Bride of Chucky



Bride of Chucky is a 1998 American black comedy slasher film written by Don Mancini and directed by Ronny Yu. It is fourth installment in the Child's Play franchise. The film stars Jennifer Tilly as the voice of Tiffany, Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky, John Ritter, Katherine Heigl, and Nick Stabile.

Unlike the first three films, Bride of Chucky takes a markedly humorous turn and often into self-referential parody. It does not continue the concept of a child in possession of the doll, but focuses mainly on Chucky.

The film was released on October 16, 1998, and grossed $50.7 million worldwide on a budget of $25 million. It was followed by Seed of Chucky (2004).

Plot
Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly), girlfriend and accomplice of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), bribes a police officer into giving her the dismembered children's doll parts from an evidence locker then murders him. Believing that Ray's soul still inhabits the doll, Tiffany crudely stitches Chucky back together and reenacts the voodoo ritual which had instilled Ray's soul inside the doll ten years ago. Though her incantations initially fail, Chucky unexpectedly comes alive and smothers Tiffany's goth admirer Damien (Alexis Arquette) to death with a pillow as Tiffany watches in excitement.

Hoping to pick up where they left off, Tiffany presents Chucky with a diamond ring which he had left for her the night he was killed. Upon realizing that Tiffany believed the gift to be an engagement ring, Chucky explains that he stole it from one of his wealthier victims when he was a notorious human serial killer. Enraged and heartbroken, Tiffany punishes Chucky by locking him in a playpen. Later, she gives him a talking doll in a wedding dress to make fun of him.

Chucky escapes the playpen and murders Tiffany by pushing a television set into her bathtub and electrocuting her. He then transports her soul into the bride doll. Chucky reveals his plan to Tiffany that 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 (Katherine Heigl). Tiffany sends Jesse a message asking him to take the two dolls to Hackensack, New Jersey, in exchange for money. Eager to elope with his girlfriend, Jade, and having been foiled in the past by her strict and possessive uncle, Chief Warren Kincaid (John Ritter), Jesse accepts the offer.

Warren plants a bag of marijuana in Jesse's van to frame him. To stop him sabotaging their plan, Chucky and Tiffany rig a trap which embeds several nails into Warren's face, then hide his body. Jesse and Jade return and begin their trip. The two are then pulled over by Officer Norton, who searches Jesse's car and finds the marijuana. As he goes back to his patrol car to report it, Chucky sneaks over to the officer's squad car, stuffs a wadded-up shirt into the gas tank, and lights it on fire, killing Norton in the process. Witnessing the explosion, 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, much to the amusement of Chucky and Tiffany. Despite their trust issues, Jesse and Jade get married. Warren, who is still alive, tries to get away, but Chucky and Tiffany kill him. While Jesse and Jade are at a hotel, a con artist couple steals Jesse's money. As the criminals make love in their room, Tiffany murders the con artist couple by throwing a champagne bottle to the mirror ceiling above the couple and glass shards slices them to pieces and bursting open the water bed. An astonished Chucky grabs the ring from the disembodied finger and instantly proposes to Tiffany, and the dolls begin to make love.

The following morning, the women go to the room to clean only to find the couple's bodies all stabbed with glass, causing Jesse and Jade to drive away with their friend and David, who knew about their plan to elope and about the recent murders. David reveals that Jesse and Jade are the main suspects for all of the deaths and concludes that they are both wrong; upon realizing their misunderstanding, Jesse and Jade resolve their differences. Just as Jesse and Jade realize that they are innocent, David finds Warren's dead body in the trunk and confronts them. The dolls then come alive and hold them hostage with guns, forcing them to keep driving. David alerts a police officer and is instantly killed by an oncoming truck. Horrified, Jesse and Jade drive away with the dolls.

Chucky and Tiffany reveal their plan to Jesse and Jade. They then direct Jesse to steal a mobile home to use as a new vehicle to evade the police. Tiffany goes to bake cookies after opening the door to show the bodies of the elderly couple in on the toilet. Chucky orders Tiffany to wash dishes, causing a fight between Tiffany and Chucky to ensue. Jade locks Tiffany into an oven, while Jesse pushes Chucky out the window. Chucky shoots at Jesse, causing the mobile home to run off the road and into a ditch. Chucky forces Jade at gunpoint to take him to his grave site, while Jesse takes the charred Tiffany to follow them. Chucky orders Jade to open the casket and take the amulet, which she does. 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 as a distraction and stabs him in the back with his own knife, saying the two "belong dead". Tiffany collapses after being stabbed in the heart. Jesse then knocks Chucky into his own grave with a shovel. A private investigator Lt. Preston (Lawrence Dane) arrives and witnesses the scene and holds them at gunpoint. But when he sees Chucky walking around in the grave, Jade grabs Lt. Preston’s gun and shoots Chucky in the chest, killing him after revealing he'll be resurrected soon.

After contacting the police about the truth, Lt. Preston sends the couple on their way home. As he inspects Tiffany’s unconscious body, Tiffany springs awake and starts screaming, giving birth to a baby doll before finally dying. The baby doll then arises to attack Lt. Preston. Lt. Preston's fate is unknown as the screen cuts to black and the closing credits roll.

Cast

 * Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany Valentine
 * Pamela Cveticanin performed the puppetry of Tiffany
 * Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky
 * Brock Winkless performed the puppetry of Chucky
 * Katherine Heigl as Jade Kincaid
 * Nick Stabile as Jesse Miller
 * John Ritter as Chief Warren Kincaid
 * Alexis Arquette as Howard Fitzwater / Damien Baylock
 * Gordon Michael Woolvett as David Collins
 * Lawrence Dane as Lt. Horace Preston
 * Michael Louis Johnson as Officer "Needlenose" Norton
 * James Gallanders as Russ
 * Janet Kidder as Diane
 * Vince Corazza as Officer Robert Bailey
 * Kathy Najimy as Motel Maid

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. 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. Mancini claims to have decided to create the character of Tiffany after seeing a copy of Bride of Frankenstein in a video store. Jennifer Tilly was cast as the character largely due to her role in Bound.

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.

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.

Reception
The film holds a 46% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 37 reviews and an average rating of 5.35/10. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequels
The film was followed by Seed of Chucky in 2004, Curse of Chucky in 2013 and Cult of Chucky in 2017.

Popular culture references

 * Freddy Krueger's glove from A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jason Voorhees's mask from Friday the 13th, Michael Myers's mask from Halloween, and Leatherface's chainsaw from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre appear in the film during a thunderstorm.
 * Chucky remarks, "Now why does this look so familiar?" at the death of police chief Warren, in reference to the Cenobite Pinhead.