#176 -- The Bride (1985)

Director: Franc Roddam
Rating: 3 / 5

If you know anything about me, you know that I expected absolutely nothing from this. I wanted to watch it to see just how much I hated it. But, surprisingly, I didn't hate it. I didn't love it, but I was surprised that it didn't make me foam at the mouth with rage. The Bride is a dramatic re-imagining of the classic film The Bride of Frankenstein. It is dramatic in the sense that it is very different, and in that it is a dramatic movie. Where the original ended when the monster met his bride, that is where this one begins. The first thing you'll notice is that the monster isn't the hideous creature we've come to associate with the title. He's no hunk, but he is not frightening and repulsive. The monster's bride, Eva (Jennifer Beals, Flashdance), is very beautiful, but she is frightened by him at first. After being rejected, the monster accidentally starts a fire which presumably leaves him dead. However, he escapes into the woods, where he meets a dwarf named Rinaldo, who names him Viktor, and they run away to the circus together. At the circus, they develop a cute little trapeze act, in which the monster wears a dress and screams, "My baby!" as Rinaldo dangles from the trapeze. Rinaldo then fakes dizziness and falls, only to be saved by a harness. On one instance, though, a fellow carny tampers with his harness, and Rinaldo is killed. Outraged, Viktor kills the man who took his only friend's life, and then flees back home, with jewels to give Eva as a token of his love for her.

Meanwhile, Dr. Frankenstein (Sting) is teaching Eva to be a very respectable woman. She is beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated. His plan was to create a woman who was equal to man; a woman who was strong and independent with her own mind. He succeeds in his plan, but soon discovers that he doesn't like this woman very much. She is too rebellious, and she refuses to obey his every command. He wishes to marry her, but she wants no such thing. Eva meets Viktor in the woods, but she doesn't remember him at first. When Dr. Frankenstein decides to make Eva his, whether she approves or not, Viktor barges in to save her from the attempted rape, killing Dr. Frankenstein in the process.

I found this movie on Fearnet On Demand, so I suppose it is classified as a horror movie, but I'm not sure why. Probably because it is based on the famous Dr. Frankenstein and his creations. The originals were undeniably horror, though they were beautifully tragic stories. This one is more of a sad drama. The monster did meet his mate again at the end, though I'm not sure if there was any love between them. There was definitely friendship, as they were kindred souls created from parts of the dead. It was a nice, happy ending that worked really well with the rest of the movie. It was different, but that wasn't really a bad thing. I expected to hate it, but it really wasn't a horrible movie. It was well made, and all of the actors were great. It was a different view of a classic story, and it worked. It's probably one of the best I've found On Demand so far. So don't go into this close-minded, as I did. Sure, it's a remake of a movie that we all know and love, but it's so much different that it can almost be considered a different movie entirely. It's not the best thing in the world, but it's by far not the worst. The only problem I had was that it was a tad bit boring. It was slow, but I guess that's because of the dramatic atmosphere of it. There wasn't a lot of action, and there wasn't any horror whatsoever. If you go into this one with an open mind, and don't expect it to be garbage, you might be able to appreciate it.