"The Russian Bride" depicts a kind single mom in Russia, who meets an older American man on the internet, leading eventually to marriage. Nina takes her daughter Dasha from Russia to the United States, where they move into an unpleasant, dilapidated mansion owned by the wealthy husband.

Karl Frederick, the Prussian-sounding name of the older gent, turns out to be a monster. When Nina learns a bit of his background, meets his sinister friends, and catches him snorting cocaine, it does not take long for her to begin asking herself, "What have I got myself into? And the audience of this film has to be asking the same question!

This strange, low-budget film was a combination of dark comedy, thriller, mystery, horror, film noir, and slasher films. There is a creepy character named Hagen, who was born without a tongue. He now lives in the cold barn and does odd jobs (like committing murder) for his boss Karl Frederick. He also has a collection of old reel-to-reel classic films like "Frankenstein" and "Nosferatu." But this film is not really like those classics. It is closer to "Friday the 13th."

Much of the film defied logic, especially in the treatment of the former wife of Karl Frederick. Apparently, he murdered her, and Nina eventually comes across her skeleton. But the ex-wife also appears in the flesh to little Dasha. Was she a ghost, or was the wife being held captive by the psychopathic husband?

While the filmmakers created a chilling atmosphere in the mansion and the exterior, there was still an amateurish feel to the film. It was remarkable that the actors could keep a straight face with some of the lines of dialogue and situations. Some credit should go to the film's director for the wild finale. Still, this was a lackluster film whose theme was apparent in the early scene where Nina decides to leave her home in Livny to take her chances on what appears to be a relationship that seems too good to be true. If it feels that way, most situations in life are indeed too good to be true.

Nina (Oksana Orlan) has the habit of picking the wrong man. As a Russian bride, she manages to hook Karl (Corbin Bernsen) an aging American billionaire. Nina has a daughter, Dasha (Kristina Pimenova). Things quickly get weird as Karl is not the man she thought he was.

I liked the twist ending. This has been done a few times before, but for some reason I wasn't looking for it with everything else going on.

Guide: F-word. Brief sex and nudity (Corbin Bernsen). Gets bloody at the end.

Again I don't get what some reviewers find terrible about this movie. I thought it was a good movie, certainly in this genre, with a good tension building, maybe slow in the beginning but quickly you're eager to find out what the hell is going to happen. So there is enough suspense to keep your attention and once the whole plot unveils the story goes in another gear with a very nice ending if you like sweet revenge scenes. The end was definitely worth waiting for, good bloody gore and a feeling of satisfaction. Good acting, again I don't get where some people saw bad acting, so to me The Russian Bride is certainly worth a watch if you like thrillers and revenge movies.