The Bride! starring Jessie Buckley is already 2026's most divisive film

The classic "Bride of Frankenstein" has been reimagined in a new film, The Bride! starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale.

Set in the 1930s, the story sees "groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening) bring a murdered young woman (Jessie Buckley) back to life to be a companion for Frankenstein's monster (Christian Bale). What happens next is beyond what either of them could ever have imagined," according to the plot synopsis.

The horror-thriller has been inspired by the1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, which itself was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein.

Alongside Buckley, Bale and Bening, the cast also stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Penelope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, and was directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

What are critics saying?

Overall, critics have given The Bride! mixed reviews as the film currently has a critics' score of 60 per cent on the film and TV review aggregate website, Rotten Tomatoes.

Here's a round-up of the response the film received from critics.

The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey in her three-star review said, "There’s a playfulness there, and a real burst of imaginative thinking, but Gyllenhaal has regrettably pulled a Frankenstein herself. All those ideas, yet they haven’t quite stitched up together to make a beautiful corpse."

"It’s like 'Joker 2' starring a grunge version of the Munsters, with dollops of 'Sid and Nancy' and 'Natural Born Killers.' Except that the movie doesn’t move," said Variety's Owen Gleiberman.

The Standard's India Block gave the film four stars and wrote, "Not everything sticks, but it will keep you squirming in your seat by delivering regular shocks."

"The Bride!” is full of rage and feeling, striking an anarchic pose against oppression. But who it’s yelling at, who it’s yelling on behalf of, remains out of focus," said Indie Wire's Ryan Lattanzio, who graded the film a C-.

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney wrote, "If any of this were amusing or suspenseful or frightening or tender or soulful or something, it wouldn’t be such a joyless slog. But the movie becomes like a shrill Bonnie and Clyde fever dream."

When is the release date?

The Bride! is out in cinemas from this Friday (March 6).

Elsewhere from Indy100, What have critics said about Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights film? and New film Hoppers is the highest rated Pixar movie in a decade with an incredible Rotten Tomatoes score.

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