‘Bride of Frankenstein’ Remake About “Radical Social Change” And Directed By Maggie Gyllenhaal Entering Production

JB Augustine |

Feb 2, 2024

The Bride-Elsa — Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of the Monster (Boris Karloff) in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Universal Pictures

“It’s Alive! It’s Alive!” Universal’s Dark Universe fell apart, but one of its pet projects is going forward under the direction of The Dark Knight’s Maggie Gyllenhaal as her second feature.

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight (2008), Warner Bros. Pictures

According to Fangoria, a remake of The Bride of Frankenstein moves into production next month with a star-studded cast. Written, produced, and directed by Gyllenhaal, the film will star Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, Jessie Buckley (Chernobyl), Gyllenhaal’s husband Peter Sarsgaard, and reportedly Annette Bening.

A summary on ProductionList.com offers insight into what part each of them is playing. “A horror thriller about the Bride of Frankenstein. With Cruz as the bride Myrna, Bale as Frankenstein, and Sarsgaard playing a detective,” it reads. Bening’s role is a secret for now.

Franke's monster Karloff — Boris Karloff the Great as The Monster in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Universal Pictures

An IMDb listing that only refers to the project as an “Untitled Maggie Gyllenhaal Project” adds that it will be set in 1930s Chicago. This listing also provides a summary that offers more clues as to the film’s tone and themes.

“In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change,” says IMDb.

Willem Dafoe as Dr. William Baxter and Emma Stone as Bella Baxter in Poor Things (2023), Searchlight Pictures

This premise sounds similar to Poor Things in which a Frankenstein experiment revives Emma Stone’s character, with the brain of a fetus, and turns her into an impulsive, sex-crazed brat. That and the talk of “radical social change” raises red flags about the movie we’re dealing with.

Since the collapse of the Dark Universe concept, Hollywood has been trying to revive old Universal Monster properties in novel ways. Last year’s cracks at Dracula were hit and miss but weren’t positively woke. The Invisible Man was a smash and a riveting thriller though it wore its feminism on its sleeve at times.

Doctor Franke is in — Doctor Frankenstein (Colin Clive) recovers in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Universal Pictures

Where they are going with all the loose reworkings of Frankenstein could bog down the revival of the classic monsters in the tired tropes the industry has been steadily alienating all fandoms with.

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