Joe Dante Just Gave The Bride! The Gremlins 2 Seal of Approval

When Joe Dante, the man behind Gremlins and the absolute chaos that is Gremlins 2: The New Batch, weighs in on monster movies, I tend to listen. This week, Dante threw his support behind Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride!—a movie that, to put it mildly, had most critics scratching their heads and most audiences heading for the exits. But in typical Dante fashion, he sees the film's weirdness not as a bug, but as a feature.

Joe Dante’s Take: If Any Movie Deserves an Exclamation Point...

So, what does Dante, who literally made a film about mutant puppet monsters overrunning a skyscraper, see in The Bride!? Well, in a new episode of his Trailers from Hell commentary series, he calls it "truly bonkers"—and that’s a compliment coming from him. To quote Dante directly:

'If there ever was a movie that deserved the exclamation point after the title, it’s The Bride!'

According to Dante, the film is a mashup of monster movie DNA that doesn't really care if the mainstream is on board. He points out that it’s been dismissed by some as an "incomprehensible mess," but even when it doesn’t work, it always swings for the fences in the imagination department. His biggest praise, though, is for Jessie Buckley, whose "astonishing and brave" performance, he says, outdoes her Oscar-winning work in Hamnet. That’s not faint praise.

Why The Bride! Reminded Dante of Gremlins 2

Of course, the most interesting part is Dante’s comparison to his own polarizing sequel—Gremlins 2. He says straight out:

'It put me in mind of, in all modesty, Gremlins 2.'

Honestly, that tracks. Both movies are all over the place (on purpose), and both seem like they were made for the director’s own amusement as much as for audiences. Here’s what they have in common:

• Tonal rollercoasters (horror, comedy, romance, crime—you name it, it's in there)
• Genre-blending that makes studio execs nervous
• Meta jokes, movie shoutouts, and winks at the camera
• No hesitation to alienate normies looking for a straightforward story

Sure, this usually splits the room—but if you like this kind of creative anarchy, it's basically catnip. That’s how movies move from box office disasters to cult classics. (Gremlins 2 being textbook proof.)

What the Heck The Bride! Is Even About

To back up a bit: The Bride! is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s big swing at the Frankenstein myth, only she’s thrown out the original manual and replaced it with a blender set to "high." Things kick off in 1930s Chicago, where Frankenstein’s Monster—played by Christian Bale, looking like he wandered in from a different movie—teams up with a Dr. Euphronius to reanimate a murdered woman. That’s Jessie Buckley in a dual role as both the classic Bride and a kind of alternative Mary Shelley.

From there, it’s not just a horror flick. The movie detours into a crime spree that owes at least as much to Bonnie and Clyde as it does to Universal monster movies. There’s romance, song-and-dance numbers, stylized violence, meta references—the works. Here’s the official synopsis for context:

'A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement.'

Why People Are Split on The Bride!

If you’re wondering why critics and audiences aren’t losing their minds over The Bride!, it mostly comes down to structure and tone. Some people just can’t get onboard with a Frankenstein story that throws in crime, musicals, and fourth-wall-breaking gags. Others—including Dante—think the messiness is exactly the point, and that studio movies rarely go this big or weird anymore. As he puts it:

'How many big-budget studio movies have you seen lately that swing for the fences?'

Financially, The Bride! hasn’t exactly set the world on fire—$23 million globally means most people missed it on release. But every cult classic starts life as a misunderstood box office flop, so who knows what happens next—especially with genre royalty like Joe Dante cheering it on.

Have you seen The Bride!? Does Dante’s comparison make sense, or is it just another over-the-top monster flick? Drop your take below.