Dir: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Hough, John Magaro, Jeannie Berlin, Linda Emond, Louis Cancelmi, Matthew Maher
94 mins · 2026 · Cert 15
In downtown Chicago, early-1930s, Frankenstein’s Monster isn’t the only scary thing lurking in the shadows. When Ol’ Stitchface begs Dr Euphronius to reanimate a murdered woman as his companion, the gruesome twosome’s love affair will race from brutal vigilantism and scattershot social justice to mutual self-destruction. The project began after Maggie Gyllenhaal clocked a stranger at a party with a Bride Of Frankenstein tattoo. The movie nods to the title and premise of 1935’s Bride Of Frankenstein but everything else here is fresh meat. The cast of The Bride is so starry, with Jessie Buckley as the titular femme fatale, all tattered dress, bared teeth and ink-spotted cheeks. Alongside her, Christian Bale brings a sort of wild humanity to the Mary Shelley creation so often portrayed on film as a blunt instrument. The Bride score by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir dials up the tension and dread. The movie has a ‘15’ age rating which is fully justified.
