The Bride! Release Date, Cast, Plot And Trailer: The Frankenstein-Inspired Shocker Set To Electrify Horror Fans

Maggie Gyllenhaal is back behind the camera for the first time since 2021’s The Lost Daughter, and she is swinging big: a full-on monster movie that flips the Frankenstein playbook. Instead of the mad scientist or the stitched-together guy, The Bride! puts the Bride front and center. A very bold, very weird teaser just dropped, so here’s the lay of the land: what it is, who’s in it, when you can see it, and the behind-the-scenes hiccups that pushed it down the calendar.

So, what is The Bride! exactly?

It’s a creature feature with classic DNA. Gyllenhaal is pulling from Mary Shelley’s foundational Gothic sci-fi and loosely riffing on James Whale’s 1935 Bride of Frankenstein. The twist this time: the Bride gets the spotlight.

Story-wise, the film is set in 1930s Chicago. Frankenstein’s monster seeks out a physician named Dr Euphronious and asks for a bride. From there, it looks like the movie is digging into the upheaval of the era and the Bride’s own identity — who she is, who she wants to be, and who the world will allow her to become. The teaser leans hard into that identity angle.

Release date: when does it actually come out?

The Bride! was originally aiming for autumn 2025. Then reality happened: the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes slowed everything down, and the release plan shifted. It is now set to open worldwide — UK included — on 6 March 2026.

Production saga (aka the inside baseball)

This one had a couple of left turns. Netflix dropped the project for budget reasons. Warner Bros then jumped in, which, silver lining, let Gyllenhaal shoot in her preferred location: New York City. For clarity: the movie is set in 1930s Chicago, but they filmed it in NYC.

The cast: stacked

Jessie Buckley, who played young Leda in Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, leads as the Bride, with Christian Bale as the Monster. After that, it is a who’s-who of heavy hitters and intriguing question marks:

• Jessie Buckley as Frankenstein’s bride
• Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster
• Peter Sarsgaard as a detective
• Annette Bening as Dr Euphronious
• Jake Gyllenhaal as TBC
• Penelope Cruz as Myrna
• Julianne Hough as TBC
• John Magaro as TBC
• Jeannie Berlin as TBC
• Linda Emond as TBC
• Louis Cancelmi as TBC
• Matthew Maher as TBC

Is there a trailer?

Yep, a teaser is out now. It is stylish, off-kilter, and very much signaling that this is the Bride’s story. Expect identity, reinvention, and a little chaos.

The bottom line

The Bride! takes a classic and tilts it in a new direction, with Gyllenhaal steering a top-tier cast through a 1930s-set identity quest wrapped in monster-movie clothing. After a bumpy road to the screen, it finally arrives in cinemas worldwide on 6 March 2026.