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MARCH 23–OUTBREAK NORTHEAST–ALL QUIET IN THE NORTHEAST NJ EXCEPTION
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Welcome to this week’s regional edition of Outbreak Outlook! It is only available to paid subscribers. If you wish to become a paid subscriber and access region-specific information, please click the Subscribe now button below. Thanks for reading! -Caitlin
Respiratory DiseasesInfluenzaOutpatient influenza-like illness (ILI) activity in the Northeast continued to drift lower this week, with most states declining or holding flat at relatively low levels. New Jersey remained the clear outlier, with outpatient ILI holding essentially flat at 4.3%, barely changed from 4.2% the prior week. Emergency department (ED) visits were also flat at 2.1%. In fact, more school outbreaks have been reported so far in March than there were in both January and February. A huge majority of typed cases in New Jersey are type B, which is typical this time of year. However, it is unusual to see this persistence of activity far into the season.
Source: New Jersey Massachusetts is contending with lower activity, but it increased during the last reporting week. Outpatient ILI edged up to 2.8% from 2.6% and ED visits rose to 1.4% from 1.2%. As with New Jersey, a great majority of cases are type B. The Outer Boston area is most affected. Northeast: Outpatient influenza-like illness (%)
% of visits to the doctor that are for fever and cough or sore throat
 All other states reporting outpatient ILI came in below 3.0%. New Hampshire (2.7%), New York (2.7%), Rhode Island (2.3%), Pennsylvania (2.1%), and Maine (2.0%) all declined slightly or held steady. Vermont saw the sharpest drop in the region, falling to 1.6% from 2.4%, with ED visits also declining sharply to 1.2% from 2.1%. Connecticut had no outpatient ILI data but ED visits rose to 2.2% from 1.9%, and hospitalizations increased to 1.4 per 100,000 from 1.0. New York hospitalizations declined to 1.3 per 100,000 from 1.9. Northeast: ED visits for influenza (%)
% of visits to the emergency department that are for influenza
 COVID-19Covid-19 activity continued to decline across the Northeast this week, with ED visits at low levels throughout the region. Maine reported the highest ED visit rate at 0.6%, essentially flat with the prior week, with wastewater declining from moderate to low. In New Hampshire, ED visits held flat at 0.5% while wastewater rose from low to moderate. As I’ve said recently, wastewater signals have been a little divergent from clinical indicators. The latter are more reliable (albeit lagged) so I don’t put too much stock in this wastewater bounce. Northeast: Covid-19 wastewater concentration
Wastewater concentration of SARS-CoV-2
 The rest of the region is broadly improving. Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania all reported around 0.5% for ED visits, flat to slightly declining, with wastewater declining within the moderate range. Vermont saw a notable drop in ED visits to 0.4% from 0.6%, with wastewater falling from moderate to low. New York and Massachusetts each reported 0.4%, both declining, with wastewater falling to low levels; New York hospitalizations declined to 1.7 per 100,000 from 2.2 and Connecticut hospitalizations fell to 1.0 per 100,000 from 1.3. Rhode Island was the quietest in the region at 0.3%, with wastewater at minimal levels. Northeast: ED visits for Covid-19 (%)
% of visits to the emergency department that are for Covid-19
 RSVRSV emergency department visits were mixed across the Northeast, with the northern area of New England seeing slight increases while other states declined. Vermont led the region at 1.0%, up from 0.9%, and New Hampshire reported 0.8%, up from 0.7%. Massachusetts came in at 0.6%, down slightly. Northeast: ED visits for RSV (%)
% of visits to the emergency department that are for RSV
 The remaining states were all at 0.5% or below: Pennsylvania and Maine each at 0.5%, and Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut ranging from 0.3% to 0.4%, all declining. On hospitalizations, Connecticut saw RSV hospitalizations rise to 4.4 per 100,000 from 3.5, which is a sizeable increase for a state with relatively low ED activity. New York hospitalizations declined slightly to 3.0 per 100,000 from 3.3. NorovirusNorovirus activity continues to remain high in the Northeast and around the country. Test positivity increased from 11.4% to 14.1%. Test positivity has remained above 10% since around January. This is typically peak season (or even a little late for peak season) so I hope to see relief soon. Norovirus weekly percent positive tests (%)
Data reported to NREVSS
 Food recallsThe following foods are being recalled because they are contaminated. Please check your cupboards and throw out any of these items: New:
Previously Reported:
In other news
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MARCH 20 — TONIGHT 7:30 –WHITE PLAINS WEEK –THE MARCH 20 REPORT ON FIOS CH.45 AND OPTIMUM CH 76 AND WWW.WPCOMMUNITYMEDIA.ORG
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2ND SUBWAY 3/4 FINISHED AND RUNNING TO 96TH STREET
WASHINGTON PULLS cONGREES FUNDGING AGAN, KATHY HOCHUL IS GOING TO COURT AGAIN
NASTY MARCH TROPICAL STORM WINDS BLOW WALL PANELS OFF PLAYLAND TOWER
DR. KATYLIN JETELINA HAILS COURT DECISION INVALIDATING CDC COUNCIL AUTHORITY
REVERSES POLICIES ON VACCINES AND RFK JR’S ORDERS — BACK TO A HIGHER COURT
DR. JETELINA ON WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT COVID AFTER 6 YEARS
WESTCHESTER: 60% LOWER CASES OF COVID IN FIRST 2 WEEKS OF MARCH
DISTRICT ATTORNEY SUSAN CASE CRACK DOWN ON
SPRAIN BROOK AND TACONIC NETS 249 COWBOYS
WITH JOHN BAILEY AND THE NEWS
EVERY WEEK ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK
FOR 25 YEARS
THIS WEEK ON PERSPECTIVES 26:
THE NEED FOR DISASTER HOUSING FOR FIRE VICTIMS
MARCH 20– SUBWAY RIDERSHIP IN NEWYORK CITY DOUBLED IN 1 YEAR IN 2025. WEEKEND USE OUTPACED WEEKDAY RIDERSHIP
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MARCH 19—-ASSEMBLYMAN BURDICK ON THE CONDITION OF OUR ROADS: REPORT YOUR POTHOLE
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NOVEMBER 19–COVID 6 YEARS LATER. YOUR LOCAL EPIDEMIOLOGIST REFLECTS AND LOOKS AHEAD
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Enjoying this newsletter? Why not share it with a friend? Six years ago today, I put my baby in a camping carrier, strapped her on, opened my laptop on my dining room table, and started typing as fast as I could. I couldn’t believe how little communication existed that was timely, understandable, and actionable, with the humility and honesty the public deserved. So I tried to fill that gap, bringing my fellow faculty, staff, and students along for the Covid-19 journey in real time, signing every email the same way: Love, Your Local Epidemiologist. I told my husband I would only have to do this for six weeks. Surely someone would fill this gap… The rest is a blur (with many lessons learned along the way.)
March 22, 2020 during the lockdown. Strapped the baby in order to work from home. The start of YLE. A lot has changed since then. I don’t do many deep dives on Covid-19 anymore because the landscape has dramatically changed for the better, but also because, honestly, it brings back some overwhelming emotions. But this anniversary matters not only so you can protect yourself from this virus that is still circulating, and not only to honor the 1.5 million people who died, but also because this moment deserves serious reflection. So, six years later, this is where we stand. A lot has changed, and continues to do so.Covid-19 is no longer the third leading cause of death. In fact, it now carries roughly the same severity as the flu. While flu is nothing to brush off, this virus not being a top killer is genuine relief.
Data from CDC; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist. Even better news: Peaks are getting smaller and smaller. Each successive wave has been lower than the last, a pattern reflected in almost every metric, including hospitalizations (see below). This isn’t surprising: as our collective immunity builds, the virus has a harder time breaking through. SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve along the same narrow path, which is unusual but very helpful in reducing the number of people with the disease. The Covid-19 cousins we call coronaviruses are now responsible for the common cold, and there’s a hypothesis that this virus may eventually follow the same path. We are clearly not there yet, as hospitalization rates tell us, but the trajectory is meaningful.
Covid-19 Hospitalizations per 100,000. Source: CDC; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist. Interestingly, seasonality has recently shifted. We now reliably see two waves each year: one in winter, one in summer. But nationally over the past two years, the summer wave has been larger than the winter wave (see above). We don’t know why. Unfortunately, vaccination rates continue to fall. Roughly 3.5 million fewer older Americans were vaccinated this year compared to last year. That means 3.5 million people in the highest-risk group are now less protected from a largely preventable disease. With all the federal vaccine confusion, I expect this to continue to decline. Some patterns haven’t changed, though.For example, those most at risk for severe disease remain the same:
Also, the vaccines continue to provide additional protection—about 50% against emergency room visits and hospitalization. Protection does still wane, dropping to roughly 18% at around four months. The decline is slower than before, particularly for hospitalization among adults aged 65 and older.
Data: CDC; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist. There’s still a lot we don’t know.It’s striking how much remains unknown about this virus six years in. Long Covid is still poorly understood, with millions of people living with fatigue, cognitive impairment, and cardiovascular effects that medicine is only slowly grappling with. We know risk has decreased alongside the decline in severe acute disease, but we still lack reliable data on the extent of that decline, and we still have no effective treatments. Vaccine dosing for older adults is another gap. Current guidance recommends two updated vaccine doses per year for older adults: one in the fall and one in the spring. But robust data on whether two annual doses offer better protection than one is still extremely limited. In fact, I couldn’t find any data that are actually useful for guiding people, like my grandfather, to make evidence-based decisions about getting a second dose and when. (I’m still telling him to get two doses because the benefits outweigh the risks, but man, we need evidence.) We also still don’t have a clear, honest accounting of which interventions worked, which didn’t, and why during the biggest health emergency this country has faced in more than 100 years. For example, we still don’t know what works best to slow the spread of Covid-19. This is mind-boggling, given all we sacrificed as a society, let alone indicating how ill-prepared we are for next time. Today, what worries me most is deeper than the science.When researchers compared countries that fared well during Covid-19 to those that didn’t, they looked at health care infrastructure, population density, universal health care, age distribution, how many vaccines they got, and a ton of other factors. But the strongest predictors of Covid-19 infections weren’t any of these. It was trust: trust in government, trust in institutions, trust in each other. Countries where people broadly believed their neighbors and leaders were acting in good faith did measurably better. The United States ranked among the lowest among high-income countries. Six years later, it’s getting worse. Federal leadership has promised to restore trust. But the latest data show record-low levels of trust in government overall, and specifically in health agencies; trust is eroding further day by day. Lack of transparency, full-on destruction of systems and capabilities, partisan attacks, lack of accountability, performative acts without real change, and a failure to listen to the public are all contributing to it.
First graph source: Pew; Second graph source: Annenberg Public Policy Institute Public health, on the outside, though, isn’t providing an alternative path forward either. Many institutions and leaders are stuck in defense mode, circling the wagons to preserve the status quo, or paralyzed, afraid to take even one step forward. Wishing we could return to 2019 is not a plan. Public health systems saved many people, but they also failed many. I’m finally starting to see some appetite for change peppered here and there, and it’s giving me hope that things might improve, but not at the pace that meets the urgency of the moment. The health of Americans and biosecurity depend on it. Bottom lineSix years! Six years with a complicated data story of real progress alongside real stubbornness. This anniversary is striking to me for two reasons. The first is the virus itself: it continues to surprise us, and we remain humbled by how much we still don’t understand. The second is what has happened to us in its wake. Six years ago, I sat down at my dining room table because I deeply believed things needed to be done differently. I still believe that today. The question now is whether this country has the wherewithal to do it. I think we do (we need to), but it’s going to take all of us. Love, YLE P.S. A lot of you have Covid-19-related questions. My team pulled the top 7. Here are some answers for you!
Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife. YLE reaches over 320,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: |
MARCH 17–PLAYLAND TOWER DAMAGED BY HIGH WINDS LAST NIGHT
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Area behind the Music Tower is closed. (Courtesy, Westchester County Photo)
[Rye, NY] – Due to high winds overnight, the Music Tower at Playland has sustained external damage. Sections of stucco and underlying foam detached, and the area behind the structure has been closed to cars and pedestrians as a precautionary measure until a full assessment can take place. Clean up of the area is underway.
(Editor’s Note: From The Weather Channel: Winds Monday night were blowing West Southwest at speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour.
Peter Tartaglia, First Deputy Commissioner of Parks told WPCNR this afternoon the tower has been checked and said there is “no structural danage” to the tower. He estimated winds last night to be about 50 miles an hour. He said the the tower is located in the northern section of the park and the wind when it is out of the north it comes cross the Sound right into the section where the park is located. He said the park is looking into repairs needed to restore the tower. He said the damage to the tower would not affect the opening of Playland Park scheduled opening May 16.
Currently this afternoon, winds in Westchester are out of the west at 17–20 miles per hour and expected to gust up to 25 miles per hour. There is a small craft advisory in effect for Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, Peconic andand Gardiners Bays , south shore Bays from Jones Inlet through Shinnecock Bay. Seas running 3 to 5 feet.)
The Music Tower was built in 1928 as part of the park’s original construction and was most recently restored nearly 20 years ago.
Access to Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary remains available by parking in the Playland lot and walking via the boardwalk past the Ice Casino to the seaside walk and north boardwalk
MARCH 17 — PRESIDENT HALTS NEW YORK 2ND AVE SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION MONEY AGAIN. GOVERNOR HOCHUL SAYS SEE YOU IN COURT
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| For Immediate Release: 3/17/2026 |
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL
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STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL
“Once again, New York has been forced to sue the Trump Administration to stop them from erratically shutting off billions of dollars in previously committed infrastructure funding. For nearly a century, leaders have made big promises to the people of East Harlem about the expansion of the Second Avenue Subway. For nearly a century, those promises have been broken. When I took office, I pledged to be the Governor who kept her promise to this neighborhood and finally got this subway built.
“We have already made enormous progress — work is underway and the project is moving on schedule and on budget. But Donald Trump’s unlawful funding pause has put this entire project at risk. His actions alone have jeopardized the commutes of over 100,000 New Yorkers and the jobs of thousands of union workers, but New York will not back down. We told Donald Trump that if he did not restore the funding for this project, we’d see him in court. Today, we are doing just that. Just like Gateway, Donald Trump has two options: restore the money now, or wait for a judge to force him to.”
MARCH 17 — JUDGE HALTS RFK JR.’S VACCINE RESTRICTIONS, ANTI-VACCINE APPOINTEES
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Enjoying this newsletter? Why not share it with a friend? HERE. WE. GO. After a year of chaos around vaccines in the United States, a federal judge just slammed the brakes. In a lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics against RFK Jr., a federal court ruled that the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee cannot move forward under the changes he imposed and reversed every action the committee had taken since summer 2025. This is an incredible victory for kids who deserve barrier-free access to vaccines, for clinicians who need clear guidance and the autonomy to do what’s best for their patients, and for a country that deserves leadership capable of making both possible. What happened?ACIP is an external advisory committee to the CDC. It has an enormous influence on who should get which vaccines and when. Its recommendations shape what insurance covers, what physicians can routinely offer, and how easily families can access vaccines if they choose them. Because of that influence, ACIP has traditionally relied on a few core principles:
This process isn’t perfect, and there’s real room for improvement. But it works when evidence is weighed carefully, openly, and fairly. That same influence also made ACIP a powerful lever. And RFK Jr., who has spent more than two decades publicly questioning vaccines and amplifying falsehoods about their safety and value, was well positioned to pull it. Last June, after becoming HHS Secretary, he removed the entire existing committee and replaced it with new members whose expertise and interpretation of evidence raised serious concerns. The meetings that followed reflected those concerns:
Science should include disagreement and hard questions, which is healthy. The concern is that a process designed to rigorously evaluate evidence instead becomes a platform for ideological beliefs. Then, in January 2026, RFK Jr. bypassed his own ACIP committee, the CDC Director, and every scientific and clinical process we have, including rejecting public comment, to unilaterally make sweeping changes to the routine vaccination schedule for children in the United States. This change wasn’t based on new data or new evidence, but rather on political and ideological reasons. What did the judge say?The judge temporarily ruled that the decisions made over the past year are invalid, because the process itself broke the law in three ways:
The judge had some pretty incredible remarks in his ruling:
What’s next?This ruling is a temporary hold on ACIP while the case moves through the courts. A much-anticipated ACIP meeting this week was expected to include several votes, including on Covid-19 vaccines. ACIP meetings cannot proceed with the current members, so the meeting is cancelled. Now, technically, this group of advisors handpicked by RFK Jr. could still gather informally. Anyone can meet anytime. They could hold a book club, a coffee chat, or a knitting circle. And they could find ways to megaphone their ideologies and cherry-pick studies. Many of them have very big online platforms. But what they can’t do is operate as an official federal advisory committee: using government meeting rooms, staff support, travel funding, and government levers to shape your access to vaccines, like through insurance coverage or physician liability threats. The real question now is what comes next:
While this pause is important, the medical decisions Americans make every day do not stop. Neither does the accumulation of new evidence, nor the development of innovative vaccines that are hopefully coming down the pipeline. It’s time to figure out what that next step is before this is clogged up too long. What does this mean for you right now?You can get the vaccines you want, for free, based on the best available evidence, and with the same trusted conversations with your doctor. All of the vaccine policy changes RFK Jr. put in place have now been reversed to their pre-June 2025 state.
The past year of shifting vaccine policy has left many people with questions and concerns. This ruling does not erase that confusion or immediately reach every family that fell through the cracks and remains unprotected against diseases. We have our work cut out for us. It also cannot undo the enormous cost of countless hours spent responding to sudden policy changes, correcting falsehoods, and stabilizing guidance for patients and clinicians. This time, energy, and taxpayer dollars could have been used to solve real health problems. Bottom lineThis is a huge win. It restores access to vaccines (for now) and puts the process that determines who can access them back on track. That accountability matters. It protects Americans’ ability to make informed medical decisions and gives people a fair shot at the best possible health, even when so much in this country works against it. It’s a principle countless people have been fighting for, again and again, over the past year. And now, the federal court has confirmed that cutting corners and carelessly removing protections for Americans is not just bad public health policy. It’s illegal. Love, YLE Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife. YLE reaches more than 425,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support the effort, subscribe or upgrade below: |
MARCH 16–FRANK AND PENNY SUNDAY MATINEE AT THE HAUNTED JACOB BURNS AT DUSK
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Frank and Penny out for a drive (Christiane Bale and Jesse Buckley) America’s VERY HOT Couple
WPCNR SHOCK THEATRE Review by Zacherle March 16, 2026:
JOHN ZACHERLE (ROLAND) GHOST HOST, CURATOR, WPIX SHOCK THEATER
I rose out of my crypt in the twilight yesterday just at dusk to go back in time to the “gory days” of 1930s movies to see Warner Brothers The Bride.
My bride the spectral Vampiress Janeta whose beauty never fades you know (she is a vampiress and is eternal) had shown me the reviews of the movie, selected by the curators of The Jacob Burns Staff to be shown this past week.
The way the reviewers saw this movie convinced me that this was a movie badly made. LIke most critics who do not make movies let alone understand them or acknowledge the movies standing, meaning in life, suggested to me it was confusing, silly and condemned it to a horrible opening weekend at the box office. ($17 Million)
Countess Janeta said “John darling, you have to go and see it before you decide not to see it.”
So in my eternal rest I decided to see The Bride at the Burns
The critics consider superhero and heroine “franchises” great because they are profitable dismissed this movie, not recognizing The Bride is an insightful homage to horror, and they havecreated an expensive $93 Million bomb, a nail in the Warner Brothers coffin and sealed in a mausoleum in Forest Lawn with so many Warner Brothers stars created in the past.
Having been a curator of horror classics since my days choosing the horror classics on Shock Theater on WPIX TV, with my assistant, Gasport. I am an expert in horror.
Horror movies, the classics, taught us about fear, evil, and human nature. As a youth I saw the original Frankenstein and saw in the townspeople’s hatred of the monster, the human nature of not liking people they did not understand. The monster’s killing of the little girl was an accident, because the monster did not understand, and Dr. Frankenstein’s rejection of the monster his lack of responsibility. This was my view of what that movie said to me about life.
Later, I saw Bride of Frankenstein which found a lonely monster asking Dr. Frankenstein to make him a companion. Unfortunately Elsa Lancaster the actress who played the first bride, rejected the Frankenstein monster.
That movie taught the lesson that strong feelings and need for another may not be returned and you as a man or a woman have to deal with it with compassion. Not rejection.
(It was not until I found a vampiress, (the eternal Countess Janeta, who liked my blood type and that took centuries), that I resolved this situation for myself.
The original Bride of Frankenstein ran 1 hour 15 minutes and took 36 days to shoot.
The Bride runs 2 hours and 6 minutes and sweeps the story of the Bride of Frankenstein into modern times the 1930s and creates a horror classic:
Director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s over-the-top overwhelming, melodramatic, horror romance that cannot die.
She has created in fantastic color, sound, action ,spectacle. It is the ultimate embellishment of horror’s appeal for those of us who appreciate the horror genre power to suspend disbelief and create buy-in acceptance of the impossible.
This movie is horror as inspiration, hope, happiness that all those who have fallen short crave. The Gyllenhaaling of James Whale’s(the director the original “Bride”) amps up the impact of the original, and brings out all horror’s powers to inspire
Right away it grabs us with Ms. Gyllenhaal far better looking than Alfred Hitchock in her own film, playing the spirit of Mary Shelley from one step beyond, saying she did not have time to write the sequel to Frankenstein because she died, but now she is back to say the things she,Shelley, wanted to say. I, horror aficionado, appreciates this. (We all leave undone things we wanted to do at the time we depart unless, unless you can come back, become a vampire or a monster that is invulnerable except for one thing: he is lonely.
Like the Frankenstein monster.
Gyllenhaal loops you in like a deranged talk show ghost host eerily discussing her new sequel she never got to write.
It begins with her monster viewing a 1930s song dance movie in a theater, tearing up watching Gyllenhaal’s brother Jack do a song and dance romantic fairwell to one of the many stars appearing in this horror epic. Seeing this movie if not a horror fan, you will see portrayed through the monster’s tears and joy at the film within the film. He has a broken heart. He is lonely.
A creature of the street– in a reach you can consider him a homeless person.
No other actor playing the monster—even the master, Boris Karloff—is as hunkie or as handsome and sensitive as Christian Bale’s “Frankie” who is self-educated, he reads, exactly the kind of man of interest a woman falls for. He needs love.
Man does this hit home.
This is why people go to movies. It seems to me critics have forgotten that. The movie fans seek ways to fill the loneliness and regrets of life and emotions they have never had. Horror movies make you feel more emotion than any genre, (except Shakespeare), (even those who empathize with the monster or two monsters as The Bride creates). The Mary Shelley ghost’s introduction is the framework of the movie lets you consider the impossible “what if” – the “hook” in horror that “hooks” you, dear movie goer.
Frank taking Ida to a Ronnie Read movie featuring his idol Read, whose movies he watches to experience feels of love.
The monster who has been roaming for years has now found love in watching Gyllenhall’s brother Jack playing a Fred Astaire type as he dances in 30s music style in a glitzy jazz age Chicago of the gangster age. Gyllenhall’s brother Jack plays Ronnie Reed with various stars you know as Reed’s partner.
Frank (Bail) encountering Jack Gyllenhaal playing Reed as he professes how much Reed’s movies mean to him. It will bring tears to your eyes.
Jesse Buckley acting out at the nightclub resulting in her untimely death. And she really acts showing her range of insanity and athleticism.
After the monster departs the movie crying, we are jazz-transported into a “hotsy-totsy” club with a table full of gangster types.Here Ida, Jessie Buckley a frizzy haired moll is acting out, slightly drunk and aggravates the table which ends with the gangster boss telling his cronies to get rid of her. Down the stairs she goes.
Fade to the monster hunched into his scarf walking to a tall building. He seeks out a scientist who wrote a book on resuscitating the dead.
She is a very scientific Dr. Euphronious played with arch evil, ambition and adventure by Annette Bening. She asks why Frank is seeking her out. His answer got me laughing (and really vampires never laugh.)
Them she asks why should I help you:
Bale as “Frank,” says, “I am so lonely.”
They need a dead woman’s body, and a dead woman is dug up by Dr. Euphronious and Frank.
Ida the rubbed-out gangster moll and Frank “meet cute” as she is on the table hooked up and in her spectacular laboratory Ida is goes from “corpse to cutie”—your body hums with electricity during this scene.
FRANK EXPERIENCES LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT AS IDA COMES BACK TO LIFE. THE BALE-BUCKLEY TEAM DELIVER THE LOOKS AND TOUCHES OF THINGS LOVERS DO. THEY ARE BEYOND CUTE– GOOD AND PERFECT.
As Ida takes to the streets, rejecting Frank, he follows her but she encounters thugs who try and assault her. Frank takes care of them and the romance from there rolls like a Harlequin romance novel. He cares consoles. She says forgedaboutit. I loved this aspect. Great acting love-hate-care. Love unfolds. I love that, don’t you? You yourself watching two people humanize through love’s growth.
The movie inspires women of Chicago to revolt against male dominance, and riots erupt.
Frank continues to escort Ida.
They are pursued by a police detective and state troopers, the entire police force of Chicago and New York. The couple is finally cornered will they survive?
You have to stay to the end like any romance. Happy ending? Will there be a sequel? No way. There are always tears for the monsters.
Horror movies never have a happy ending.
Mr Bale as Frank and Jessie Buckley as Ida whom Frank names Penelope are like Superman and Lois, always at odds, or Bogey and Bacall, tentative distant CRACKLING with electricity Tracy and Hepburn. Cary Grant and Laraine Day.
They hug with intensity. NEED grows.
You like romance. You like vast huge stagings of riots, chases and two people who don’t like each other cooperate, learn to agree and care for each other desperately.
This is a Horror movie classic.
Now Countess Janeta wants to see it.
The audience in the Burns Theater 5 which I playfully have nicknamed “The Crypt,” stayed rapt through the credits. No one left. They had to hear all of “Monster Mash” in the closing credits. They were transfixed. These two are monster heat.
Horror fans purists and Gen X’s go see. Learn. Feel the horror the love the emotion Hollywood used to deliver.
Go see it in the theaters.
The Bride gives everybody a reason for living—never give up! Like the two monsters who turn into lovers they found their way.
The last time a horror movie was this good was my favorite mummy movie “The Mummy’s TOMB” (1944) when Kharis the Mummy carries his beloved Princess Annunka into a swamp as she ages.
Hollywood establishment has a new hyperbolic word:
Gayllenhaalesque!
This was a graveyard smash of a movie.
For the record from Wikkipedia:
Bride of Frankenstein premiered on April 19, 1935 at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco,[33][a] and went into general release the next day.[34][35] The film was profitable for Universal, with a 1943 report showing that it had earned approximately $2 million, a profit of about $950,000.[36]
The film was critically praised upon its release, although some reviewers did qualify their opinions based on the film’s being in the horror genre. The New York World-Telegram called the film “good entertainment of its kind”.[37] The New York Post described it as “a grotesque, gruesome tale which, of its kind, is swell”.[37] The Hollywood Reporter similarly called the film “a joy for those who can appreciate it”.[37]
Variety did not so qualify its review: “[It is] one of those rare instances where none can review it, or talk about it, without mentioning the cameraman, art director, and score composer in the same breath as the actors and director”. Variety also praised the cast, writing that “Karloff manages to invest the character with some subtleties of emotion that are surprisingly real and touching … Thesiger as Dr. Pretorious [is] a diabolic characterization if ever there was one … Lanchester handles two assignments, being first in a preamble as author Mary Shelley and then the created woman. In latter assignment she impresses quite highly”.[38]
In another unqualified review, Time wrote that the film had “a vitality that makes their efforts fully the equal of the original picture (Frankenstein)… Screenwriters Hurlbut & Balderston and Director James Whale have given it the macabre intensity proper to all good horror pieces, but have substituted a queer kind of mechanistic pathos for the sheer evil that was Frankenstein“.[39] The Oakland Tribune concurred it was “a fantasy produced on a rather magnificent scale, with excellent stagecraft and fine photographic effects”.[40] While the Winnipeg Free Press thought that the electrical equipment might have been better suited to Buck Rogers, nonetheless the reviewer praised the film as “exciting and sometimes morbidly gruesome”, declaring that “all who enjoyed Frankenstein will welcome his Bride as a worthy successor”.[41] The New York Times called Karloff “so splendid in the role that all one can say is ‘he is the Monster'”.[42] The Times praised the entire principal cast and Whale’s direction in concluding that Bride is “a first-rate horror film”,[42] and presciently suggested that “the Monster should become an institution, like Charlie Chan“.[42]