Maggie Gyllenhaal’s trailer is the most elegant horror film of 2026 (so far)

2025 was a record year for horror films, because the popularity of the genre has not only helped to strengthen the box office significantly, but it has also proven its own artistic merits several times. Three horror films released this year demonstrate the versatility of the genre, while a couple managed to become honest in the cultural moments of God. Two of these films – “Sinners” and “Weapons” – also took place from the outings of Warner Bros. Pictures, indicating that the studio was on an absolute roll with horror this year. Now, with the release of the first trailer of “The Bride”, it seems that Streak was originally to continue, because the film was initially planned for the release in October of this year. Instead, the loss of 2025 is the gain of 2026, because the film, now scheduled for next March, seems to be the most elegant horror film of 2026 so far.

As the trailer shows, “The Bride” seems to be a mashup of the classic of James Whale “The Bride of Frankenstein” and a film “Criminal Lovers on the Run”, at the “Bonnie and Clyde”, “Badlands”, “True Romance”, etc. Acting like our heroic lovers (or perhaps anti-heroic) are the bride (Jesse Buckley) and the Frankenstein monster (Christian Bale), who are on the run in Chicago from the 1930s. From what we can see so far, the film is an absolute visual knockout; Director Maggie Gyllenhaal and the director of photography Lawrence Sher seem to have prepared a dazzling mixture of styles, combining a grainy, grungy and almost punk rock socket on the 1930s with retro elements that not only recall whales but even the aspects of German expressionism of periods. Indeed, we can see Fritz Lang (“Metropolis”) and Robert Wiene (“The Cabinet of Dr Caligari”) in everything, from decorations to makeup, and it is only the trailer! Likewise, the final photo of the overview is a black and white image of the head of Buckley’s bride in a glass jar, recalling the men’s menagerie of “Bride of Frankenstein”. It is a visual that seems to promise a few surprises to come (there is apparently an angle of whole music that the trailer does not even reveal), and I can’t wait to see more.

Of course, “The Bride” is hardly the first cinematographic interpretation of the characters or inspired by the novel by Mary Shelley in 1818 “Frankenstein; where, the Modern Prometheus”, and it will not be the last. It is not even the first film on the bride to drop the “Frankenstein” of his title, while “The Bride” by Franc Roddam beat him in The Punch – This film celebrates his 40th anniversary this year, which is another shame than “The Bride” by Gyllenhaal only falls from a few months. Heck, it is not even the most recent “Frankenstein” film, because “Frankenstein” by Guillermo Del Toro should be released on Netflix on November 7. However, although there are a large number of films already made on the Frankenstein monster and the bride, Gyllenhaal seems to be so elegant. It is not only an intelligent choice that will also allow the film itself to stand out from the rest of the pack. It is rather Gyllenhaal who does justice to the long story that the characters of Shelley appreciated in the cinema, who is completely jump, “Frankenstein” was synonymous with the visual possibilities of cinema.

For example, the very first adaptation to the screen of the works of Shelley – the 1910 production of Edison Studios of “Frankenstein” by J. Searle Dawley – was greeted when it was released for its visual sense. Whale’s two films for Universal have only increased the bet, and since then a variety of remakes, spin-offs, tributes and others have made sure to treat the immortal creation of Shelley with creative respect and it deserves it. This can already be seen in the “Married” trailer, because the stylistic choices of Gyllenhaal do not simply recreate other “Frankenstein” films that preceded; Rather, they open their own path without ignoring the history of material. Another reason why it is a shame that we have to wait until next year for the film is that Buckley’s bride and the Bale monster already seem to be Halloween costumes to perform. Who knows; Now that this trailer has been out, we might see some brides and Franks wander in the streets in a few weeks. As for the real thing, it will happen on March 6, 2026, and it cannot happen early enough.