With a star-studded cast led by a likely Academy Award contender in Jesse Buckley and Academy Award winner Christian Bale in a supporting role, coupled with the exciting actor turned filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal at the helm, The Bride! had all the ingredients to be a slam dunk success. Which makes it all the more baffling that it stands as one of the biggest misfires of the year to date and will go down as a huge disappointment.

The Bride! teleports audiences back to the 1930s where Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) convinces the mad scientist Dr Euphronious (Annette Bening) to create a female companion to cure his crippling loneliness. Utilising the corpse of a dead woman, Euphronious brings to life the Bride of Frankenstein (Jesse Buckley). However, things quickly spiral out of control as the newly united couple embark on a murderous spree, setting Det. Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his companion Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz) on their trail.

The screenplay does little to inspire and is where the film falters most. It introduces several admittedly intriguing subplots without ever developing them beyond the initial promise, even lazily leaving some unresolved and completely unexplained as the credits roll. Because of this messy script, the intended blend of horror, dark comedy, romance and drama rarely coheres and instead feels frustratingly undercooked.

Jesse Buckley delivers one of the most bizarre performances in recent years. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as it matches the film’s eccentric tone remarkably well, but it also veers so far over the top that it becomes distracting at times. Bale as Frankenstein’s monster proves less memorable, though much of that stems from the material he is given. The chemistry between the two leads also feels lacking for the most part, making the supposed love between them feel more forced than natural.

Technically, however, The Bride! is flawless. The costume design by Sandy Powell frequently takes centre stage and is mesmerising, while the make-up and prosthetic work looks superb throughout. Karen Murphy’s production design captures the 1930s aesthetic beautifully, and the cinematography by Lawrence Sher is the movie’s biggest standout, transporting audiences back in time with striking confidence.

Despite that undeniable technical prowess, The Bride! ultimately feels like a Frankenstein’s monster of a film, with a collection of ideas stitched together in the hope that the beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately for me it misses the mark, which makes the disappointment all the greater given that it was one of my most anticipated films of the year.