When a formerly straight, serious horror film franchise begins turning to camp, it is typically a sign that the creators are running out of gas. That would seem to be the case with the Child's Play series based on the fourth entry, Bride of Chucky. After 3 previously straightforward films, Bride of Chucky disposes of any pretense that you should find anything here, well, horrific. Instead, we are treated to black comedy, one that isn't without it's moments, but on the whole a sign that perhaps it's time, like toys we have outgrown, Chucky should be put away.
Set years after the previous entry, Chucky's damaged remains are rescued from an evidence room by Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), who had been the girlfriend of Chucky's original human form, Charles Lee Ray. After performing a voodoo ritual, Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) returns to life, but Tiffany quickly realizes that her hopes of the two of them settling down seem iffy. Chucky doesn't take kindly to being treated like a plaything, so he offs Tiffany and transfers her soul into a female doll. Both then decide to return themselves to their human bodies, so they hitch a ride with eloping lovers Jesse (Nick Stabile) and Jade (a pre-Grey's Anatomy Katherine Heigl) who are headed to New Jersey, where Chucky and Tiffany have plans for the young couple.
Bride of Chucky, written by series creator Don Mancini, realizes that Chucky as a typical horror icon has past his sell by date, so instead elects to, a la Freddy Kruger, transform him into something of an anti- hero here, giving him, and Tiffany, a cadre of one liners to make him the star attraction of this entry. It wouldn't really take much, the plot involving the human characters of Jesse and Jade is about as limp and tacked on as you can get. Their framing device, and the ongoing plot thread that the killings being perpetrated by Chucky and Tiffany are believed to be performed by Jesse and Jade, are here because the filmmakers felt that they needed some kind of normal protagonists to play off Chucky. Stabile and Heigl get the job done, but nothing about Jesse or Jade is interesting, involving or memorable. When the film chooses to focus on them, it more or less grinds to a halt. All the good stuff is reserved for Chucky and Tiffany.
The film contains the usual material you would expect from a slasher film, with a host of gruesome, creative deaths that are fairly graphic. That doesn't translate to anything being scary, however. There isn't much in the way of suspense in Bride of Chucky, and because the lead human characters are so lifeless, we aren't really finding ourselves biting our nails as to what is going to happen to them next. The screenplay also surrounds the leads with some enormously goofy characters, from Jade's overprotective police officer uncle, played by John Ritter as if he was in one of his many sitcom roles, to a Marilyn Manson look-a-like with the rather tongue-in-cheek moniker Damien (Alexis Arquette) who lusts after Tiffany.
Bride of Chucky isn't exactly unenjoyable. Many of the moments involving Chucky and Tiffany are funny, and the film pokes fun both at itself and other horror films more than once. Mancini obviously knew what he was doing when he wrote Bride of Chucky, nothing here seems unintentional, so on the one hand I have to give him a degree of credit for going for the gusto with some of the humorous elements of Bride of Chucky. That doesn't translate to good movie, horror, comedy, or otherwise, perhaps a passable one, but nothing I would see myself revisiting in the future. While Hollywood is always good at continuously mining properties, Chucky is one that, this time, should probably stay buried.
Set years after the previous entry, Chucky's damaged remains are rescued from an evidence room by Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), who had been the girlfriend of Chucky's original human form, Charles Lee Ray. After performing a voodoo ritual, Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) returns to life, but Tiffany quickly realizes that her hopes of the two of them settling down seem iffy. Chucky doesn't take kindly to being treated like a plaything, so he offs Tiffany and transfers her soul into a female doll. Both then decide to return themselves to their human bodies, so they hitch a ride with eloping lovers Jesse (Nick Stabile) and Jade (a pre-Grey's Anatomy Katherine Heigl) who are headed to New Jersey, where Chucky and Tiffany have plans for the young couple.
Bride of Chucky, written by series creator Don Mancini, realizes that Chucky as a typical horror icon has past his sell by date, so instead elects to, a la Freddy Kruger, transform him into something of an anti- hero here, giving him, and Tiffany, a cadre of one liners to make him the star attraction of this entry. It wouldn't really take much, the plot involving the human characters of Jesse and Jade is about as limp and tacked on as you can get. Their framing device, and the ongoing plot thread that the killings being perpetrated by Chucky and Tiffany are believed to be performed by Jesse and Jade, are here because the filmmakers felt that they needed some kind of normal protagonists to play off Chucky. Stabile and Heigl get the job done, but nothing about Jesse or Jade is interesting, involving or memorable. When the film chooses to focus on them, it more or less grinds to a halt. All the good stuff is reserved for Chucky and Tiffany.
The film contains the usual material you would expect from a slasher film, with a host of gruesome, creative deaths that are fairly graphic. That doesn't translate to anything being scary, however. There isn't much in the way of suspense in Bride of Chucky, and because the lead human characters are so lifeless, we aren't really finding ourselves biting our nails as to what is going to happen to them next. The screenplay also surrounds the leads with some enormously goofy characters, from Jade's overprotective police officer uncle, played by John Ritter as if he was in one of his many sitcom roles, to a Marilyn Manson look-a-like with the rather tongue-in-cheek moniker Damien (Alexis Arquette) who lusts after Tiffany.
Bride of Chucky isn't exactly unenjoyable. Many of the moments involving Chucky and Tiffany are funny, and the film pokes fun both at itself and other horror films more than once. Mancini obviously knew what he was doing when he wrote Bride of Chucky, nothing here seems unintentional, so on the one hand I have to give him a degree of credit for going for the gusto with some of the humorous elements of Bride of Chucky. That doesn't translate to good movie, horror, comedy, or otherwise, perhaps a passable one, but nothing I would see myself revisiting in the future. While Hollywood is always good at continuously mining properties, Chucky is one that, this time, should probably stay buried.