Bride of Chucky
USA 1998
Reviewed by Linda Ruth Williams
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
The US, the present. Tiffany steals Chucky the doll from a police-evidence depository. She takes him back to her trailer where she rebuilds and reanimates him using a book called Voodoo for Dummies. She brings back to life the personality of Charles 'Chucky' Lee Ray, Tiffany's dead lover, who inhabited the doll before (as recounted in the three previous Child's Play films). Tiffany gives him a bride doll to keep him company. However when she is electrocuted to death by the television falling into her bath, her personality transmigrates into the body of the bride doll.
Tiffany's neighbour Jesse agrees to take both dolls to Charles Lee Ray's grave in New Jersey where a buried amulet provides the couple's only hope of being made human again. Jesse brings his girlfriend Jade along on the journey. Tiffany and Chucky plan to possess their bodies once the voodoo ritual with the amulet has released them from the dolls. However, at the grave the dolls fight; Chucky is killed and Tiffany gives birth to his child.
Review
As any jobbing film theorist will tell you, the pleasures of horror must always be framed by sado-masochism. You might think these dubious desires would be the main forces animating this latest outing of Chucky, the infernal doll star of the Child's Play film franchise which in the UK was accused of influencing perpetrators of at least two appalling crimes. But the thrills of Bride of Chucky, the possessed doll's fourth cinematic outing, are laudably cerebral. Like Wes Craven's Scream, its sequel and its imitators, Bride of Chucky plays to the connoisseur, inviting viewers to tick off the cinematic references, so deeply embedded is this film in its genre's history.
From the opening shots, Bride of Chucky establishes its quite complex sense of place in the line-up of usual suspects: alongside Chucky in the evidence depository lie Jason's hockey mask (from the Friday the 13th series), Freddy's glove (Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Myers' mask (Halloween) and Leatherface's chainsaw (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre). Two feet tall and less than human he may be, but this sequence suggests the slasher film's pantheon of serial killers have embraced Chucky as one of their own. The only crimes Ronny Yu's witty and knowing film will be associated with are those of other movies. So embedded are these references in a context of fiction, it's absurd to try to relate them to fact. It's Alive, The Exorcist, Hellraiser, Natural Born Killers, even David Cronenberg at his most gynaecological, are all points in the film's reality co-ordinates, along with its own fictive past referred to in Tiffany's newspaper cuttings. Of this history, Chucky himself quips, "It's a long story. In fact, if it was a movie it would take three or four sequels." Unlike Scream, where the participants redirect their world so it looks like a movie, Bride of Chucky refuses to countenance that there is a world beyond the movie.
For something so schlocky and - quite frankly - bizarre, Bride of Chucky also generates the curious sense that if its makers have done their homework, then so should you. Relentlessly erudite, as Bride of Chucky piles on the references you get the strange sensation you're watching a parody of a parody, a film which gleefully grabs this very 90s form of filmic self-reflexivity, chews it up and spits it out: been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. "Chucky? He's so 80s," says Tiffany's lowlife boyfriend Damien before being dispatched, clearly a thought which also occurred to writer Don Mancini and Yu (a veteran Hong Kong director who made the recent Warriors of Virtue). So Chucky's Bride makes herself over by out-parodying horror-as-parody.
If all this sounds too clever by half, it's also very funny. Dolls and toys are the most conventional props of the uncanny: scary and sinister alter egos in Dead of Night (1945) and Magic (1978); grotesquely murderous in Dolls (1987, which also features a giant killer teddy bear) and in the long-running 80s-90s Puppetmaster series made in Hong Kong. But in Ronny Yu's hands they also become the building blocks of fun: essential elements of child's play as well as Child's Play. Tiffany plays at dressing-up, transforming her new bride-doll body into an approximation of the foxy lady she was in human form to the tune of Blondie's 'Call Me', invoking the opening of American Gigolo. The film's weirdest moment, in which Tiffany and Chucky have sex, reminded me of Todd Haynes' all-doll avant-garde short Superstar. The scene's sheer unabashed strangeness crystallises horror's much vaunted relationship with surrealism. As Chucky and Tiffany get it on in front of an open fire, bobbing up and down in a bizarre frenzy of plastic passion, they pause for a safer-sex moment - a failure, as the ending proves.
Bride of Chucky is an impeccable construction, well wrought and efficiently paced. Like its hero, it is small but perfectly formed. It also has aspirations: if Freddy et al are left in the lock-up in that opening sequence, this is only so the film can make its bid to occupy a more substantial place in film history. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is clearly the most obvious benchmark - Elsa Lanchester is seen on the television which kills Tiffany. Bride of Chucky also knows it's a monster made of many parts: The Godfather (1972), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), even a fleeting flirtation with I Walked with a Zombie (1943) when Tiffany sombrely marches through the long moonlit grass at the film's climax. Whether this parody is plagiarism, pastiche or punk postmodernism is perhaps irrelevant given the fun Bride of Chucky has with its sources. Mixed together in this unholy way, what emerges is a loving homage to a movie history gleefully raided by body snatchers.
Credits
- Producers
- David Kirschner
- Grace Gilroy
- Screenplay
- Don Mancini
- Director of Photography
- Peter Pau
- [Pau Tak-Hei]
- Editors
- David Wu
- [Wu Dai-Wai]
- Randolph K. Bricker
- Production Designer
- Alicia Keywan
- Music
- Graeme Revell
- ©Universal City Studios, Inc
- Production Company
- Universal Pictures presents a David Kirschner production
- Executive Producers
- Don Mancini
- Corey Sienega
- Co-producer
- Laura Moskowitz
- Production Co-ordinator
- Deborah Zwicker
- Production Manager
- Grace Gilroy
- Unit Location Manager
- Keith Large
- Post-production Co-ordinator
- Redd Knight
- 2nd Unit Director
- David Wu
- [Wu Dai-Wai]
- Assistant Directors
- Myron Hoffert
- Simon Board
- Katrina Lee
- Catherine Lew
- 2nd Unit:
- Simon Board
- Script Supervisors
- Blanche McDermaid
- 2nd Unit:
- Catherine Taylor
- Wayne Pells
- Casting
- Joanna Colbert
- Ross Clydesdale
- Additional Photography
- Bill Mitchell Cinematography
- Blue Sky Stock Footage
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Raymond A. Brounstein
- Camera Operators
- Keith Murphy
- Marvin Midwicki
- Steadicam Operator
- Keith Murphy
- Visual Effects Supervisor
- Michael Muscal
- Visual Effects
- Gajdecki Visual Effects
- Sue Riedl
- Mark Savela
- Mike Borrett
- Barb Benoit
- Elizabeth Holmes
- Christine Petrov
- Matthew Talbot-Kelly
- Jason Snea
- Animation/Visual Effects
- Toronto Toybox
- Dennis Berardi
- Josa Leah Porter
- Derek Grime
- Brian Anderson
- Mike Manza
- Mark Stepanek
- Nelson Yu
- Alex Boothby
- Jeff Campbell
- Jonathan Gibson
- Mark Goldberg
- Rob Gyorgy
- Paul Rigg
- Mike Ellis
- Visual Effects/3D Animation
- Perpetual Motion Pictures
- Richard Malzahn
- Kimberly Sylvester
- Visual Effects
- Nerve Effects, Inc
- Anthony Paterson
- Ariel Joson
- Larry Adlon
- Ian Britton
- Enrique Lim
- Derek Lang
- Additional Visual Effects
- Metrolight Studios
- Chuck/Tiffany Dolls Creator
- David Kirschner based on characters created by Don Mancini
- Chuck/Tiffany Puppet Effects
- Kevin Yagher
- Kevin Yagher Productions, Inc
- Studio Manager:
- Mark C. Yagher
- Project Supervisor:
- Mitch Coughlin
- Sculptor/Painter:
- Mario Torres
- Sculptor:
- Jeff Buccacio
- Mold/Silicone Technicians:
- Tony Acosta Jr
- Zachariah Cveticanin
- Frank Diettinger
- Brian Engebretsen
- Anthony Matijevich
- David Perteet
- David Selvadurai
- Christopher Walker
- Garth Winkless
- Painter:
- Thomas Killeen
- Animatronic Design:
- Evan Brainard
- Hair Construction:
- Jill Crosby
- Special Effects
- Co-ordinator:
- Colin Chilvers
- Supervisor:
- Arthur Langevin
- Key:
- Tony Kenny
- 2nd Key:
- Rocco Larizza
- Shop Key:
- Allan Meuse
- Assistant Shop Key:
- Emile Godin
- Lead Hand:
- Daniel Godin
- Technicians:
- David Hill
- Kevin Hughes
- Co-ordinator:
- Dean Stewart
- Puppeteer Co-ordinator
- Kevin Yagher
- Puppeteers
- Tony Acosta Jr
- Evan Brainard
- Stephen Brathwaite
- Pamela Cveticanin
- Sam De La Torre
- Brendan McMurray
- Frank Meschkuleit
- David Miner Jr
- John Pattison
- Anton Rupprecht
- Johnnie Spence
- Rob Stefaniuk
- Ron Stefaniuk
- Fred Stinson
- Mario Torres Jr
- Garth Winkless
- N. Brock Winkless IV
- Associate Editor
- Annellie Rose Samuel
- Art Director
- James McAteer
- Set Designer
- Gordon White
- Set Decorators
- Carol Lavoie
- Mike Harris
- 2nd Unit:
- Theresa Buckley
- Key Scenic Artist
- Willi Holst
- Storyboard Artists
- Kelly Brine
- Jim Craig
- Peter Von Sholly
- Costume Designer
- Lynne MacKay
- Costume Supervisor
- Cori Burchell
- Wardrobe Master
- Graham Docherty
- 2nd Unit Wardrobe Mistress
- Gerri Gillan
- Key Make-up Artist
- Patricia Green
- Hair Designer
- Judi Cooper Sealy
- Special Make-up Effects
- Paul Jones Effects Studios, Inc
Artists:- Gary J. Tunnicliffe
- Claire-Jane Deacon
- Kyle Glencross
- Matthew Galliford
- Martin Astles
- Grant Mason
- Buffy Shields
- David Scott
- Allan Cooke
- Cinebotics, Inc
- Main Title/Opticals
- Film Effects Inc
- Opening Title Song Performed by
- Rob Zombie
- Orchestrations/Conductor
- Tim Simonec
- Programming/Arrangements
- David Russo
- Music Supervisors
- Mary Ramos
- Michelle Kuznetsky
- Music Co-ordinator
- John Katovsich
- Music Editor
- Ashley Revell
- Additional Music Editing
- David Trevis
- Michael Dittrick
- Music Sound Design
- Brian Williams
- Music Scoring Mixer
- John Kurlander
- Music Mixers
- Slamm Andrews
- Mark Currie
- Music Consultant
- Andy Gould
- Soundtrack
- "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie, Scott Humphrey, performed by Rob Zombie; "Boogie King" by Michael E. Farris, performed by The Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies; "Crazy" by Willie Nelson, performed by Kidney Thieves; "Call Me" by Deborah Harry, Giorgio Moroder, performed by Blondie; "Ziti" by Victor Indrizo, performed by Drizz; "So Wrong" by Christopher Hall, Jim Sellers, Walter Flakus, Andy Kubiszewski, performed by Stabbing Westward; "Blisters" by B. Dez Fafara, Miguel Rascon, Rayna Foss, Mike Cos, performed by Coal Chamber; "Bled for Days" by Wayne Richard Wells, Kenneth Jay Lacey, Antonio Campos, Koichi Fukuda, performed by Static X; "See You in Hell" by Dave Wyndorf, performed by Monster Magnet; "Finally Over" by Trevor Mote, performed by The Assholes; "Thunderkiss 65" by Robert Bartlett, Shauna Reynolds, Ivan DePrume, Jay Yuenger, performed by White Zombie; "Bloodstained" by Glenn Tipton, Kenneth Downing, performed by Judas Priest; "Trumpets of Jericho" by Bruce Dickinson, Roy Z, performed by Bruce Dickinson; "Human Disease" by Tom Araya, Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King, performed by Slayer
Sound Mixer- Owen Langevin
- Re-recording Mixers
- Don White
- Andy Koyama
- Tom O'Connell
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Stephen Barden
- Dialogue Editor
- Elizabeth Pajek
- Sound Effects Editors
- Paula Fairfield
- Craig Henighan
- Stephen Roque
- ADR
- Recordist:
- Greg Shim
- Editors:
- Jill Purdy
- Paul Germann
- Bernadette Kelly
- Foley
- Artists:
- Goro Koyama
- Andy Malcolm
- Mixers:
- Ron Mellegers
- Tony Van Den Akker
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- John Stoneham Jr
- Gunhandler
- John Berger
- Animal Wrangler
- Rick Parker
- Film Extract
- Bride of Frankenstein
(1935)- Cast
- Jennifer Tilly
- Tiffany/voice of Tiffany doll
- Katherine Heigl
- Jade
- Nick Stabile
- Jesse
- John Ritter
- Chief Warren Kincaid
- Alexis Arquette
- Howard Fitzwater, 'Damien Baylock'
- Gordon Michael Woolvett
- David
- Brad Dourif
- voice of Chucky
- Lawrence Dane
- Detective Preston
- Michael Johnson
- Officer 'Needlenose' Norton
- James Gallanders
- Russ
- Janet Kidder
- Diane
- Vincent Corazza
- Officer Robert Bailey
- Kathy Najimy
- motel maid
- Park Bench
- Stoner
- Emily Weedon
- girl at one-stop
- Ben Bass
- Lieutenant Ellis
- Roger McKeen
- Justice of the Peace
- Sandi Stahlbrand
- reporter
- Certificate
- 18
- Distributor
- Metrodome Distribution Ltd
- 7,987 feet
- 88 minutes 45 seconds
- Digital DTS sound/SDDS/Dolby digital
- Colour by
- DeLuxe Toronto