“The Bride” (*1/2 out of four) was a lackluster horror melodrama based on “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” set in 1930’s Chicago in which Frankenstein (Christian Bale under mounds of makeup) asks a helpful scientist (Annette Bening who has never looked more like Diane Keaton) to create a female companion (Jessie Buckley) which leads to a firestorm of romance, police action, and social radical change. Director Maggie Gyllenhaal dresses this up with macabre touches and flair but it’s glossy paint on a dry wall since the script and story are so utterly dull. After this and Guillermo del Toro’s brutal remake last year, perhaps it’s best to let Frankenstein rot in peace for a while.