Newsletter – March 13, 2026
Our daughter’s appearance in The Bride! came at the very end during the closing credits. That’s Lora holding the ax.
We thought the movie was over and her scene had been cut. Two proud parents watching the whole movie only to realize that their daughter’s scene was left on the cutting room floor (or whatever the digital equivalent may be).
BUT THEN the credits continued over Lora’s scene just as she described it! The picture above is her second appearance, the first came right at the very start of the scene, as her Dad shouted “There she is!” Good thing the matinee was practically a private screening and the music played loudly enough that no one else heard me.
Speaking of music, there were two spots in the film that made me laugh at Gyllenhaal’s choice of music. For the end credits they played the old Halloween favorite “The Monster Mash” which reflects the theme of Mary Shelley’s monster who never got a name of his own. It also reflected the story’s trend of idolizing the two monsters.
The other musical homage was a full blown dance number to “Puttin’ On The Ritz,” which was also used by Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein. In fact, Christian Bale yells that titular phase during the dance with the same inflection that Peter Boyle’s monster had used. Nice touch!
The movie was not a horror movie. In fact, I only averted my eyes for about 10 seconds twice so I wouldn’t see what I was afraid I was going to see. (I’m sort of talking around those two moments to avoid a spoiler.)
The Bonnie-and-Clyde dynamic I mentioned last week is an apt comparison, but the significant difference is the number of camera angles where women react to The Bride’s rants. In one such rant she even repeats “Me too!” several times. It’s clear that she’s having an impact which will gradually grow stronger. It also motivates the scene Lora is in, where women have adopted the look of The Bride and flaunt the weapons they carry to defend themselves.
It’s a film where the monster is a kind and loving man contrasted by many other men who are truly monsters.
I wouldn’t have gone to see the movie but for Lora’s appearance, but now I’m recommending it for you to go see. I think you’ll be glad you did.
TTFN
* * * * *
Two weeks ago I shared my poem “Emerson Aaronson Sat By The Sea” and took it to my writing group for feedback. I thought you might be interested to know about its next stage of development.
Woody, a member of the group pointed out two lines that made him stop and re-read. They were:
A fish from the ocean that flies through the water
Or an eagle up-soaring just like her dad taught her.
Emerson is a boy and the female gender of the eagle caused confusion. After all, Emerson was imagining himself as the eagle. The reason I had done so was to enable the rhyme of water and taught her. Taught him wouldn’t work. We discussed the possibilities and Woody suggested making Emerson a girl instead.
I wasn’t sure if people would understand Emerson to be a girl’s name, but SURPRISE, in 2024 the girls named Emerson outnumbered the boys by about three to one.
I went through the poem changing every he to a her and every himself to herself and it works really well! Thanks, Woody!
* * * * *
My middle grade novel, The Most Amazing Museum of Los Angeles is available through The BookBaby Bookshop at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-most-amazing-museum-of-los-angeles
Eric Margerum 