Bride of Chucky (1998)


Child's Play was a pretty decent hit in 1988, spawning two sequels.  Chucky became a horror icon along with Jason, Freddy and the lot, although by the third movie the story involving Charles Lee Ray constantly trying to switch his soul into Alex had pretty much played out.  Where most franchises at the time would have continued with diminishing returns in the direct-to-video market it appeared that producer and writer Don Mancini did the smart thing and ended with Child's Play 3.  

In 1998 that changed.  Child's Play 2 and Child's Play 3 had increasingly seen Chucky become more of a darkly comic character so, when the character was brought back for Bride of Chucky, the comedic aspects were emphasized.  Mancini didn't make the mistake of trying to change Chucky into a sympathetic character, but found humor by introducing his girlfriend, who sets everything in motion for yet another resurrection.

Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) arranges for Chucky's (Brad Dourif) remains to be stolen from an evidence locker and returned to her.  After killing the police officer (Ben Bass) who helped her she takes the doll pieces, stitches it together with other parts and attempts the ritual to reawaken Chucky.  At first it appears it doesn't work, but she notices that Chucky has gone missing when her boyfriend Damien (Alexis Arquette) shows up.  Chucky kills Damien but also reveals that he had no intent on marrying Tiffany, resulting in her keeping him in a cage for her amusement.

Meanwhile, teenagers Jade (Katherine Heigl) and Jesse (Nick Stabile) are planning to run away together to escape her domineering uncle Warren (John Ritter), who also happens to be chief of police.  Chucky escapes and decides to punish Tiffany by transferring her soul into a doll as well.  Realizing they are both stuck unless they can retrieve an amulet from Ray's corpse, they trick the couple into transporting them to Hackensack.  Of course, the dolls can't behave, and Jade and Jesse are soon all over the news as a murderous couple.  Meanwhile, Chucky and Tiffany think they may have found the perfect bodies to switch into. 

Although the self-referencing seems a bit too much like Scream in places, much of it is still clever.  I'm sure it was director Ronny Yu who decided to put all the slasher artifacts in the evidence room at the beginning, which provides nice chuckle, but thankfully most of the humor comes from the interaction between Chucky and Tiffany.  Even if it's just doing voicework Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly work well together.  Same with Katherine Heigl and Nick Stabile.

I do have some issues with there being too much spectacle in some places, but it is more of a horror comedy, so going over the top helps in places.  It also gets a bit rushed toward the end.  Some of the CGI was a bit dodgy then and looks even worse now.  Still, the hotel room kill, the final fight in the cemetery and the little surprise that pops out at the end are nice touches.  While not making either character out to be good guys it does take the whole serial killer thing as a lark.  It also for some reason changes the location of Charles Lee Ray's death from Chicago to Hackensack. 

What Bride of Chucky does in the end is what it should.  It puts the series back on track and breaks it free from the rut it was inevitably aimed for.  The next movie would take the series into even more comedic territory, allowing for a bit more creativity and even leading up to a television series. 

Bride of Chucky (1998)
Time: 89 minutes
Starring: Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Katherine Heigle, Nick Stabile
Director: Ronny Yu



 

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