Bride of Chucky

Bride of Chucky
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ronny Yu
Produced by	David Kirschner Grace Gilroy Don Mancini
Written by	Don Mancini
Starring	Jennifer Tilly Brad Dourif Katherine Heigl Nick Stabile Alexis Arquette Gordon Michael Woolvett John Ritter
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	Peter Pau
Editing by	Randy Bricker David Wu
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	October 16, 1998 (1998-10-16)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25,000,000
Box office	$50,692,188

Bride of Chucky (also known as Child's Play 4: Bride of Chucky) is a 1998 American comedy horror film directed by Hong Kong director Ronny Yu. It is the fourth installment of the Child's Play series. The film stars Jennifer Tilly (who plays and voices the titular character Tiffany) and Brad Dourif (who voices Chucky). This movie co-stars John Ritter, Katherine Heigl, and Nick Stabile. The music score is composed by Graeme Revell (who previously did the music for Child's Play 2).

Bride of Chucky marks the point where the series takes a more humorous turn and often into self-referential parody. But most importantly, it doesn't continue on with the concept of a child victim in possession of the doll thus the absence of Child's Play in the title. Contrary to the previous three films, the violence in Bride of Chucky is punctuated by humor to deflate the macabre visuals. The film follows the events of the previous films continuity-wise, but not tonally or in a continuation of those films' overall plot (where Chucky pursued the character Andy Barclay). This film also marks Chucky's new permanent look, a more frightening appearance in which his face is covered in scars following his fate in Child's Play 3.

The film features references to the A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Hellraiser, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises, implying that they all occur in the same universe. The poster of the film also parodies that of Scream 2.

Plot

The film is set just one month after the events of Child's Play 3. Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), a former lover and accomplice of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (voice of Brad Dourif), acquires Chucky's remains (Chucky was chopped up at the end of Child's Play 3) after bribing and later murdering a police officer who removed the dismembered "Good Guy" doll parts from an evidence locker by slashing his throat. Believing Ray's soul to still be inhabiting the doll, Tiffany crudely stitches Chucky back together and reenacts the voodoo ritual which instilled Ray inside the doll a decade ago.

Though her chants initially fail to produce results, Chucky unexpectedly springs to life and kills Tiffany's goth-wannabe admirer, Damien (Alexis Arquette), torturing him by ripping off his labret piercing while his hands and feet are cuffed, and suffocating him with a pillow while Tiffany watches with excitement. Tiffany and Chucky then get into an argument because Tiffany believed Chucky wished to marry her. Upon learning he had no intention of doing so, Tiffany throws him in a playpen she built for a nursery and locks him in it. She then later gives him another doll in a wedding dress with a real diamond ring to mock him. While Tiffany is watching TV while taking a bath, Chucky escapes by cutting through the wood of the play pen with the diamond part of the ring and kills her by pushing the TV into the bath. Then, using the same voodoo spell, Chucky gains further revenge against Tiffany by transferring her soul into a female doll so she could feel what Chucky went through as a living doll. Chucky, who is still intent on becoming human again, concocts a plan with Tiffany to retrieve an amulet that was buried with Ray's body and use the bodies of Tiffany's neighbor Jesse (Nick Stabile) and his girlfriend Jade (Katherine Heigl) as a means to return to their normal lives.

Tiffany sends Jesse a message asking him to take the two dolls to New Jersey in exchange for cash. Jesse convinces Jade to go with him and helps her pack. Meanwhile, Jade's police-officer uncle Warren (John Ritter) breaks into Jesse's car and plants a bag of marijuana to frame Jesse, whom he dislikes. Afraid of him ruining their plans, Chucky and Tiffany kill him by setting up an airbag to launch nails into his face. After the dolls hide the body under the backseat, Jesse and Jade return and begin their trip.

Outside a convenience store, they are pulled over by Officer Norton, who asks to search Jesse's car for the planted drugs. After he finds it, he goes to his car to report to Warren. During this time, Chucky crawls over and shoves a cloth into Norton's gas tank and lights it. Norton is killed when his car explodes and, seeing the explosion, Jesse and Jade flee the scene. Soon, they stop at a wedding chapel/hotel and are married. During that time, Jade's uncle, still alive, tries to run away but is stabbed numerous times in the back by Chucky. While in the hotel, Jesse and Jade meet a con-artist couple Russ and Diane (James Gallanders and Janet Kidder) who steal Jesse's money. As the criminals have sex in their room, Tiffany, who had seen them take Jesse's money and said how the woman "doesn't deserve to wear that ring", takes their bottle of champagne and throws it into the mirrored ceiling, sending down shards of glass and killing the two con-artists. Impressed at what she just did, Chucky reveals his true feelings for Tiffany, and then proposes to her. After accepting and putting on the ring, both dolls begin to have sex.

The next morning, a maid (Kathy Najimy) finds the corpses of the couple and Jesse and Jade drive away with their best friend David, who knew about their plan to elope and heard about the recent murders. He reveals that Jesse and Jade have been pinned for all of the deaths and, while searching for the source of a foul smell, finds Warren's body and demands that Jesse pull over. While he is confronting them, the dolls come alive and hold them hostage with guns, demanding for them to keep driving. David turns and is accidentally smashed to pieces by a truck that taxes speeding, horrifying Jade and Jesse. Jesse and Jade drive away with the dolls. They are then chased by police, which Chucky is able to shoot the cars and make them go off the road. During that time, the dolls reveal their plan to them and get Jesse to drive in a mobile home to keep the cops off them by using a different vehicle. While preparing Jade for the body-switch, Tiffany begins talking with Jade, who manages to turn Tiffany against Chucky. A fight between the two dolls ensues and Jade seizes an opportunity by kicking and locking Tiffany into the oven while Jesse pushes Chucky out the window. Chucky shoots at Jesse, causing the RV to run off the road and into a ditch.

Chucky finds Jade and forces her to take him to his grave site, while Jesse takes a weak Tiffany (burnt from the oven, but still alive) and follows them. While the medical examiner is digging, Chucky shoots him in the back of the head and orders Jade to open the casket and give him the amulet. After she breaks it off his skeleton's neck, she throws it out at him. Jesse then appears with Tiffany and they trade hostages. While Jesse and Jade embrace, Chucky is about to throw his knife at Jade until Jesse sees and turns her around; being stabbed in the back. After Jade pulls the knife out of his back and holds him, they are tied up for the ritual.

Before Chucky starts the body-switching chant, Tiffany distracts him by kissing him while she pulls the knife out of his pocket, stabbing him in his back. They fight until he stabs her in the heart, where she collapses to the ground. While distracted, Jesse knocks Chucky into his grave who demands to be let out. A private investigator arrives to see Jade pointing a gun into the hole. He sees Chucky and is clearly shocked by what he sees. The investigator then watches Jade shoot Chucky several times while he yells he'll come back as he always comes back. The investigator soon gets on the phone with the police, saying that Jesse and Jade are innocent of the murders and sends the couple away.

While stumbling upon and investigating Tiffany's doll body, Tiffany suddenly springs to life and gives birth to a doll child before finally dying. The baby seems to attack the investigator as the film ends, thus setting the scene for Seed of Chucky to begin.

Cast

• Jennifer Tilly as human Tiffany and voice of doll Tiffany
• Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky
• Katherine Heigl as Jade
• Nick Stabile as Jesse
• Alexis Arquette as Howard Fitzwater/Damien Baylock
• Gordon Michael Woolvett as David Collins
• John Ritter as Chief Warren Kincaid
• Lawrence Dane as Lieutenant Preston
• Michael Johnson as Officer "Needlenose" Norton
• James Gallanders as Russ
• Janet Kidder as Diane
• Kathy Najimy as a motel maid

Soundtrack

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

Box office and reception

Bride of Chucky was released in North America on October 16, 1998 on 2,467 movie screens. It managed to pull in $11,830,855 on its opening weekend, with a total North American gross of $32,383,850 and another $18,288,000 internationally. Its worldwide gross was $50,671,850, making it the most financially successful Child's Play film to date, beating the original by 6 million dollars.

Critical reception was mixed. The film received overall better reviews than its 1991 predecessor, with praise directed towards the roles of the antagonists by Jennifer Tilly and Brad Dourif, as well as its dark humor and self-referential parody. However, the film disappointed some fans of the series, due to the sudden change in tone from straightforward horror to black comedy and no appearance or mentioning of the character Andy Barclay from the previous three films with only a reference in a newspaper article in the beginning of the movie. The film currently holds a 42% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews.

External links

• Bride of Chucky at the Internet Movie Database
• Bride of Chucky at AllRovi
• Bride of Chucky at Box Office Mojo
• Bride of Chucky at Rotten Tomatoes