The Bride! and other re-imaginings of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus was first published in 1818, which makes it astounding that filmmakers continue to be inspired by it. There have been several remakes / reboots made over the years, including Guillermo del Toro’s recent version, which has done quite well on Netflix.

2023’s Poor Things was a very unique re-imagining of the Frankenstein story, in which a pregnant woman leaps from a bridge and is resurrected by implanting the brain of her own unborn baby into her. Emma Stone won a well-deserved Oscar for her portrayal of Bella – more or less a mashup of Frankenstein’s monster and bride.

And it’s not just Frankenstein’s monster that has been the focus of the films. In Shelley’s novel, the monster implores Dr. Frankenstein to create a mate for him, and while the promised bride never actually came to fruition in the novel or the original film, she certainly did in 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein.

Who could forget Elsa Lanchester’s startling portrayal of the confused and terrified bride, with her iconic black and white hairstyle? She is certainly one of the most recognized classic Universal monsters in existence, and still a very popular Halloween costume.

In 1985, Franc Roddam’s The Bride starred Sting as Frankenstein, and Jennifer Beals as Eva, originally created as a mate for the monster. When she rejects him, he destroys the lab, and Frankenstein believes him to be dead. He leaves with Eva, and ends up falling in love with her. Of course, his monster ends up tracking him down.

While both of these films are quite good, and very effective versions of Mary Shelley’s book, there is yet another version of the bride of Frankenstein on the near horizon. On March 3, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! will release in theatres, and it’s a very modern re-telling of the story.

Set in 1930s Chicago, The Bride! features Christian Bale as the monster, who pleads with Dr. Euphronius (Annette Benning) to make him a female companion. They resurrect a murdered young woman to become his bride, “sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.”

Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) portrays the bride, and she has described the film as “Bonnie and Clyde and Wild at Heart and all those characters, but ours has petrol in its skin and we’re holding a match to it.” Buckley also proclaimed it “the punkest love that’s ever existed.”

Take a look at the trailer (below) to get an idea of how The Bride! will look. Let us know what you think!