The Bride!

Full review: https://fandomwire.com/the-bride-review/ Rating: A- "The Bride! establishes itself as one of the year's most unique experiences, where Maggie Gyllenhaal's bold vision and a vibrant punk-rock aesthetic are anchored by the visceral performances of Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale. Encompassed in Hildur Guðnadóttir's somber score, the movie transforms gothic horror into a profound reflection on loneliness and the search for identity. It's a triumph of audacity that places autono…

Maggie Gyllenhaal is going for something here, but the problem is that The Bride! has far too many things going on at once and never capitalizes on any of them; even the romance isn’t constant. The idea of these two born-again corpses having nothing together is this half-baked idea drowned out by Frank’s sobbing dick and the bride constantly reminding everyone with a pair of eyes and working ears that she’s an entitled, calamitous shrew. The Bride! is a two-hour hodgepodge of dancing, movie-obse…

CinemaSerf

March 8, 2026

6/10

Despite the best efforts of the pyromaniacs the creation of “Dr. Frankenstein” (Christian Bale) has survived, and now over a century later is a bit horny. Determined to find himself a companion, he visits the Chicago laboratory of “Dr. Euphronious” (Annette Bening) with his request. Well, it ends up being more of a demand really and so she reluctantly agrees to indulge in a bit of body snatching/reinvigorating. Their corpse? Well we’ve already met “Ida” (Jessie Buckley) before her demise and, pe…

This was visually incredible and appreciating it requires a deep focus - homages abound. The Bride's word salad spewings are super important, and if you pay attention, fill in many of the plot details that other movies will spoon feed their audience. Some things did not make sense when I first heard them, but as I think about the movie, they are gradually snapping into place. The visuals were really interesting and worked well in Imax. The Imax sound in the theater I was in, was not the quality …

Gordon

April 11, 2026

5/10

I had such high hopes and expectations for Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut. Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale are brilliant, but alas, they couldn't even save 'The Bride'. I found myself wishing that Buckley's 'Ida' would pick a personality and stick with it. I felt that way more so for the continuity and interest in the story than anything else. Bales interpretation of 'The Monster' was as nuanced as I had hoped it would be, his need for human interaction was palpable. Buc…

Sierbahnn

May 5, 2026

7/10

This is a gripping bride There have been quite the number of brides over the years, and this one is weirder and stranger than most others. It is violent, dark, harrowing and off-putting, while being very pretty moving at the same time. It won't be for everyone, and that's fine, but it is a lovely movie. Note that the dance-number in the middle is absolutely a nod to Young Frankenstein (which is probably just the better movie, overall).