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Bride of Chucky
***
Cinema
Releases - June 18, 1999
Rated on a 4-star
scale. USA. Directed by Ronny Yu. Written by Don Mancini. Starring Jennifer
Tilly, Brad Dourif, Katherine Heigl, Nick Stabile, John Ritter, Alexis Arquette,
Gordon Woolvett.
The "Halloween" series just doesn't
know when to stop. It started with a masterpiece in 1978, and disgraced that
greatness with tacky, ugly sequels -- as recently as last year, in fact,
with "Halloween H20". The "Child's Play" series knows better. It's become
just as obviously ridiculous -- but now, in "Bride of Chucky",
admits this fact, and has fun with it.
"If this were a movie, you'd need at least three
or four sequels to do it justice," the eponymous Chucky says at one point.
It's one of the many sardonic winks in the film, the fourth in the "Child's
Play" saga.
Loyal viewers will remember that Chucky is a killer
doll, possessed by the soul of killer Charles Lee Ray. In the first three
movies, all intended as serious horror flicks, Chucky was terrorising a young
boy named Alex, as well as killing everyone who seemed like fair game. As
"Bride of Chucky" opens, he's been in a police evidence locker for years,
and is brought back to the world -- and to life -- by seriously deranged
metal chick Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly).
Tiffany was Charles Lee Ray's girlfriend, and
has been anxiously waiting to get her hands on the Chucky doll. However,
after a brief happy reunion, the two get to fighting, and Tiffany becomes
Chucky's newest victim. Somehow, her soul is also transported into a doll,
and by default, she becomes... well, just look at the movie's
title.
The two psycho dolls manage to get across country
in the back seat of a car. It belongs to Jade (Katherine Heigl) and Jesse
(Nick Stabile), two teen lovers on the way to elope. Since they are indeed
psychos, they can't resist turning their road trip into a killing spree,
which makes their bewildered human couriers suspects -- and fugitives --
and creates the kind of gory madness that this kind of film thrives
on.
"Bride of Chucky" is an insane motion picture,
and an hour-and-a-half of sheer overkill. It doesn't care about any kind
of cinematic rules, jumping through different styles, moods and genres whenever
possible, or seemingly impossible. The filmmakers try everything to get
disgusting laughs -- I'm surprised they didn't try smashing the camera at
least once.
But this description sounds derogatory, and it's
not intended that way. The craziness of this movie is appealing -- rude and
uncouth, but also hilarious. It's not afraid to juggle around weird ideas,
like simultaneously satirising the horror genre and the horror-satire genre
-- even the film's poster manages to poke fun at both "Silence of the Lambs"
and "Scream 2". Just as "Austin Powers" was like a half-Woody Allen, half-Mel
Brooks take on the James Bond spy films, "Bride of Chucky" treats the "Child's
Play" films in a similar way.
Surprisingly, Chucky in this movie is voiced by
Brad Dourif, the Oscar nominee who scared millions with his job on the first
"Child's Play". It's surprising because he gets the joke so well, mocking
his own creepy work with the comical crudeness of someone like Gilbert Gottfried.
I liked the performance. It's fun. "Bride of Chucky" is not a great film,
and it's not as clever as "Scream"... but when I saw it, I guess I was in
the mood for cheerful vulgarity. And there's plenty.
COPYRIGHT© 1999 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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