Christian Bale reshapes Frankenstein's monster for The Bride

New horror-romance The Bride! breathes new life into Frankenstein's monster and his unwitting paramour as Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley's lead characters wreak havoc across a '30s Chicago. Bale said Boris Karloff's monster is the iconic image, but Mary Shelley described something different.

He decided the creature would be a real man — abused and experimented on — and pointed to Shelley's use of Galvani's electric probes on frogs, adding that "she gets some of it right but she gets a little bit wrong, right?" Bale also pushed back on the notion that the creature should have a "flat head." Written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Bride!

follows Buckley's Mary Shelley insisting she has more story to tell despite having died from a debilitating brain tumor over 80 years earlier. The film catches up with Frankenstein's monster—who now calls himself 'Frank'—as he seeks out Annette Bening's Dr. Euphronious to create a companion.

christian bale, jessie buckley, maggie gyllenhaal, the bride, frankenstein monster, mary shelley, boris karloff, 1930s chicago, annette bening, horror romance