The Bride starts somewhere in 19th century Europe as mad scientist Baron Charles Frankenstein (Sting) brings to life his latest creation, a perfectly formed woman made from bits of corpses & re-animated using the power of lightening. The bride (Jennifer Beals) was made as a mate for Frankenstein's earlier male creation, unfortunately one look at his deformed mug & the bride understandably wants nothing to do with him. In a fit of rage the monster starts a fire & escapes into the nearby woods while Frankenstein's plans for the bride have changed. The monster runs into a dwarf named Rinaldo (David Rappaport) who calls him Viktor (Clancy Brown) as they head off to Budapest to join the circus & make their fortune. Meanwhile Baron Frankenstein has called his new creation Eva & has begun teaching her the ways of polite society in an attempt to not only create a psychical body by an actual mind & soul but he hadn't counted on human emotions such as love, fear, anger & hatred...
This British American co-production was directed by Franc Roddam & probably isn't what you expect, it certainly wasn't what I expected. The script by Lloyd Fonvielle discards just about every interesting element storyline wise from Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein novel & it ends up being some sort of dull hybrid of various genres & ideas including the buddy buddy film, there's some romance here, there's a light hearted comedic touch on occasion although strangely & disappointingly there's very little in the way of horror. When the film originally came out I think it's horror elements were played up but don't be fooled as this is as much as drama as anything else. There are two distinct story lines, the friendship between Rinaldo & Viktor along with Sting trying to educate Eva & for the most part they run separately from each other which is actually quite annoying as neither story is particularly interesting or entertaining. Then there's the many clichés, at times it does decide to be a proper Frankenstein film complete with torch wielding villagers & an opening lab scene. The ending feels very rushed & is a forgettable way to round things off, at almost 2 hours in length The Bride is also far too long & runs out of steam pretty much after the opening sequence set in Frankenstein's lab. Those looking for something along the lines of James Whale's classic The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) which this was supposedly a remake will be very disappointed, such as myself.
Director Roddam does OK, the film has sumptuous period production design, it has lovely cinematography & is visually pretty impressive so it's a shame the actual film itself is a bit of a waste of time. There's basically no horror here at all so forget about any scares, suspense, tension or gore as there isn't any. I have a couple of questions still though, Frankenstein admits to Eva that he made her from body parts but she has no scars at all (she gets a nude scene early on which confirms this) even though the male monster has lots, why? And speaking of the monsters scars why does he heal as the film progresses, by the end he looks like a normal guy despite starting the film as a green faced scar ridden man made monster, again why? It's almost as if they wanted to leave the Frankenstein stories original origins, themes & ideas behind & just develop some horrible feel good romantic drama, sometimes I despair I really do.
Technically the film is top notch & it's obvious this had some money behind it, it's shame they didn't use it better but there you go. Shot on & in some beautiful locations in France this looks very nice throughout. The acting isn't great, Sting under acts, Beals is wooden & the midget Rappaport irritated me.
The Bride is a strange adaptation of a Frankenstein story & a Bride of Frankenstein remake that didn't do much for me personally, it looks nice enough & tells a story that people with sensitive hearts might enjoy but it's not really for me.
This British American co-production was directed by Franc Roddam & probably isn't what you expect, it certainly wasn't what I expected. The script by Lloyd Fonvielle discards just about every interesting element storyline wise from Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein novel & it ends up being some sort of dull hybrid of various genres & ideas including the buddy buddy film, there's some romance here, there's a light hearted comedic touch on occasion although strangely & disappointingly there's very little in the way of horror. When the film originally came out I think it's horror elements were played up but don't be fooled as this is as much as drama as anything else. There are two distinct story lines, the friendship between Rinaldo & Viktor along with Sting trying to educate Eva & for the most part they run separately from each other which is actually quite annoying as neither story is particularly interesting or entertaining. Then there's the many clichés, at times it does decide to be a proper Frankenstein film complete with torch wielding villagers & an opening lab scene. The ending feels very rushed & is a forgettable way to round things off, at almost 2 hours in length The Bride is also far too long & runs out of steam pretty much after the opening sequence set in Frankenstein's lab. Those looking for something along the lines of James Whale's classic The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) which this was supposedly a remake will be very disappointed, such as myself.
Director Roddam does OK, the film has sumptuous period production design, it has lovely cinematography & is visually pretty impressive so it's a shame the actual film itself is a bit of a waste of time. There's basically no horror here at all so forget about any scares, suspense, tension or gore as there isn't any. I have a couple of questions still though, Frankenstein admits to Eva that he made her from body parts but she has no scars at all (she gets a nude scene early on which confirms this) even though the male monster has lots, why? And speaking of the monsters scars why does he heal as the film progresses, by the end he looks like a normal guy despite starting the film as a green faced scar ridden man made monster, again why? It's almost as if they wanted to leave the Frankenstein stories original origins, themes & ideas behind & just develop some horrible feel good romantic drama, sometimes I despair I really do.
Technically the film is top notch & it's obvious this had some money behind it, it's shame they didn't use it better but there you go. Shot on & in some beautiful locations in France this looks very nice throughout. The acting isn't great, Sting under acts, Beals is wooden & the midget Rappaport irritated me.
The Bride is a strange adaptation of a Frankenstein story & a Bride of Frankenstein remake that didn't do much for me personally, it looks nice enough & tells a story that people with sensitive hearts might enjoy but it's not really for me.