The Bride! (2026 | US | 126 minutes | Maggie Gyllenhaal)
Long after her death, Mary Shelley (Jessie Buckley) takes a lead role in the story of The Bride! Together with a bored, free-spirited, but troubled young woman (also Jessie Buckley) she intends to dispense chaos in order to relieve her spirit of a story that she deems must be told. In a world where she not only wrote about Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, but they were real beings (manifested by her words or created in reality? We’ll never know) she burns to continue the tale that has yet to conclude in her mind.
The monster (Christian Bale), dubbed Franky later in the film, has managed to “live” well beyond one hundred years, far longer than his maker. Desperate for companionship both in mind and body he finds himself a new mad scientist and pretty easily convinces her to make him a partner. After her successful reanimation, Franky tells his new confidant a lie about how she came to be there and the nature of their relationship so she’ll stay near. While it seemed she wanted nothing to do with him intially, she was inexplicably pulled toward him like a magnet and finally accepted her fate. In their own way the two were just looking for a happily ever after, but the walking dead don’t exactly fit in.
Maggie Gyllenhaal has created something incredibly impressive. She asks us to suspend disbelief in some ways but accept harsh realities in others. There are so many aspects to this film that, if done poorly, would have made it an utter failure. The commitment of Buckley to her dual characters, the rich world and its inhabitants the director has so meticulously birthed, the tone and style, it all falls together so messily, yet so perfectly. Gyllenhaal skirts the line between the macabre and grotesque, taking us on an existential journey with a feminist bent. Despite the second imperfect life “Penny” been handed, our protagonist tries to make it her own seeking who she is and what happiness looks like. Not letting anyone dictate what she should do or who she should be, our bride still craves comfort and love, making her heartbreakingly human. Her mate wants to treat her like a possession, ignorant of who she is and what she desires; he simply wants to keep her as his own at all costs. An accurate description of how the film made me feel continues to slip through my fingers, which makes it all the more rich and noteworthy.
I’m not a horror fan, but I thoroughly enjoy a good B movie. Gore doesn’t interest me, but a murder mystery, especially set in mid-century, is enticing. Second-hand embarrassment is my kryptonite, unfortunately for me (and possibly you) The Bride! had loads of it so be prepared. Despite having so many of my personal strikes against it, as the credits rolled up the screen I felt thoroughly satisfied. The film was intriguing, genuinely interesting and surprisingly unique despite the metric ton of retellings Frankenstein’s monster and his soulmate have been a part of. I would not be surprised in the slightest if Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! made its way into many a top ten list as the year closes.
The Bride! arrives in theaters on 3/6/26