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The Bride of Frankenstein, in the 1935 film that bears her name, has only three minutes of screen time and no dialogue. And yet, she haunts us still with that shock of hair and that wild, frightened look in Elsa Lanchester's eyes. After her Academy Award-nominated debut as writer and director of The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal was looking to express that radical heart of hers on an even bigger scale and with a streak of punk sensibility.

Why not take this horror icon and give her a voice? And then why not let that voice scream from the rafters? Gyllenhaal, after all, has spent her entire career as an actor in the land of fearless, complicated women, from Secretary to The Kindergarten Teacher. Furthermore, with The Lost Daughter, she presented a deeply empathetic, provocative portrait of the kind of mother society is often quick to denounce as monstrous.

Here, she takes on a literal monster. Played by the brilliant Jessie Buckley with dishevelled finger waves and an ink stain splatter across her lips, she's the untameable, unclassifiable creation of scientist Dr Euphronius (Annette Bening), fashioned out of a murdered corpse to serve as a companion to a lonely Frankenstein (Oscar winner Christian Bale).

Set in 1930s Chicago, The Bride! revitalises classic horror iconography and then crashes it into Hollywood's lengthy, passionate history of the outlaw romance. There's a touch of Bonnie and Clyde and David Lynch's Wild at Heart, with a silky, sensual wardrobe provided by legendary costume designer Sandy Powell (also behind 1994's Interview With The Vampire and The Favourite).

With Peter Sarsgaard, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penélope Cruz along for the ride, production design by The Great Gatsby's Karen Murphy and a score by experimental composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, The Bride! promises to be a film unlike any other.

Clarisse Loughrey

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The Bride is in cinemas from 06 March — Book Now!