The Bride begins with text scrolling across the screen about a legend of an Apache woman who was raped and killed on her wedding day. This mysterious woman comes back from the dead for retribution. She brutally murders all the men involved in her death and leaves one alive so he can tell her story to others and instill fear. We flash to the present and meet Marco and Kira, a couple who are spending the weekend in a cabin in the middle of nowhere because they’re about to get married. Unfortunately for the two, they get caught in the middle of a kidnapping-for-cash gone wrong! Marco is killed in cold blood and Kira puts up a fight but is ultimately raped and viciously murdered. But have no fear; the spirit of the Apache women from the past who obtained her vengeance allows Kira to rise from death to take revenge on her killers.
Unfortunately, the plot is very cliche and pretty much steals components from Meir Zarchi’s I Spit On Your Grave (1978) and Alex Proyas’s The Crow (1994). When it comes to the acting, it completely falls short. If the plot was cliche but the acting was amazing or even tolerable, then I’d be open to watching this film again. However, the actors really need to go back to the drawing board on this, perhaps acting isn’t their calling at all. The couple Marco and Kira have no chemistry whatsoever, nor do they even seem like a real couple. The scene in which Kira is a bystander during Marco’s death, she literally shows no emotion. It’s very weird that you don’t care that your fiancé was brutally murdered right before your eyes. Extremely weird!
The Bride is a low budget film, however I’m a fan of low budget films, in particular, low-budget horror. It’s the perfect opportunity for the director to show their creativity which is very intriguing! Notwithstanding, the effects and the production overall are worse than those cheesy local auto commercials. The wounds looked as if they were purchased from the malfunctioned discount box from the Halloween store. If your budget cannot allow you to afford guns or at least the sound effects for a gun, perhaps having guns in your film isn’t the path for you! The guns in this flick sounded ridiculous. That’s the only way I can describe it.
They even actually showed the Apache ghost girl and she looked unrealistic and simply silly. There’s one particular scene that made me roll my eyes extremely hard. I just wanted to unplug my TV when dead Kira came back from the grave and got stabbed and decided to wedge a tampon in her wound before patching it with duct tape. What the hell?! How can that even help? What exactly is the point to that? Was it supposed to be funny? Perhaps if The Bride was a horror-comedy, it would have been totally acceptable. Unfortunately, this is supposed to be a straight arrow horror thriller revenge flick. The kills weren’t entertaining. They all seemed to be dull and somewhat drawn out. Truth be told, I don’t have anything positive to say about it.
Overall, The Bride is a frustrating film that I unfortunately cannot recommend. The execution is sloppy and it’s something we’ve all seen many, many times before. Perhaps if you do decide to watch this film, be forewarned that there are no thrills or much horror to speak of. If you are interested in watching a revenge film, why not go with I Spit on Your Grave or The Crow. Both are cult classics and you’ll actually be entertained.
WICKED RATING: 2/10
Title: The Bride
Director: Marcello Daciano
Writer: Marcello Daciano
Stars: Henriette Riddervold, Lane Townsend, Burt Culver
Release: September 6, 2016 VOD
Studio/ Production Co: Daciano Films
Budget: $1,000,000
Language: English
Length: 82 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Thriller, Horror
