The Bride

In today's day and age, it is hard as a viewer to come across something that feels original and fresh, let alone imagining coming up with it or writing it down. So once it is established that something may not be particularly original or potentially derivative, the next step is to ask, was it done well?..

I believe this was relatively well done despite its lacking in originality. It had aspects that felt fresh, however the overall vibe was... familiar. Despite its run of the mill spooky plot, it was still interesting and engaging. I thought this had all the makings of a dope horror but felt it leaned more into the tension building aspects pushing it more towards thriller, rather than going full blown horror with it... I would have preferred the latter.

One thing of note is I thought the movie looked quite nice. There were shots here and there where I specifically thought oh wow that was nice. It also, though few and far between, did have some genuinely spooky moments and decent effects.

Overall I thought this was a decent, slightly above average thriller/horror with a plot that definitely had potential. 5.5 rounding up to 6, would recommend.

In the Nineteenth Century, in Russia, people believe that a photograph would be capable to capture the soul of the diseased person and then transfer into a new body. In the present days, the college student Nastya (Viktoriya Agalakova) and her boyfriend, the photographer Vanya (Vyacheslav Chepurchenko) get married. Soon Vanya´s sister Liza (Aleksandra Rebenok) invites them to marry in her house in the countryside to follow and ancient family tradition. Nastya decides to go despite the objections of Vanya. They are welcomed by Liza and soon Nastya sees weird things in the old house. She seeks out Vanya but Liza informs that he has gone to the town with his friends. What will Nastya do?

"Nevesta" is a creepy underrated Russian horror film about family tradition and dark secrets. The mysterious screenplay is tense since Nastya fells that something is not right but she is trapped alone in the old house by the family of her fiancée. The plot is well resolved and the acting is good. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Noiva" ("The Bride")

The Bride is a dark fairytale hailing from the Slavic steppes of Russia.

The story begins with a legend about a mad doctor who attempts to bring his recently deceased wife, back from the dead- in the body of a peasant virgin- by use of some sort of magical ritual that involves capturing the soul of the deceased person in a negative coated in this new silver emulsion, by painting their eyelids and having them photographed.

This involves burying the virgin alive in a coffin filled with items of the deceased.

Though, things don't exactly go as they had planned...as this act of utter desperation just leads the town and his family to become cursed. Fastforward a few generations later...and we find ourselves following college student, Nastya, and her photographer boyfriend, Ivan.

The two elope, before being harkened back to Ivan's childhood home, for a more "traditional" wedding ritual.

Not long after arriving, however, it becomes clear to Nastya that something eerie is going on with this family.

She's been hearing things in the walls; seeing things she can't explain, and doesn't like that they have got all sorts of bizarre plans that revolve around her.

It soon becomes evident that she's been conned, and their plans for her aren't exactly benevolent. But every attempt she makes to escape is thwarted.

Only a miracle can save her from facing the fate they have in store for her now.

But, short of that...she won't go down without a fight.

And she makes damn sure that her fate remains in her hands.

Based on some sort of old slavic marriage legend revolving around ritual this film is captivating enough to keep you entertained throughout.

While I'm not a huge fan of the CGI "Mother", it didn't really detract from the film any.

The only aspect of the plot I really didn't like, concerns the return of Ivan in perfect health after that major car accident.

That ruined the flow of plausibility. But I was still able to sit through and enjoy the rest of the film.

It's no Viy, or anything, but it's certainly watchable.

5.5 out of 10

What walks and walks and never reaches the door??? the film called nevesta or ''the bride'' in english. it is really nothing new or original, its ultraslow on plot development, and when the scares starts emerging, youre already worn out and tired and nearly sleeping, so i think this was a miss story/plotwise. the production aint bad, and the set department has done a great job prop wise and location settings. it does also score pretty high on filmatography, but its still not enough to call this a super horror.

supernatural it is, and pretty psychotic in the hinges, so i do not want to scare away the audience, im just old and grumpy that has pivotal feeling about the genre. this was far too slow so just a 6.

Despite having already married, a young bride is taken to the home of her husband for a ceremony with his family. A dark ceremony that may take her life.

I actually watched this a while back and really enjoyed it but the subtitles I had were choppy. I didn't want to review it until had watched it with better subtitles and having just finished it up for the 2nd time, I still like it.

I love bridal horror. Love can cause you to do crazy things and when you really consider it, there are a lot of ways it can be twisted into horror. The story is the best part of this film but it needs a little something. That something is detail. The underlying story is vague in my opinion. You can understand what is going on but there isn't much to help the viewer invest in the characters. It's creepy and there are moments that made me think of "The Woman In Black".

I liked the film but it really does need a bit of work. With a bit more attention this could be awesome.