like a previously dead Bonnie and Clyde.
Gyllenhaal reunites cast members from her directorial debut in 2021’s The Lost Daughter including her husband Peter Sarsgaard and Buckley. Also featured in the film are Annette Bening as Dr. Euphronious, a brilliant Gene Wilder-like wild haired scientist and protege of Dr. Frankenstein. Jeannie Berlin as her personal Igor named Greta. Penelope Cruz is a very intuitive police detective. With Jake Gyllenhaal making a cameo as a Golden Age of Hollywood matinee idol idolized by the miscreants.
The Bride is a very meta mash up of monsters, mayhem, murder, molls, massive amounts of makeup, meddling men, and the marvelous mind of Maggie Gyllenhaal which all adds up to maniacal movie magic. Rated R, this Gothic romance isn’t for the faint of heart. It sparks up to a 6.5 on the TeejFlixometer, but only managed 1 ️open from my husband Ricky.
