Bride of Chucky (1998)

Just so...so bad

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Chucky hooks up with another murderous doll, the bridal gown-clad Tiffany, for a Route 66 murder spree with their unwitting hosts, two eloping high-school graduates. Bride of Chucky literally puts the Franchise to a distant and quite big downfall, the previous 3 movies although dumb and pretty bad themselves? Had some good moments for sure but this? It was straight up goofy comedy and the whole Chucky have a girlfriend? Was damn stupid to begin with. If you wanna see a good horror movie? Go and watch the first Halloween it's way better. (0/10)

This 1998 horror sequel stars Jennifer Tilly, Katherine Heigl, Nick Stabile, John Ritter and Brad Dourif. In this installment, we meet Chucky's girlfriend, Tiffany (Tilly) who is also a serial killer and she revives Chucky. Soon, Chucky makes her like him and plans to find an amulet that's buried with his corpse. They sneak a ride with 2 teen lovers, Jesse (Stabile) and Jade (Heigl) who plan to elope. Along the way, Chucky and Tiffany bring carnage and decide to get married too. The late, Ritter plays Jade's uncle, Warren who is a police chief and Dourif returns to voice Chucky. This isn't great, but watchable and Tilly and Dourif are the only good things about it in my opinion.

Charles Lee Ray is back because his girlfriend Tiffany revived him, once again in the form of Chuck. Shortly after the couple's reunion, Chucky kills her and brings her back in the form of a girl's bridal doll. The two then embark on a killing spree en route to dig up Ray's corpse, which was buried with a Satanic voodoo charm capable of bringing back the dead......I'm assuming that this was only made because of Scream making horror movies cool again, and also because of the success of Halloween H2O. The Child's Play franchise wasn't the best trilogy in the world, but Chucky was so iconic, it was inevitable that he would 'come out to play' once again, because like all cinematic ghouls, you just can't keep a good villain down.And like Part's two and three, it's all played for laughs, and if your looking for something scary, look elsewhere, because this, like Scream is all about referencing different horror films, and seeing how far they can push the gore factor.The concept of Chucky finally getting a 'mate' is a foolproof concept, plus, the follow on almost writes itself because of the films plot.So the film's narrative is basically a road trip, the dolls kidnap a teen couple, so they can take them to the site of the resurrection, and along the way, carnage ensues Mickey and Mallory style.The horror references can often be quite subtle, and in some instances, literally in your face, but it's fun to spot them.When the writers realise that the concept wears thin after the middle of the second act, their escape clause is to have the dolls swear a lot and and argue, and there is one particular scene that rivals Team America for sheer 'was there any need for that?' audacity of the narrative.Unfortunalty, it's not as clever as what it thinks it is, and runs out of steam during the third act, because you can only find a profane doll hilarious for so long.So all in all, it's perfectly fine, but should have been so much more.And a few scares wouldn't have gone a miss...

After pretty definitely dying off in the early 90's due to audience apathy and a string of borderline-flops, the slasher-film genre was revitalized thanks to master director Wes Craven's wonderful and subversive self-aware 1996 horror-comedy "Scream." Realizing that slasher horror could be "hip" and "cool" again with the postmodern twist that "Scream" added to spice-up its storyline, it quickly became in-vogue for studios and filmmakers to add a self-satirical meta angle to many new horror features released in its wake. And one of the most successful films to implement this new leaning towards comedy was certainly 1998's delightful and twisted "Bride of Chucky"- the fourth film in the popular cult-series "Child's Play."Directed by the fantastic Ronny Yu from a script by "Child's Play" series creator Don Mancini, "Bride of Chucky" might just be the best film of the entire franchise. After the somewhat disastrous third entry made seven years prior, the series sort-of imploded and there was a time where there was doubt we'd ever even see Chucky on the big screen again. Thankfully, the wait was worth it. "Bride of Chucky" is fantastically entertaining, and the newfound self-aware humor adds a lot to the film. By that time, audiences had wised up to the formula of the series and another bland retread would have fallen flat. By giving us such a radical and humorous departure, Mancini and Yu injected some much-need fresh blood into the "Chucky" experience. It was hilarious. It was unexpected. And it was exactly what Chucky needed at the time to win back audiences who had grown tired of his old antics by the time the third film had rolled out.Jennifer Tilly stars as Tiffany, the former lover of the infamous "Lakeshore Strangler" Charles Lee Ray- who had transferred his soul into a children's doll known as Chucky. (Voiced by Brad Dourif) Longing to be reunited with her lost love, she manages to get her hands on the mangled corpse of Chucky and re-assembles him, bringing him back to life with a copy of "Voodoo for Dummies." While their reunion goes well at first, Tiffany finds herself crestfallen when she learns that Chucky never intended to marry her, and she betrays him by locking him in a playpen. Escaping, Chucky murders his former flame and transfers her soul into a female doll in a twisted bid for vengeance. Now, the angry couple must figure out a way to get their souls into new human hosts once and for all... and they have their eyes set on Tiffany's trailer-park neighbor Jesse (Nick Stabile) and his girlfriend Jade. (A pre-fame Katherine Heigl)The fun of the film really lays in the shockingly sweet (in a twisted way) romance of Chucky and Tiffany. It's almost a demented parody of romantic comedies, and they have absolutely remarkable chemistry together. Dourif as always is a blast as Chucky, and it's a ton of fun seeing him saddled with a romantic interest in Tilly's Tiffany, as they repeatedly get on each-other's nerves, but also do have some genuinely cute moments together. It adds a lot of flavor and character to the proceedings seeing them bonding over butchering innocent victims. Stabile and Heigl are also a lot of fun as our somewhat hapless protagonists (who find themselves blamed for the murders committed by the demonic dolls), and there's also a really fun supporting performance by the late and great John Ritter as Jade's strict police-chief uncle who raised her in an oppressive environment. The cast is just a blast.Mancini's script is tight, concise and never fails do deliver laughs with each scene. He also throws in the occasional shock and scare to keep horror fans happy. I've always admired how daring Mancini is with his characters, and he's never afraid to take a risk with the material, whether it works (as it does here) or not. ("Seed of Chucky" being a good example of him going a bit too far.) Ronny Yu is a really great visual artist, and his completely insane sensibilities perfectly compliment the material, as he relishes in delivering gags and gore by the boat-load. I also really admired the musical score by the talented composer Graeme Revell, who had previously delivered a Gothic and operatic score in the series' second installment. Revell's music this time around is a bit more subdued, but works perfectly for the devilish romance between our murderous leads, and I think it's among his best work.There's really not much I can say to the detriment of "Bride of Chucky", besides some minor nitpicks I had with a few of the scares and kills. It's just a fun, entertaining and often strangely adorable film, and I think it still stands tall as one of the best of the series. It might not have been the film that fans were expecting when they found out Chucky was coming back for a fourth installment... but it was the film the series needed at the time to reinvigorate audience interest and evolve as a legitimate franchise.As a horror fan, I have to give "Bride of Chucky" a near-perfect 9 out of 10.