Summary

• The Bride! is a 2025 horror romance set in the 1930s, featuring a punk twist on classic Frankenstein characters.
• The film connects to Universal's legacy with visually stunning nods to their iconic Frankenstein movies.
• The historical setting promises a gothic romp that reflects societal anxieties, offering a darker outlet for modern audiences.

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein movie has a fascinating Universal monster detail that makes its release one to be eagerly anticipated. After years of development obstacles, The Bride! has a scheduled release date of September 26, 2025. Its promising historical setting could make it worth the wait.

According to the logline for the film, stars Christian Bale as Frankenstein's monster.

Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! Is Set In The 1930s – Connecting It To Universal's Frankenstein Movies

Gyllenhaal's Take On Bride of Frankenstein Will Inject New Life Into The Franchise

Warner Bros have confirmed the following:

A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aid of Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police, and a wild and radical social movement. (Deadline)

Universal's legacy lies not only in its narrative but also in its groundbreaking visuals, which are a testament to the gothic horror genre.

The 1930s setting reveals an homage to the most famous use of Mary Shelley’s characters. Boris Karloff's portrayal of the monster in Universal’s iconic Frankenstein film in 1931 changed iconography forever, but it was the 1935 sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, that made the most cultural impact. This film introduced Elsa Lanchester as the titular Bride, her haunting beauty contrasting with her monstrous counterpart. Universal's legacy lies not only in its narrative, but also in its groundbreaking visuals, which are a testament to the gothic horror genre. Gyllenhaal seems to be echoing these designs.

Whether Gyllenhaal's film captures the spirit of the Universal movies remains to be seen, but the haunting images released of Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster and Jessie Buckley as the Bride clearly use motifs established by the studio. Buckley’s bleached 1930s-style waves echo Lanchester’s white-streaked, pin-waved hairdo, and Bale’s forehead stitches are an exaggeration of Karloff’s scar in the original. By giving them a contemporary, punk edge, perhaps Gyllenhaal’s adaptation will succeed at relaunching Universal’s cornerstones of pop culture for new audiences, much like Universal set out to do with their Dark Universe project.

What The 1930 Setting Means For The Bride!

The Bride! Could Reflect Anxieties Of A Changing World

In the early 1930s, as the nation was in the economic despair of the Great Depression following the hedonistic Jazz Age, cinema took a dark turn. Audiences embraced stories that mirrored their anxieties. Studios churned out chilling tales based on classic gothic novels. Dracula embodied the fear of the outsider; Frankenstein's monster was closer to home, mirroring the plight of the unemployed, a wretched and abandoned creation. These films weren't mere entertainment. They were a mirror held up to a nation struggling to survive. This is the perfect setting for Gyllenhaal’s gothic romp, which hints at historical elements.

They proved that the gothic tradition wasn't just resilient; it could adapt and thrive.

Audiences flocked to theaters in search of the unsettling in the 1930s. These films not only launched the careers of horror legends like Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi – they also cemented the monster movie's place in cinema history. More importantly, they proved that the gothic tradition wasn't just resilient; it could adapt and thrive, reflecting the anxieties of a changing world. This is a relevant appeal to audiences today. In a world grappling with social division, climate change, and technological discomfort, Gyllenhaal's The Bride! promises a darker outlet. It’s poised to continue the horror genre’s relevance to social unease.

This Other Detail Makes The Bride's Setting Even More Promising

There Could Be A Lot Of Visual Similarities To Joker

The Bride! could ride the wave of the anticipated success of Joker 2: Folie á Deux, releasing in October this year. Joker and Harley’s doomed, chaotic romance has parallels with the ‘combustible romance’ hinted at in The Bride!’s logline. The Joker cinematographer Lawrence Sher is also the director of photography for The Bride! and his style isn’t just about edgy aesthetics – in Joker, Sher uses this visual language to reflect the punk mentality explored throughout Phillips’ film. In unison with Phillips’ directorial approach, his style offers a grittier take on well-established pop-cultural material.

Maggie Gyllenhaal plans to give the creature emotional depth, making it closer to the themes of the original Mary Shelley novel.

The same could be said for The Bride! which appears to challenge audience expectations. The Creature has a tattoo that reads ‘hope’ – Bale’s Frankenstein’s monster image follows a weird character trend as an answer to Leto’s Joker, who was tattooed with the word ‘damaged’ in Suicide Squad. This suggests the movie’s message will go beyond edginess – perhaps the ‘radical social movement’ revealed is about hope and change, adding more dimension and a heroic twist to the historically grotesque characters. In addition to the punk twist, giving the Creature intellectual depth would be closer to Mary Shelley’s original novel.

Source: Deadline