In Mary Shelley’s original novel, the Bride of Frankenstein isn’t a character, but the creature does ask Dr. Frankenstein to make him a female companion, which he does, though he destroys her before she can be completed. Many later adaptations did bring her to life, most notably the 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein, which introduced the world to Elsa Lanchester’s stylish monster.
Now, we have The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal has reinvented the story with a 1930s steampunk romantic edge. Jessie Buckley plays the Bride, a murdered woman brought back to life to be the companion of the monster, played by Christian Bale. Together, they go on a Bonnie and Clyde style rampage through Chicago that includes guns, sex, and musical numbers. It’s sure to be a wild ride, but don’t overlook these novels that also reinvent the classic tale of the Bride of Frankenstein.
Frankissstein
In a Great Britain changed forever by Brexit, a young transgender doctor called Ry is falling in love with Victor Stein, a celebrated professor and the public face of the increasingly heated debate on AI. Meanwhile, Ron Lord, newly divorced and spiteful, is creating a revolutionary new range of realistic sex dolls. Across the Atlantic, in Phoenix, Arizona, a cryogenics facility houses dozens of bodies, all technically dead but hoping to one day be brought back to life. Humanity is evolving, but so is the rest of the world, and soon, we may not be the smartest beings on the planet.
Never the Bride
Brenda just wants to lead a quiet life. After years of torment and drama, she has come to Whitby to run a B&B with her best friend, Effie. But Whitby is far from ordinary: satanic beauty salons, aliens in disguise, psychic investigators, and the strange and mysterious owner of the Christmas Hotel. But the oddest thing in Whitby may well be Brenda herself, with her strange scars and lack of a last name. She wants to make her own identity, but her past is sure to catch up with her.
Pride and Prometheus
The Creature wants a bride, and he will kill Victor Frankenstein if he does not deliver. So, Victor goes to England in search of the perfect body for his experiment. While there, he meets Mary and Kitty Bennet, the remaining unmarried sisters of one of English literature's most iconic families. As Mary and Victor become increasingly attracted to each other, the Creature looks on impatiently for his Bride. Mary wants a husband, but Victor wants something far more sinister.
The Children on the Hill
In 1978, the brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth, works with the mentally ill by day and cares for her cherished grandchildren, Vi and Eric, at night. One day, she brings home a child to stay with them. Iris is silent, skittish, and a little wild. But Vi is thrilled to have a new playmate. She and Eric invite Iris to join their Monster Club, where they catalogue all kinds of monsters and dream up ways to defeat them. Forty years later, Lizzy Shelley, the host of the popular podcast Monsters Among Us, is traveling to Vermont to report on the abduction of a young girl and the reported sighting of a monster. She knows better than anyone else that monsters are real. Her sister is one of them.
Unwieldy Creatures
This queer retelling of Frankenstein follows three people living on society's margins and exploring genre and identity through science. Plum, a queer biracial Chinese intern at one of the world’s top embryology labs, runs away from home to live with her girlfriend but finds herself suddenly alone; Dr. Frank, a queer biracial Indonesian scientist, sacrifices everything she believes in to find a way to procreate without sperm or egg; and Dr. Frank’s nonbinary creation, emerges into a scary new world where they are quickly abandoned and spurred into a quest for vengeance.
Featured image: Warner Bros. / YouTube
