Bride of Chucky

Bride of Chucky
File:Bride of Chucky DVD Cover.gif Movie poster for Bride of Chucky
Directed by	Ronny Yu
Written by	Don Mancini
Produced by	David Kirschner Grace Gilroy Don Mancini
Starring	Jennifer Tilly Brad Dourif Katherine Heigl
Cinematography	Peter Pau
Edited by	Randy Bricker David Wu
Music by	Graeme Revell
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	October 16 1998
Running time	89 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$25,000,000

Bride of Chucky (also known as Child's Play 4: Bride of Chucky or BOC) is a 1998 horror-romantic comedy film directed by Ronny Yu, who also directed Freddy vs. Jason and The 51st State. It is both the fourth entry and a spin-off in the Child's Play series. The film stars Jennifer Tilly (who plays and voices Tiffany) and Brad Dourif (who voices Chucky). This movie co-stars John Ritter, Katherine Heigl and Nick Stabile. The music score is 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, often into self-referential parody. Thus the change from the 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 film's overall plot (where Chucky persued the character Andy Barclay).

Plot

Chucky, a killer doll, returns from the dead after being chopped up in Child's Play 3. He is reanimated by his girlfriend Tiffany (who is not as sadistic and homicidal as Chucky), whom he left a decade ago when he, as Charles Lee Ray, transferred his soul into the Good Guy doll. After being ressurected, Chucky kills Tiffany's unreliable hired-assassin, Damien Baylock (a cameo appearance by Alexis Arquette).

Tiffany asks Chucky if he was going to marry her since he left a diamond ring for her. Chucky tells her that he stole the ring from a rich old lady (who he killed and dumped in the river while he was still the "Lakeshore Strangler") because it is easily worth $5,000 to $6,000. Tiffany then remarks, "So, you weren't going to ask me to marry you?" to which Chucky responds, "What, are you fucking nuts?" and laughs.

The heartbroken Tiffany drops Chucky into a playpen, intending to hold him prisoner as payback for the years she waited for him, (with a doll in the shape of a bride). While Tiffany is in her bathtub, and watching Bride of Frankenstein (from which screenwriter Don Mancini actually got the idea for Bride of Chucky), Chucky escapes by using the diamond ring (tied around the bride doll's neck) to cut through the wooden bars. He then pushes Tiffany's television into her bathtub, electrocuting and killing her in the process. Using voodoo incantation, Chucky transfers Tiffany's soul into the bride doll.

After finally settling their differences, the two dolls decide that they must go to Charles Lee Ray's (Chucky's) grave to retrieve his magic amulet, because without it, Chucky and Tiffany will be permanently consigned to doll form. Tiffany hires her next-door neighbor, Jesse, to transport her and Chucky to the cemetery where Ray's body is interred. Jesse desperately needs the money promised by Tiffany, because he wants to run away with his girlfriend Jade, who happens to be the niece of a rather domineering local police chief. Chucky and Tiffany intend to appropriate Jesse's and Jade's bodies in the process. While driving, both Jade and Jessie suspect something is wrong. While Jessie and Jade are away, Chucky and Tiffany fatally wound Jade's police uncle, rendering him unconscious. When the couple stop for supplies, a cop, who is an associate of Jade's uncle, slams Jesse into his van, and at the same time, Chucky secretly throws the weed into view. The cop prepares to arrest Jesse when Chucky leaps out of the van and stuffs a gas soaked shirt into the cop's car. Just as the cop notices the smoke, he sees Chucky and Tiffany waving at him as the car blows up.Several witnesses begin to panic, when Jade comes out of the store with food. As the couple is about to leave, a female yells that the two are responsible for the explosion. Jade and Jessie are now wanted by the police. Jessie and Jade both begin to question if the other is the murderer. Jessie decides that if they want to get away, they must leave the country. They head for Canada and get married to gain access to a couples-only hotel. As this is happening, Jade's uncle awakes and jumps out of the van where Chucky and Tiffany had hidden him. Before he can get away, Chucky begins stabbing him repeatedly, killing him.

Meanwhile, a seemingly happy, newly-married couple stops in on Jade and Jesse to say hi. The wife is impressed by the Tiffany doll, but disgusted at the sight of Chucky. While the man has Jesse and Jades attention, the wife steals their money. Tiffany feels that the wife is a bitch who "Doesn't deserve to wear that ring". While the two thieves go off to their room to have sex, Tiffany sneaks into their room and throws a glass bottle into a mirror above the couple's bed, sending shards of glass down upon the couple, killing them. Chucky appears and is impressed with Tiffany, and the two engage in sexual intercourse. Back in Jesse and Jades room, Jesse calls his friend David, and talks about how he suspects Jade of killing the people, while Jade does the same. A maid walks into the blood-splattered room and discovers the bodies of the thieves. Jesse and Jade start to run , and are surprised to see David. While driving, David convinces both of them to stop accusing each other and work things out. Seeing what they had done, they resolve their differences. Soon David smells a foul odor and discovers Jade's dead uncle's body under a seat. He does nothing until Jade comes to give him a hug, David then grabs the gun off of the police chief's corpse and holds both of them at gun point, thinking that both of them are the killers. They stop the van and let David out, when Chucky leaps to life and shows himself to everyone. David is startled and backs up, only to be run over by a semi-truck and killed. Jade is horrified and blames Jesse for her uncle's death. Jesse drives off while Chucky and Tiffany shoot out the window as Jade opens it, making it look like she did it. On the radio, the couple is blamed for the murders at the hotel. David's and Chucky's (Charles Lee Ray's) finger prints are found at the murder site. His corpse is due to be exhumed.

Because the police now have the van's license plate, Chucky makes Jesse get a new car. They hijack an RV, and kill the two owners. While Tiffany makes food for Chucky, and gives Jade a makeover, Jesse quips to Chucky that Tiffany isn't much of a homemaker, due to the fact there are so many dishes in the sink. Chucky tells her to clean up a little, and Jade, taking the lead, tells her, "You were nice enough to cook for him. The least he could do is wash a dish." (Earlier, while Tiffany was still human, she had told Jesse to treat his girlfriend right.) Tiffany throws the dishes at him, and starts a loud, violent argument. While they both fight, Jesse swerves the car, and Jade pushes Tiffany into the oven. Chucky starts shooting at Jade, but is pushed out the window by Jesse. The RV rolls violently off the road, and crashes.

Jade lays inside tied to a chair and sees that Tiffany, while badly burned, is still alive inside the oven. Jesse cuts Jade free and gets her out of the RV before a sparking wiring sets the vehicle on fire and it explodes. Jesse is blown clear, but Jade is taken hostage by Chucky. Jesse takes Tiffany and runs after them.

Chucky finds his open grave site and sends Jade in to open his coffin at gun point. She reluctantly retrieves the amulet, throwing it to him, and Jesse appears. Chucky agrees to let Jade go in exchange for Tiffany. As they cross paths, Tiffany tells Jade she's a very lucky girl. When the couples unite, Jade and Jesse cling desperately to each other, while Tiffany asks Chucky to catch her before collapsing. He only grimaces, letting her fall. Chucky then throws his knife at Jade, and Jesse turns her around, saving her life, the knife embedded in his back. Jade removes it, and being threatened, throws it back to Chucky.

Chucky ties the two of them together, and starts to perform the ritual as Tiffany sits nearby. He turns to her and says, "This is it." She tells him she loves him, and he says he knows. Tiffany goes on to say that they belong together, forever. He kisses her, and she takes his knife and stabs him in the back. He asks her why, and as she is touched by Jade and Jesse's love for each other, which makes her realizes they belong dead by saying, "Oh, Chucky, look at us! Don't you see? We belong dead. Good-bye darling. I'll see you in hell."

She then goes to untie the two kids, who are relieved to still be alive. It is then that Chucky attacks Tiffany with a shovel. She grabs one, and they fight. Chucky gets the upper hand, but she attacks him, trying to strangle him, and he stabs her through the chest. Jesse hits Chucky with a shovel throwing him into his grave, and takes the ladder away, trapping him in the 6-foot deep gravesite.

Chucky screams and curses, and just as Jade is about to shoot him, a detective (who appeared earlier on the TV news, during Tiffany's first death) arrives. He comes over to see what the commotion is about, and sees Chucky in the grave, running back and forth. Jade takes the cop's gun and screams "Don't move". Chucky then looks at her and says "Go ahead and shoot. I'll be back! I always come back!" Jade takes aim, and Chucky mutters, "But dying is such a bitch."

After Chucky is killed, the detective calls in to say Jade and Jesse are innocent, and it wasn't them who committed all the murders. Jade and Jesse escape. As he waits for the rest of the unit, he walks around, finding Tiffany. He pokes her a few times, to make sure she is dead, and as he pulls back, Tiffany springs to life. She screams in agony, as something starts moving under her skirt. The detective screams in horror as a red, bloody, sharp-toothed baby appears, screeching, and attacks him.

Box Office/Reception

Bride of Chucky was released in North America on October 16th, 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, making its worldwide gross $50,671,850, and making it the most financially successful Child's Play film to date, beating out the original by less than 6 million dollars. Despite being better critically received than its predecessor, the film still only received mixed reviews and earned a 43% 'Rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]

Allusions

This film includes several humorous referential allusions not only to the Child's Play series (as in the line, "Chucky? He's so... '80s!") but to the horror genre as a whole:

• In the film's opening scene, Michael Myers' mask, Jason Voorhees's mask (from the Friday the 13th films), Leatherface's chainsaw (from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films), and Freddy Krueger's glove (from the Nightmare on Elm Street films) are visible in the evidence locker.

• Andy Barclay is not mentioned (or even appears) in this film, except in the opening credits where a newspaper headline reads: Boy claims doll possessed by killer's soul.

• In the scene before Tiffany is electrocuted and she watching the 1935 movie Bride of Frankenstein (the movie that inspired Bride of Chucky), when Frankenstein says, "We belong dead." In the scene at the cemetery, after Tiffany stabs Chucky in the back and he asks "Why?" and Tiffany says the exact same line which pays a slight homage to the movie.

• Chucky's death scene at the end (when he was shot to death by Jade) was a 10-year anniversary homage to Chucky's death at the end of Child's Play.

• Although never mentioned, the time setting of this film occurs at least a month after Child's Play 3. The date on Tiffany's newspaper clippings in the opening sequence, and the date of death on Charles Lee Ray's tombstone are November 9, 1988, the release date of the first Child's Play film. Andy's birthday occurs in November, one day after the date of Ray's death. Andy is six years of age in the first film (which would make him sixteen in 1998, being he was 16 in Child's Play 3), indicating that Bride of Chucky has to take place in December 1998 at the latest, since this film includes references setting it in 1998.

• There is a character in the film named Damien Baylock. In The Omen, the satanic child is named Damien, while his evil nanny is named Mrs. Baylock.

• When John Ritter's character is killed, his face looks much like Pinhead from Hellraiser. Chucky exclaims, "Why does that look so familiar?" Andrew Robinson, who played Sgt. Botnick in Child's Play 3, played Larry Cotton in Hellraiser.

• According to the DVD's director commentary, Chucky was originally supposed to say to Chief Warren (John Ritter), "Sorry, Jack, but three's a crowd," after killing him -- referring to Ritter's starring role in the hit television sitcom Three's Company. (At the last minute, the director deleted the line from the script because he found it too corny. The joke may have also referred to the series' short-lived spinoff, Three's a Crowd).

• When Jesse (Nick Stabile) asks Chucky and Tiffany how they became dolls, Chucky replies that it is a long story, and that if it were a movie it would take 3 to 4 sequels to do it justice (a humorous reference to the length of the Child's Play series).

• Police Officer Robert Bailey, who is killed in the opening sequence of Bride of Chucky, is referenced in the sequel Seed of Chucky. Tiffany is trying to end her killing fetish and decides to atone for her killings. She phones Bailey's widow to apologize for slitting her husband's throat, causing the woman to sob and Tiffany to feel a sense of closure.

Trivia

• Jennifer Tilly originally did not want to accept the role of Tiffany because she felt it was too small and was the last stop before the actor's graveyard [this was stated in Jennifer's Diary on the DVD of Bride]. She later convinced herself that she wanted to be a part of the franchise.

• Jennifer Tilly was mailed tarantula body parts to test and see if she was allergic to them because she had to handle Charlotte who falls on Damien's face.

• When Tiffany returns to her trailer to Chucky imprisoned in a crib and playing with a Speak & Spell, the music is a light reprise of the theme from Child's Play 2. Both films were scored by Graeme Revell.

• It took eight takes to make the striptease scene in which Tiffany dances for Damien and Chucky. She writes in her diary, on the DVD extra, that she has major dance anxiety.

• In Child's Play 3, the reaper's scythe cut off the left half of Chucky's face, but in Bride of Chucky, the left side of his face was there when Tiffany put him back together.

• The voodoo ritual slightly changed in this film. After completing the ritual, the performer must say "Awake!" at the end. Also, instead of a lighting striking the location where the ritual was held, the recipient just simply awake while the location is still intact.

• In the recent comics, Lt. Preston, the detective who appeared at the beginning and end of the movie; revealed to survived Glen/Glenda's attack, but is killed by Chucky along with his gun-toting wife.

• Tiffany's first death would later be referenced in the comics.

• Both Jennifer Tilly (Tiffany) and Brad Dourif (Chucky) are both Academy Award nominees for supporting roles.

See also

• Child's Play

External links

Bride of Chucky at the Internet Movie Database