REVIEW: The Bride! (2026 Film) - Starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale

Review by Jon Donnis

Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! is not a quiet reinterpretation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein myth. It is loud, strange, ambitious and often chaotic, a Gothic romance that jumps between horror, crime drama, social satire and something closer to dreamlike fantasy. Inspired by the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein and Shelley's original novel, the film pushes the story into unexpected territory. It opens with Mary Shelley herself speaking from the afterlife, determined to tell a story she never managed to write while alive. From there the narrative leaps into 1936 Chicago, where possession, mob violence and scientific resurrection quickly collide.

The plot centres on Ida, a woman murdered by the henchmen of mob boss Lupino, only to be dug up and revived through experimental reanimation by scientist Dr. Cornelia Euphronius at the request of Frankenstein's monster. The monster, who soon earns the nickname Frank, hopes she will become his companion. Ida awakens with no memory of her life, though flashes of knowledge spill out in strange bursts. Frank convinces her that she is his lost bride. What follows is a bizarre road story across America, as the pair drift from Chicago to New York, leaving bodies behind them while discovering an awkward kind of companionship.

Jessie Buckley dominates the film from the moment she appears. Her performance is huge, fearless and completely committed, shifting between Ida, the reborn Bride and the ghostly presence of Mary Shelley herself. Buckley devours every scene with a kind of theatrical intensity that suits the film's strange tone. Christian Bale matches her with a surprisingly tender take on the monster, playing Frank less as a creature of rage and more as a lonely figure desperate for connection. Their chemistry is unusual but compelling, and it anchors a film that often threatens to spin off in several directions at once.

Gyllenhaal's direction leans heavily into visual spectacle. The film is packed with striking imagery, bold costume design and elaborate set pieces that blur the line between Gothic horror and surreal fantasy. Some sequences, such as the nightclub dance that spirals into a trance like frenzy, are mesmerising to watch. The film constantly shifts genre and mood, mixing gangster storylines with monster movie mythology and moments of dark humour. At its best, this wild mashup of influences gives The Bride! a distinctive energy that feels refreshingly unpredictable.

That same ambition also creates problems. The film tries to juggle so many ideas that it occasionally loses its footing. The pacing becomes uneven, jumping from one concept to another without always giving them room to breathe. Certain stylistic choices feel excessive, particularly the heavy use of handheld camerawork which can become visually exhausting. The tone also drifts in and out of focus, with scenes of Gothic romance sitting awkwardly beside sudden bursts of violence or social commentary.

The running time of two hours and six minutes does not help matters. While the performances remain strong throughout, the story begins to feel overstuffed as it moves toward its conclusion. By the final stretch the narrative pushes toward an ending that feels forced, as if the film struggles to tie together the many threads it introduced earlier. It is not disastrous, but it does underline the sense that the film is reaching beyond what it can comfortably hold.

Even with its flaws, The Bride! remains an intriguing piece of work. Beneath the madness sits a clear theme of empowerment and identity, reframing the Frankenstein myth through a different lens. Gyllenhaal's film is chaotic, bold and defiantly strange. It does not always succeed, yet it is rarely dull, and the performances from Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale alone make the journey worthwhile.

The Bride! is ultimately an imperfect but fascinating film. It reaches high, sometimes stumbles, yet more often than not it lands on something memorable. For all its tonal chaos and structural issues, the film hits more than it misses.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Out Now in Cinemas

REVIEW: "Wuthering Heights" (2026 Film) - Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi

Review by Jon Donnis

Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights is not the kind of period romance you put on for comfort. It opens with a public hanging and a crowd whipped into a strange, almost ecstatic state, and from that moment the tone is set. This is a grim, sweaty, openly sexual world where love is tangled up with humiliation and cruelty. Any expectation of a gentle literary adaptation quickly disappears into the mud of the Yorkshire moors.

Set in eighteenth century England, the story follows Catherine Earnshaw, known as Cathy, and the orphan boy her father brings home from Liverpool. He is presented to her as a kind of pet, a cruel little joke that says everything about the household. Cathy names him Heathcliff after her dead brother and the two grow inseparable. Their bond is fierce and protective, formed in opposition to an alcoholic, abrasive father and a house that seems to be slowly rotting from the inside out. When Heathcliff takes the blame for them being out late and is whipped, leaving permanent scars across his back, the film makes clear that pain and devotion will always sit side by side for these two.

Years later Wuthering Heights has fallen into disrepair, dragged down by gambling and drink. Cathy sees an escape in their wealthy neighbour Edgar Linton, a textile merchant with money and status. She believes that courting him might lift them all out of misery and somehow pull Heathcliff into high society too. Heathcliff, now reduced to a lowly servant, watches this plan with jealousy and quiet rage. Fennell leans hard into the erotic and the transgressive here, filling the edges of the house and the barns with furtive encounters and overheard moments that make the whole place feel feverish.

Cathy's time recovering at Thrushcross Grange leads to Edgar's proposal, which she accepts. When she returns home dressed in finery, Heathcliff keeps his distance. In a tearful confession to Nelly, Cathy admits she truly loves Heathcliff but feels it would degrade her to marry someone so poor. Heathcliff overhears only the worst of it and rides away, heartbroken, before she can speak of how deeply their souls are entwined. It is one of the film's strongest passages, powered by regret and missed words rather than spectacle.

Five years later he returns transformed, well groomed and mysteriously wealthy. Instead of reconciliation, he brings bitterness. He buys Wuthering Heights from Cathy's father, begins an intense sexual affair with Cathy, and toys with the idea of marrying Edgar's ward Isabella out of spite. From there the drama spirals into revenge, jealousy and self destruction. Marriages become weapons. Affairs turn vicious. Cathy locks herself away and starves. Letters are burned. Illness and miscarriage follow. By the time Heathcliff arrives too late to say goodbye to her dying body, the film has tipped fully into tragedy.

There is no denying how gorgeous the production is. The costumes, the design of the houses, and the windswept moors are beautifully realised. Every frame looks carefully composed. The performances are equally committed. Margot Robbie gives Cathy a reckless, volatile edge, while Jacob Elordi plays Heathcliff with a brooding intensity that suits the character's simmering resentment. Hong Chau provides a steadier presence as Nelly, observing the chaos with quiet concern. Visually and atmospherically, it is often breathtaking.

Yet for all that craft, the film feels oddly distant from its own characters. The emotions are big, the scenes explicit and provocative, but depth is sometimes lacking. Motivations blur together and plot turns arrive without much weight behind them. At two hours and fifteen minutes, it also feels long. There are stretches where the story simply drifts, relying on handsome close ups and moody cinematography rather than momentum. It gives the impression that style is being used to cover gaps in character and narrative.

What remains is a bold but uneven experience. This take on Wuthering Heights is sexy, toxic and melodramatic, full of lust and revenge, and undeniably striking to watch. At the same time, it lacks the consistency and emotional richness needed to truly land. You admire it more than you love it.

Wuthering Heights goes on a bit, and while you can clearly see where the budget has gone, the end result feels average rather than exceptional. It is likely to appeal most to those already fond of the story.

I score Wuthering Heights a 6 out of 10.

Out Now in Cinemas

REVIEW: Dracula (2026 Film) Starring Caleb Landry Jones

Review by Jon Donnis

Luc Besson's Dracula is an ambitious, visually rich reworking of familiar gothic territory, leaning far more into romance than outright horror. Framed as a tragic love story that stretches across centuries, it opens with Prince Vladimir of Wallachia renouncing God after the death of his wife Elisabeta during battle. From the outset, the film commits fully to this idea. Dracula is not simply a monster, but a man hollowed out by grief, sustained by obsession, and driven by the hope of finding his lost love reborn.

That emotional through line is easily the film's greatest strength. Caleb Landry Jones delivers a committed and often mesmerising performance as Dracula, presenting him as an anti hero rather than a traditional villain. There is genuine sympathy for him, even as the film embraces gore, bloodshed, and moments of graphic horror. These elements are not included purely for shock. They exist to underline the tragedy of a man who has damned himself for love. The balance between romance and horror is handled better than expected, and the result feels more melancholic than terrifying.

Visually, the film is consistently impressive. The sets, costumes, and cinematography are lavish and meticulously crafted, whether we are in the shadowed halls of Dracula's castle or the bustling streets of revolutionary Paris. The makeup effects are top tier, with detailed prosthetics, striking bloodwork, and even decapitations rendered with confidence. Danny Elfman's score ties everything together beautifully, reinforcing the sense of doomed romance and elevating key emotional beats without overpowering them.

Zoë Bleu brings a quiet vulnerability to both Elisabeta and Mina, helping sell the idea of a love that transcends time. Matilda De Angelis is a compelling presence as Maria, one of Dracula's vampiric followers, while Christoph Waltz provides gravitas as the priest who confronts Dracula with the possibility of repentance and eternal damnation. The final act, lands with surprising emotional weight and feels true to the film's central themes.

The film's biggest weakness is its length. At over two hours, it often feels indulgent, with pacing issues that slow the momentum, particularly in the middle section. A tighter edit would have strengthened the overall impact. There is also some doubt over the casting of Landry Jones. While his performance is intense and memorable, he lacks the physical presence traditionally associated with Dracula. At times, his slightly weedy appearance undermines the character's mythic stature, even if his emotional depth goes a long way toward compensating.

Despite these flaws, Dracula was a genuine surprise. The balance between horror and romance largely works, the story is emotionally grounded, and the cinematography, makeup, and visual effects are of the highest quality. It may not be a cinematic milestone, but it is a bold, heartfelt reinterpretation of an immortal story, one that lingers longer than expected.

I would score Dracula a solid 8.5 out of 10.

Coming to Cinemas in February 2026