Bride of Chucky review.
25 years ago, the Child’s Play series reinvented itself. Delivering one of the best post-Scream takes on an existing property and propelling the character to success that is ongoing to this day.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Bride of Chucky
Directed by Ronny Yu
Written by Don Mancini
Starring Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Katherine Heigl, Nick Stabile, Gordon Michael Woolvett, Lawrence Dane and John Ritter
Bride of Chucky Review
The post-Scream era was a wild time in horror. Every slasher movie that came out felt compelled to include some of the elements that made that instant classic a hit. For most, that meant casting their film with fresh young faces you’d be more inclined to find on the WB network than a classic slasher film. For some, it meant attempts at witticisms and clever commentary that mostly fell flat. Michael Myers and Laurie Strode returned in a good Scream influenced installment with Halloween H20. Jason Voorhees was cast into space with a cringeworthy script shoehorning in awkward humor. Chucky was completely reinvented into a style that remains a success to this very day.
There are, of course, some good post-Scream slasher movies. There are far more terrible ones…but it isn’t all a loss. No franchise delivered a 180 as successful as the former Child’s Play. Bride of Chucky is arguably a series high for the still running franchise. At the very least…it sits on par with the great first two entries. It’s almost certainly the most interesting movie of the group. As the TV series enters its third season…you’ll find it has much more in common with Bride than it does its original installments. That’s not an accident. While Child’s Play nails the first two movies…by the third it becomes clear that diminishing returns were setting in. The reinvention seen in Bride of Chucky allows the story to go anywhere and say anything.
That doesn’t mean that everything the series did after Bride worked. Direct sequel Seed of Chucky doesn’t live up to it right out of the gate. The series even tried a back-to-basics approach in Curse of Chucky…but quickly discovered that it needed the unhinged comedic tone back with Cult of Chucky. The current series serves as a direct continuation of Cult’s sensibilities. But it all traces back to 25 years ago. Don Mancini took his property in a new direction…complete with fresh young faces and attempts at witticisms and clever commentary. The difference being…it fit the world of Chucky like a glove.
Which makes perfect sense. Even at its most subdued Child’s Play was a series about a serial killer inhabiting a child’s doll with mystical voodoo. Mancini always understood that comedy was an inherent part of the story. Chucky, voiced by the invaluable Brad Dourif, has always been a pint sized motormouth full of dark humor and violence. Bride of Chucky makes the entire plane out of the black box, so to speak. Instead of watching a possessed doll infiltrate grounded reality no different than our own…he runs rampant in a world as colorful and wild as he is himself.
The first step to creating a world of Chucky is, of course, to give him a mate. Taking cues from James Whale’s masterpiece so obvious that it borrows both the name and footage from the 1935 classic, Bride of Chucky introduces us to Tiffany. A game changing element played to perfection by Jennifer Tilly. Tilly’s excellence cannot be understated. The series has always been able to rely on Dourif’s involvement. Bride of Chucky finds someone who can play at his level.
There is a plot in Bride of Chucky…but it is incredible to find how little that matters. 25 years later you’ll remember the characters. Chucky and Tiffany are the perfect match. Dourif and Tilly provide non-stop laughter and derangement. If you haven’t seen the film in a while, I am pleased to report that it holds up far better than most slashers of its era. Comedic sensibilities may change, effects may improve…but a great performance is timeless. Two great performances doubly so.
Bride of Chucky is a movie about reinvention. It opens with shots of famous slasher artifacts (Freddy’s glove, Jason’s Mask, Leatherface’s chainsaw, Michael Myers’ mask) residing in a police evidence locker. Chucky is there too. An obvious comment on the state of these franchises in 1998. Fittingly…Chucky gets out of lockdown. Of those five industry standards locked up…one could argue only Chucky and Michael Myers have been freed in the quarter century that followed. We’d see Freddy two more times…one of which was a terrible remake. Jason would hit space, fight Freddy, and get a remake…the latter two of which are decent. The Texas Chainsaw series delivered nothing better than a decent and damning remake. Michael Myers would find his successes the more he didn’t mess with his formula. Only Chucky saw a complete and successful modern reinvention.
Mancini is the biggest reason for that. As the consistent creative force behind the property, he has been able to indulge his wildest impulses while remaining true to his own vision. A clear lesson in creative autonomy over passing film rights around to whoever says yes. With Bride of Chucky he aims for all out comedy. This time, Chucky and Tiffany are the main characters. We see more of the movie from their perspective than any of the major slasher series had done before. They provide running commentary on their deadly hijinks and relegate the usual teen heroes to the backseat. The basic story is still there…we’re just seeing it from a much more interesting angle.
The classic slasher structure sees innocent young people trying to ward off the increasing encroachment of an evil entity. Bride of Chucky retains that set-up…but it’s reaction shots and dialog are reserved for the villains more than any movie to date. This is Chucky and Tiffany’s movie. The other characters are just a means to an end. As such…kills previously meant to shake up the story become fun escapades that we are meant to enjoy. Rooting for the killer isn’t a new concept in 1998…Jason became the star of his series long before that. But purposefully placing the point of view with them as Mancini does here…a novel concept that works to this day.
The dolls have seen a major upgrade in the decade since Charles Lee Ray damballa’d his way into a Good Guy. Chucky has never looked better than he does in Bride of Chucky. Sewn together and stitched up from his multiple beatings…he looks incredible. Tiffany cuts an instantly iconic image with her dyed hair and leather jacket covered wedding dress. You couldn’t design cooler dolls if you tried. At least I assume…since it’s 25 years later and they’ve tried multiple times. Having Dourif and Tilly bringing them to life doesn’t hurt either.
If there is one thing to take away from Bride of Chucky it’s what a little reinvention can do for a series. For every time Jason Voorhees was put into a more ridiculous scenario for no good reason…I’d almost given up hope that change could be good in the slasher genre. Bride of Chucky walks through the door Scream opened and uses then modern expectations to completely change the perspective of itself. Wisecracks about previous adventures and current situations scratch the meta-commentary itch…but in a purely Chucky kind of way. That’s just window dressing, however. The real story is how Mancini embraces what makes the Chucky character work…and how he extrapolates that to the entire world around him.
Scare Value
The radical shift in tone looks good on Bride of Chucky even 25 years later. It’s a similar style to what we see to this day in the Chucky tv series. A reinvention of a franchise with serious legs…and serious laughs. Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly are magic together. Tilly’s addition to the franchise is one of the best moves it has ever made. This is a movie that holds up…and stands as the reason the character persists 25 years later.
4/5
Bride of Chucky Links
Streaming on Peacock
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu and Amazon
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
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