The punk rock spin on Mary Shelley’s iconic novel hails from writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal.

She’s alive! See Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale go full Frankenstein in first trailer for The Bride

The punk rock spin on Mary Shelley's iconic novel hails from writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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September 23, 2025 1:18 p.m. ET

Jessie Buckley as Frankenstein's Bride in 'The Bride'. Credit:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Love never dies — at least not in *The Bride*.

The first trailer for Maggie Gyllenhaal's punk rock riff on Frankenstein has arrived, with Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley looking pretty damn undead as the stars of this dark fantasy.

Per the synopsis, the film sees a lonely Frankenstein (Bale) travel to Chicago in the 1930s where he asks groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. Together, they revive a murdered young woman (Buckley) and thus, the Bride is reborn — for better or worse.

"What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement," continues the synopsis. "And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!"

Indeed, the trailer shows a whirlwind of chaos once Frankenstein is paired with his Bride. Together, they sprint through an open field, tear down a chandelier, get loose on the dance floor, and fend off an angry mob. At one point, Frankenstein brutally beats someone to death in an alley, assuring his Bride that they'll be together "'til death do us part."

Christian Bale transforms into Frankenstein's monster, Jessie Buckley as the Bride

Jake Gyllenhaal and sister Maggie working together on new project: 'I'm enjoying [it] so much'

Written, directed and produced by Gyllenhaal, *The Bride* also stars Gyllenhaal's husband Peter Sarsgaard, her brother Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penélope Cruz. Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler, and Osnat Handelsman Keren also serve as producers. Executive producers include Carla Raij, David Webb, and Courtney Kivowitz.

Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale in 'The Bride' trailer.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, *The Lost Daughter*, earned her an Academy Award nomination for writing. Earlier this year, at CinemaCon, the filmmaker shared that she wanted to go in a "radical" direction for her sophomore feature — so she opted to put her own spin on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel *Frankenstein, *or* The Modern Prometheus*, which is often credited as one of the first science-fiction books.

"She had this kind of wild disobedience about her and it got me thinking," Gyllenhaal said of the Bride. "I think we all have a little aspect of something monstrous in us — you can run from it or shake hands with it."

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Meanwhile, Buckley compared the film's core relationship to another iconic movie couple: "It's like Bonnie and Clyde and *Wild at Heart* and all those characters," she said. "But ours has petrol in its skin and we're holding a match to it."

*The Bride *arrives in theaters (including IMAX) on March 6, 2026. Watch the full trailer above.**

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Source: “AOL Movies”