Bride of Chucky (1998)

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Within the realm of horror history and its big-wigs, the early 90s marked the end of a lot of it. 'Child's Play 3' wrapped up the Chucky trilogy, 'Freddy's Dead' and 'Jason Goes to Hell' killed off the two biggest horror names of the era (with a certain tease that seemed to last forever), and no one but the die-hard fans really cared anymore. That is until Wes Craven made 'Scream', added some fourth-wall comedy to the mix, made it self-aware, and slasher horror could pretty much be considered reborn after that.

It got to the point where self-aware horror and horror comedy seemed to be the future. Chucky was almost the perfect horror villain to resurrect for this era and resurrect him they did, this time with a partner in crime in the aptly named 'Bride of Chucky'. Funny story though, this was actually my introduction to Chucky, so I was probably expecting more of an actual creepy horror movie than the corniness that this ended up being. At the time, I simply wasn't a fan, but I also didn't fully grasp that it was always meant to be a self-aware horror comedy, even suggesting itself that it's dated through a bit of dialogue. Needless to say, my opinion on this has differed quite a bit since then.

Taking place approximately one month after the events of 'Child's Play 3' (at least according to Wiki), Andy is now taken out of the picture completely, and we're introduced to Chucky's old girlfriend, Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly). She gets her hands on the somehow not-so-exploded Chucky (Brad Douriff), stitches him together using spare doll parts, and through using a 'Voodoo for Dummies' book, resurrects Chucky. They reunite, but get into a fight immediately, which prompts Chucky to practice his Voodoo expertise by transferring Tiffany's soul to a doll of her own, and soon enough, the pair become a Bonnie and Clyde-like duo who are now both out for a human body to inhabit. 

Their best option seems to be a couple of dumb teenagers; Tiffany's neighbour, Jesse (Nick Stable) and his girlfriend, Jade (Katherine Heigl). As with so many of these love-interest situations in horror movies, we have the classic overprotective father figure (in this case an uncle played by John Ritter) who is part of a whole side story involving the couple. And, as things develop between Jesse and Jade, things also develop between Chucky and Tiffany and, well... as one can probably imagine, it does get pretty weird... like think 'Team America', but a bit less extreme humour and a bit more intimate... somehow.

But as weird as it gets, I have to admit that there's still a fair share of fun moments for horror fans, including the odd Easter egg. But there's still a lot of it that simply falls flat. Most of the comedy involved here has to do with the struggling relationship between Chucky and Tiffany, and at times things get pretty lame, and even a bit awkward (again, we have doll sex here, people). I also just have a personal pet peeve when it comes to comedy being based on the bickering of a couple, and that's where most of the laughs come from here, although it does take it to a dark level here, so I'll cut it a little slack.

As for what stands out, I think the Chucky and Tiffany dolls look pretty damn awesome in their execution. It may look a tad more cartoonish, but one must bear in mind that these are still dolls, so realism can only go so far with something like this. I also like the idea of Chucky having some war wounds Less creepy, sure, but more menacing and fitting for the direction they went with things. Really, Chucky and Tiff carried this movie, because the acting was... not great. It's an interesting situation when the two puppets from the film far outweigh the acting skills of everyone else, somehow including John Ritter. I'd sooner blame the actual direction, but it's not really an impressive film for any of these actors' resumes as a stand-out performance.

It's still a half-decent self-aware horror/comedy, constructed for those who are not only 'Child's Play' fans, but 'Child's Play' fans who fully realize that the whole idea is silly, and not entirely scary. It does a decent job of breaking the fourth wall ever so slightly, too, which is always fun. But one will have to keep in mind that this is where the series takes a turn. If you want classic 'Child's Play', you're out of luck here, because we go less on the horror and more on the self-aware humour. I think today, I could consider this and the next chapter in the series to be guilty pleasures, but this is the moment fans will divide into camps of "original trilogy" vs the newer "Chucky saga", which begins here.


3/5

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