Dead Bride – Movie Review
Director: Francesco Picone
Writer: Francesco Picone (Screenplay)
Cast
- Jennifer Mischiati
- Christoph Hulsen
- Douglas Dean
- Sean James Sutton
- David White
Plot: After her father’s death, Alyson, her partner Richard and their baby return to her childhood home. Following a few shocking supernatural events, Alyson discovers that she and her family have been living with a terrible curse, unleashed in the past by a bride killed by Alyson’s grandfather. Soon after Alyson’s child disappears and she has no choice but to embark on a frightening journey into the underworld, to free herself from the bride’s curse and to look for her daughter.
Runtime: 1 Hour 23 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Dead Bride starts when Alyson (Mischiati) and Richard (Hulsen) return to Alyson’s childhood home. Alyson finds herself reliving her childhood nightmares and starts to believe her baby son could be in danger.
Diving into her past, Alyson learns that Father Elbert (Sutton) once helped her father. This teaches Alyson that her family has become cursed by the spirit of her grandfather’s first bride. Alyson turns to Dave (Dean) a famed psychic in hopes of getting rid of the curse placed upon her family.
Verdict on Dead Bride
Characters
Alyson grew up in fear, finding herself frozen in fear at night and returning to the same experiences happening again. She learns more about her past and she battles to protect her baby. Alyson is willing to listen to different experts with ideas that will help, leaving her helpless in the battle.
Richard is Alyson’s partner who has been working late, not being around when Alyson needs her. He takes a while to get around to the idea that Alyson is seeing things that can’t be explained.
Dave is a psychic who has helped police discover dead bodies in the past, he offers to help the family deal with the problem they are facing. This role feels very similar to Elise in the Insidious movies.
Father Elbert has previously helped the family, he knows the family is cursed and wants to help them. He fills in the information that creates the horror the family must battle.
Performances
Jennifer Mischiati takes the leading role in the movie, she handles the horror moments well. Giving us plenty of screams, reactions and pure horror moments. Elsewhere, the chemistry with Christoph Hulsen isn’t as strong as it could be. Douglas Dean and Sean James Sutton are great as the two experts offering to help in different ways.
Story
The story follows a family moving back into a childhood home, only to learn that the family has been cursed and forced to face the consequences. This sees a young mother needs to figure out what has been going on within her family’s history to save her child.
The story does seem to feel a lot like ‘Insidious’ with the idea the family is cursed. It takes us to another world for answers to what is going on and involves a parent doing anything to save a child. This doesn’t mean anything here is bad, it truly has some great imagery and creates a genuine interest in how this can be solved.
Themes
Dead Bride is a horror thriller in a similar vein as Insidious. It takes us down a disturbing world of haunting within a family home. most importantly it takes us through an unexplained world and the unsure when dealing with the evil that is after a child. Even though this movie is set within one home, it uses every inch to create a different horror experience and keeps us guessing where the film will go next.
Where to Watch: Dead Bride will arrive on October 4 on digital, VOD platforms including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Xbox, and Vudu, as well as local cable and satellite providers.
Final Thoughts – Dead Bride is a great horror with plenty of scares along the way.
