Intro
This is something of a surprise: a rather nice presentation of a film almost universally characterized as misbegotten.
Synopsis
An non-horror remake of what many consider the greatest horror film ever made, James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein (1935), this film sees Charles (Charles?!) Frankenstein (Sting) make a female creature, Eva (Jennifer Beals). Both Frankenstein and his male creature Viktor (Clancy Brown) fall in love with Eva. Both creatures struggle to establish their ow… identities in an often hostile world.
Audio
Though only 2-channel surround, the soundtrack makes good use of front and rear effects, and there is good left-right separation of the sound in the front speakers.
Video
The picture preserves the 1.85:1 widescreen aspect, and maintains sharp contrasts even in the night sequences. The lush look of the film, which some might argue is its only redeeming feature, is thus nicely preserved.
Features
As well as the usual trailers and filmographies, The Bride features commentary by director Franc Roddam. This is the most pleasant surprise of the disc. Roddam is chatty, gossipy, full of anecdotes about cast and crew, and disarmingly frank about the film. He makes no bones about the fact that he got so caught up in the costumes and set that he neglected to make sure he was working with a good script.
Closing Thoughts
While the film has long since been pretty much been consigned to the scrap heap of cinematic history, it warrants a look as a real oddity. Roddam’s commentary, furthermore, raises the entertainment value of the film considerably.
Special Features List
- Director’s Commentary
- Theatrical trailer
- Filmographies
