“The Bride! Should Have Been A Monster Hit, So Why Isn’t It?”

It’s one of the most talked about films so far this year, with an Oscar frontrunner (Jessie Buckley) and an Oscar winner (Christian Bale) leading the cast and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal behind the camera following her acclaimed film The Lost Daughter. But how does The Bride! hold up as a reinvention of Frankenstein after the intrigue of the marketing campaign? Here’s one writer’s take…

What’s The Bride! actually about?

When it was announced that a remake of Bride of Frankenstein was being made, no one was quite sure what form it would take. Would it be a gritty modernised remake, or a faithful recreation of a 1930s horror film? The answer is it’s something a bit different, but somewhere in between: the film does take place in the 30s, but in Chicago. Frankenstein’s monster is instead called “Frank” here, played by Christian Bale, and is still a creation of Dr Frankenstein.

Tired of his lonely existence, Frank asks another scientist, Dr Euphronoius (Annette Bening), to create a companion for him. The result is The Bride, a murdered woman brought back from the dead. As The Bride and Frank unite, the pair go off on a crime spree, often violent and eventually catching the notice of police, including detectives Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and Myrna Malloy (Penélope Cruz).

Does the experiment work?

So does the whole thing work? Not quite. The Bride! is, unfortunately, quite messy and sometimes seems unsure of what it wants to be. The central idea of giving a partner to Frankenstein’s monster works in terms of the performances. As with her previous work, Buckley puts all of herself into the role and is fun to watch as The Bride, spreading chaos wherever she goes. Christian Bale is also solidly good as Frank, making him different from your usual ideas of the Monster and with an updated take on the classic design, with stitches in his head and neck. The two most obviously resemble Bonnie and Clyde, given the setting and their disregard for law, but perhaps their love story could’ve been better realised…

Too many ideas, too little focus

The big issue with the film, and this seems to be the growing consensus from both critics and audiences, is that it doesn’t really stick to one idea and doesn’t know what it wants to be. There are a few homages and references to classic old Hollywood horror films from the era: Frank and the Bride go to the cinema more than once, and, like many outcast characters, Frank idolises someone famous (in this case, an actor named Ronnie Reed). But there are also general elements of 1930s Chicago in the mix: gangsters, detectives, and the mob. As the film goes on, it becomes apparent that it can’t juggle these themes quite well enough.

The big issue with the film… is that it doesn’t really stick to one idea and doesn’t know what it wants to be.

It’s not just those stylised elements that have the issue, either: thematically, it has a few too many ideas. Before she becomes the Bride, Buckley’s character is Ida, a woman who runs afoul of the mob and is murdered. When she’s resurrected, there’s a setup for a feminist tale of both liberation and revenge, but while it works ok, there’s a lack of punch. Add in elements of striking out against society, police corruption, and other themes, and it’s easy to see why things get muddled, and it loses its voice.

The verdict

The film has been quite divisive, with both praise and derision, though some of the criticism is too harsh. The strong suits of the film are in the performances- again, Buckley is always enjoyable to watch – and the stylistic flair. I personally don’t always immediately focus on makeup and costumes, but I liked The Bride!’s look of a black-spattered face and wild hair from the moment the first look images were revealed, and the look of the film feels quite refreshing when it could’ve been really dull like many horror reboots. If you love a film that will take you for a ride and can be, at times, off the wall, you might want to give it a go. However, it does suffer from those lingering problems, most of all that it feels like it wants to say something, but isn’t sure what.

If you love a film that will take you for a ride and can be, at times, off the wall, you might want to give it a go.