Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Horror Revival ‘The Bride!’ Already Hitting Digital Next Week

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Taking risks with horror films can be incredibly rewarding. This month, the Academy Awards recognized horror with a total of eight Oscars, including awards for Weapons, Frankenstein, and Sinners. However, even when horror movies try to be original, they don’t always succeed, as one film released in 2026 demonstrated.

For almost a century, the classic Universal Monsters have remained popular, with filmmakers consistently revisiting them – either by recreating what made them famous or by reimagining them for modern audiences. Recent films like 2023’s Frankenstein and 2024’s Nosferatu, directed by Robert Eggers, both received critical praise and awards. However, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s take on The Bride of Frankenstein, titled The Bride!, didn’t fare as well, receiving mixed reviews and struggling at the box office. Now that The Bride! is available digitally on April 7th, a new audience may give the film a second look and appreciate it more.

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s first feature film as a director, The Lost Daughter, came out in 2021 and was highly praised, appearing on many “best of” lists and receiving three Academy Award nominations – including one for Gyllenhaal herself for adapting the screenplay. As a result, there was a lot of anticipation for her next film, building on the success of The Lost Daughter and her established career as an actress.

Fans of The Bride of Frankenstein will recall that the film doesn’t actually focus much on the Bride herself – a situation Jake Gyllenhaal aimed to change. While Guillermo del Toro intended to create a faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Gyllenhaal envisioned a much stranger and more unconventional take on the story.

Set in 1930s Chicago, the film centers on Frank, played by Christian Bale, who wants to find a wife. He asks a doctor to resurrect the deceased Ida, portrayed by Jessie Buckley. However, these aren’t typical zombies; they’re intelligent and capable of speech, functioning more like gangsters. In fact, The Bride! draws inspiration from films like Bonnie & Clyde just as much as from classic monster movies. The cast also includes stars like Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penélope Cruz.

While The Bride! didn’t completely fail at the box office, earning $23 million globally, its high production cost—over $80 million—means it didn’t make a good return on investment. Critics weren’t impressed either, giving it a 58% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This year’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is also considered a flop, but it performed slightly better, grossing $58.4 million against a $63 million budget. Importantly, Bone Temple received overwhelmingly positive reviews (92% on Rotten Tomatoes), suggesting its box office results don’t accurately reflect its quality.

The recent home video release of ‘The Bride!’ could help the film find the audience it deserves. With a streaming release on HBO Max also expected soon, the movie could follow the path of many horror films that weren’t initially successful in theaters but later gained a following.

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2026-04-01 04:17