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Bride of Chucky

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Bride of Chucky
File:Bride of Chucky DVD Cover.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRonny Yu
Written byDon Mancini
Based onCharacters
by Don Mancini
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPeter Pau
Edited by
  • Randy Bricker
  • David Wu
Music byGraeme Revell
Production
company
David Kirschner Productions[1]
Distributed byUniversal Pictures[1]
Release date
  • October 16, 1998 (1998-10-16)
Running time
89 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[2]
Box office$50.7 million[2]

Bride of Chucky is a 1998 American black comedy slasher film written by Don Mancini and directed by Ronny Yu. The fourth installment in the Child's Play franchise, it stars Jennifer Tilly as the voice of Tiffany, Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky, John Ritter, Katherine Heigl, and Nick Stabile.[3] Unlike the first three films, Bride of Chucky takes a markedly humorous turn towards self-referential parody. It also departs from the Andy Barclay storyline of the first three films, focusing mainly on series villain Chucky, a doll possessed by a serial killer, and his former lover and accomplice Tiffany, whose soul is also transferred into a doll.

Bride of Chucky was released on October 16, 1998. It grossed $50.7 million worldwide on a budget of $25 million,[4] and received mixed reviews from critics. It was followed by Seed of Chucky, released in 2004.[5]

Plot

Tiffany Valentine, a former lover and accomplice of serial killer Charles Lee Ray, bribes a police officer into giving her the dismembered parts of a children's doll—which Ray's soul inhabited—from an evidence locker then murders him. Believing that Ray's soul still inhabits the doll, Tiffany stitches the doll, Chucky, back together and reenacts the voodoo ritual which had instilled Ray's soul inside the doll ten years prior. Though her incantations initially fail, Chucky comes alive and smothers Tiffany's goth admirer Damien to death with a pillow as Tiffany watches in excitement.

Tiffany presents Chucky with a ring he had left behind the night he was killed, which she believed to be an engagement ring. Chucky explains that he simply stole it from one of his victims, and was never intent on marrying Tiffany. Enraged and heartbroken, Tiffany locks Chucky in a playpen, and later taunts him with a doll wearing a wedding dress. Chucky escapes the playpen and murders Tiffany by electrocuting her in a bathtub. He then transports her soul into the bride doll, and says they must retrieve a magical amulet that was buried with Ray's body in order to transfer their souls into the bodies of Tiffany's neighbor Jesse and his girlfriend Jade. Tiffany calls Jesse and asks him to take the two dolls to Hackensack, New Jersey, where Ray's body is buried, in exchange for money. Eager to elope with his girlfriend, Jade, Jesse accepts the offer. Jade's strict uncle, Chief Warren Kincaid, plants a bag of marijuana in Jesse's van to frame him. Chucky and Tiffany rig a trap which embeds several nails into Warren's face, then hide his body within the van.

Jesse and Jade begin their trip. The two are pulled over by Officer Norton, who finds the marijuana in Jesse's van. After Norton returns to his patrol car to report it, Chucky stuffs a shirt into the car's gas tank and lights it on fire. The car explodes with Norton inside, and Jesse and Jade flee the scene. They both begin to suspect that one of them might have caused the incident and begin to trust each other less. Despite their trust issues, Jesse and Jade get married. While at a hotel, a couple steals Jesse's money. As the couple have sex in their room, Tiffany murders them by causing them to be impaled by glass shards. Seeing this, Chucky proposes to Tiffany, and the two have sex. The following morning, Jesse and Jade flee with their friend David, who came to the hotel after they both called him separately the previous night, worried the other might be the killer.

David informs Jesse and Jade that they are the primary suspects for the deaths, but says he believes them to both be innocent. However, upon finding Warren's dead body, David holds them at gunpoint and alerts a nearby police officer. The dolls come alive, causing David to back onto the highway, where he is run over. Jesse and Jade drive away with the dolls, who reveal their plan. They steal a mobile home to evade the police. Jesse and Jade instigate a fight between Chucky and Tiffany; in the commotion, Jade locks Tiffany into an oven, Jesse pushes Chucky out the window, and the mobile home crashes into a ditch. Chucky forces Jade to take him to his gravesite, while Jesse follows with Tiffany. Obeying Chucky's orders, Jade retrieves the amulet from the casket. Jesse then appears with Tiffany and they trade hostages, but Chucky throws a knife into Jesse's back, and ties up the couple for the ritual.

As Chucky begins the incantation, Tiffany kisses him and stabs him with his knife. A battle ensues, and Tiffany collapses after being stabbed in the heart. Jesse knocks Chucky into his own grave with a shovel. Private investigator Lt. Preston arrives and sees Chucky, walking and talking in the grave. Jade grabs Preston's gun and shoots Chucky several times in the chest. After contacting the police and declaring the teens innocent, Preston sends the couple on their way home. As he inspects Tiffany's body, Tiffany springs awake and starts screaming, giving birth to a baby doll which attacks Preston.

Cast

Live action

Lead Puppeteers

Puppeteers

  • Tony Acosta, Jr.
  • Evan Brainard
  • Stephen Brathwaite
  • Sam de la Torre
  • Brendan McMurray
  • Frank Meschkuleit
  • David Miner, Jr.
  • John Pattison
  • Anton Rupprecht
  • Johnnie Spence
  • Rob Stefaniuk
  • Ron Stefaniuk
  • Fred Stinson
  • Mario Torres, Jr.
  • Garth Winkless

Production

After the release of Child's Play 3, Don Mancini and David Kirschner decided that the series required a new direction, and decided against returning the character of Andy Barclay.[7] Work on the film began in 1996, inspired by the release of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Ronny Yu was hired to direct the film after Kirschner and Mancini were impressed by his film The Bride with White Hair, and accepted in exchange for greater creative freedom and the ability to hire his collaborators Peter Pau and David Wu from Hong Kong.[8][9] Mancini claims to have decided to create the character of Tiffany after seeing a copy of Bride of Frankenstein in a video store.[9] Jennifer Tilly was cast as the character largely due to her role in Bound.[10]

Soundtrack

  1. Blondie - "Call Me"
  2. Rob Zombie - "Living Dead Girl"
  3. The Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - "Boogie King"
  4. White Zombie - "Thunder Kiss '65"
  5. Coal Chamber - "Blisters"
  6. Monster Magnet - "See You in Hell"
  7. Judas Priest - "Blood Stained"
  8. Type O Negative - "Love You to Death"
  9. Slayer - "Human Disease"
  10. Stabbing Westward - "So Wrong"
  11. Powerman 5000 - "The Son of X-51"
  12. Bruce Dickinson - "Trumpets of Jericho"
  13. Static-X - "Bled for Days"
  14. Motörhead - "Love for Sale"
  15. Kidneythieves - "Crazy"
  16. Graeme Revell - "We Belong Dead"

Release

Bride of Chucky was released in North America on October 16, 1998, and grossed $11.8 million on its opening weekend. It has a total North American gross of $32.4 million and another $18.3 million internationally. It is the most grossed film of the Chucky franchise and the second most financially successful Chucky film in the US.[11]

To promote the film, Chucky made an appearance on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro. He interrupted a promo between Gene Okerlund and Rick Steiner and, in addition to promoting the film, mentioned that he was hoping for Scott Steiner to win an upcoming match between the brothers.[citation needed]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Bride of Chucky is devoid of any fright and the franchise has become tiresomely self-parodic, although horror fans may find some pleasure in this fourth entry's camp factor."[12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[13]

Lawrence Van Gelder, writing for The New York Times, gave the film a mostly negative review, writing that "the novelty of a bloody horror film built around a malevolent doll carrying the soul of a serial killer has worn thin."[14] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of "D", calling it an "upchucking of cartoonish gore" that "leans heavily on self-referential gags".[15] Xan Brooks of The Independent gave the film a score of two out of five, writing: "Bride of Chucky strings together a series of humorous asides and knee-jerk shock tactics."[16]

The Los Angeles Times' John Anderson wrote that "Ronny Yu milks the utter inanity of Chucky's existence for all it's worth and knows the conventions of the genre well enough that horror fans should feel total gratification--in the levels of both mayhem and grotesque humor."[17] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "No one will confuse Bride of Chucky with a classic like Bride of Frankenstein, but anyone looking for nasty laughs will be delighted."[18] Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle gave the film a score of three-and-a-half out of five stars; he commended its visuals and "witty, pithy script", and wrote: "this fourth entry in the killer doll franchise is by far and away the best, a surprisingly affecting tale of pint-sized love and dismemberment that's remarkably well-done."[19]

Awards

List of awards and nominations
Award Category Winner/Nominee Result
Saturn Award Best Horror Film Bride of Chucky Nominated
Best Actress Jennifer Tilly Nominated
Best Writer Don Mancini Nominated
Fantafestival Best Actress Jennifer Tilly Won
Best Special Effects Bride of Chucky Won
Gérardmer Film Festival Special Jury Prize Ronny Yu Won
MTV Movie Awards Best Villain Chucky Nominated

Sequels

The film was followed by Seed of Chucky in 2004, Curse of Chucky in 2013, Cult of Chucky in 2017, and the TV series Chucky in 2021.

References

  1. ^ a b "Bride of Chucky (1998)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Bride of Chucky (1998) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
  3. ^ "Bride of Chucky". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  4. ^ Bride of Chucky, retrieved 2020-01-31
  5. ^ Leydon J. (2004). "Seed of Chucky (Film Review)". Daily Variety. v. 285, n. 32, p. 8.
  6. ^ Cheng, Cheryl (2015-07-30). "N. Brock Winkless IV, the Puppeteer of Chucky in 'Child's Play,' Dies at 56". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
  7. ^ Donato, Matt (2018-10-30). "Bride of Chucky 20 years later: Don Mancini looks back at one of horror's boldest sequels". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 2019-04-27.
  8. ^ Sterngold, James (1998-10-09). "At the Movies; On Revealing A Hidden Talent". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-27.
  9. ^ a b "Film > Bride Of Chucky – About The Production | Katherine Heigl Official Website". Retrieved 2019-04-27.
  10. ^ "How "Child's Play" Became The Funniest, Most Reliably Surprising, And Queer Slasher Series". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2019-04-27.
  11. ^ "Child's Play Movies at the Box Office - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
  12. ^ "Bride of Chucky (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  13. ^ "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  14. ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (October 17, 1998). "'Bride of Chucky': Carrying a Torch for a Malevolent Doll". The New York Times. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  15. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (October 30, 1998). "Bride of Chucky (1998) - Movie Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  16. ^ "Bride of Chucky - Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  17. ^ Anderson, John (October 19, 1998). "Chucky's Baaaaack and Finds a Real Doll". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  18. ^ LaSalle, Mick (October 17, 1998). "A Match Made in Hell / 'Bride of Chucky' delivers nasty laughs, clever plot". SFGate. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  19. ^ Savlov, Marc (October 23, 1998). "Bride of Chucky - Movie Review". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
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