The great thing about adapting classic literature or rebooting IP for a modern audience is you can keep hooking it up to the mains and jolting it back to life. As any horror fan knows, the dead often come back wrong. But that’s part of the fun! The Bride! (note the exclamation point!), is a whacky retro rollercoaster ride with lots of ideas to throw at the wall, along with various bodily fluids. Not everything sticks, but it will keep you squirming in your seat by delivering regular shocks.
Maggie Gyllenhaal has hit the zeitgeist jackpot with her sophomore directorial effort, starring Jessie Buckley (currently a shoo-in for the Academy Awards) as the Bride (of Frankenstein, technically) in a ferocious, gory explosion of female rage, blood, goo and brain matter, with some musical numbers to boot. It’s also a family affair, with husband Peter Sarsgaard playing bumbling detective Jake Wiles and brother Jake Gyllenhaal as Ronnie Reed, a fictional movie star that’s basically an off-brand Fred Astaire.
