Bride of Chucky

"My mother always said love was supposed set you free. But that's not true, Chucky. I've been a prisoner of my love for you for a very long time. Now it's payback time."

- Tiffany

Bride of Chucky is an American horror film that blends the subgenres of slasher, comedy and killer doll films. It is the fourth installment in the Child's Play film series and was directed by Ronny Yu. It was produced by Universal Pictures and released theatrically in the United States on October 16th, 1998. The film stars Jennifer Tilly and Brad Dourif as the serial killer-turned-dolls Tiffany and Chucky. Other stars include Katherine Heigl and Nick Stabile as teen protagonists Jade and Jesse, Gordon Michael Woolvett as their homosexual friend David and John Ritter as police chief Warren Kincaid.

The premise of the movie centers on a woman named Tiffany, a lovesick serial killer and former paramour of fellow slasher Charles Lee Ray, aka, Chucky. After acquirring the scarred remains of the Good Guy doll, Tiffany uses a Voodoo incantation to resurrect her former lover's spirit, but he is still trapped inside the doll. Through a series of circumstances, Tiffany comes to a violent end, and Chucky uses the same ritual to bind her soul to a wedding doll, thus transforming Tiffany into the titular "Bride of Chucky". This is but a stopgap however as Chucky and Tiffany plan on migrating their souls into more permanent, human vessels. To achieve this however, they need a mystical amulet, which was buried with Chucky's human remains.

Notes & Trivia

 * Bride of Chucky is the first film in the series to drop the "Child's Play" naming convention. The title of the film is a send-up to the 1935 Universal Studios classic The Bride of Frankenstein, clips of which can be found within the film itself.


 * Production on Bride of Chucky began on April 1st, 1998. Principal filming concluded in July. The warehouse scenes where shot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The motel scenes were shot at Lake Ontario and the chapel scene was shot at Niagara Falls. Additional studios shots were filmed in Los Angeles, California.


 * The film contains footage from the 1935 James Whale film The Bride of Frankenstein. The footage is seen when Tiffany is taking a bath, shortly before being electrocuted by Chucky.


 * A copy of the Lockport Guardian, seen during the opening credit sequence of the film, establishes that the shooting of Charles Lee Ray from the first Child's Play took place on Tuesday, November 8th, 1988. The newspaper article has a Wednesday, November 9th, 1988 publication date. November 9th also happens to be the US premiere date of Child's Play.


 * 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. This joke refers to the fact that Ritter also starred as "Jack" in the hit TV sitcom Three's Company. But at the last minute, the director deleted that out of the script because he found it too corny.


 * Ironically, actress Sandi Stahlbrand also played a reporter in two episodes of the comedy series Puppets Who Kill.

Allusions
The opening scene of the Lockport police station has a few amusing winks to celebrated killers from other franchises. Locked behind a cage, one can find a familiar looking hockey mask and a machete, the trademark attire and weapon of choice of Jason Voorhees. There is also a chainsaw, which of course is the weapon of choice of Leatherface from the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. A pair of claws resembling Freddy Krueger's clawed glove from A Nightmare on Elm Street can be seen as well as the unmistakable mask of Michael Myers of Halloween fame.

Later in the film, when Chucky observes Warren Kincaid's nail-studded face, he remarks about how familiar he now seems. Doubtless, this is a reference to Pinhead, the demonic Cenobite from the Hellraiser film series.

Chucky nearly breaks the fourth wall while nutshelling his history to Jade and Jesse. He tells them that to explain the story of his life would require a movie and three sequels. This is an obvious reference to the other Child's Play films.

The character of Howard Fitzwater, played by Alexis Arquette, used the Goth-sounding alias Damien Baylock. This is actually a reference to two different characters from the 1976 Richard Donner film The Omen. Damien Thorn, the son of Robert and Katherine Thorn, was destined to become the Antichrist. Damien's evil nanny was named Mrs. Baylock.

Home Video
Bride of Chucky was first released to home video in VHS format on March 23rd, 1999 by Universal Studios. Universal released the film to DVD in Region 1 format in the United States on September 2nd, 2003. The film is also included on Disc 2, Side A of the Chucky: The Killer DVD Collection.

Cast

 * Jennifer Tilly: Actress Jennifer Tilly has appeared in more than 100 film and television roles. Her first horror work was in Embrace of the Vampire with Alysa Milano. She reprises the role of Tiffany, and plays herself in Seed of Chucky. She is also known for providing the voice of the omnipregnant Bonnie Swanson in the animated comedy series Family Guy.


 * Brad Dourif: Brad Dourif of course provides the voice of Chucky in the Child's Play film series. He played the live-action Charles Lee Ray in the first Child's Play film. Outside of the franchise, Brad has appeared in more than twenty horror films including movies such as Spontaneous Combustion, Critters 4, Alien Resurrection, Urban Legend, Prophecy III: The Ascent and Rob Zombie's remakes of Halloween and Halloween II.


 * Vincent Corazza: The same year that Vince filmed Bride of Chucky, he also appeared in the Jamie Blanks slasher movie Urban Legend, playing a character named David Evans.


 * Sandi Stahlbrand: Sandi Stahlbrand almost always plays the role of a reporter in nearly everything she has appeared in. She played on in the "Femme Fatale" episode of Friday the 13th: The Series as well as in 2004's Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

Crew

 * Ronny Yu: Ronny Yu does seem to enjoy his send-ups to classic movie monster tropes. In addition to Bride of Chucky 's wink towards Universal Monsters sequels, Ronny Yu also paid homage to the monster mash-up concept with 2003's Freddy vs. Jason. He also directed the "Family Man" episode of Fear Itself.


 * Don Mancini: In addition to writing the scripts for all five films in the Child's Play series, screenwriter Don Mancini also wrote the screenplay for the 1988 John Carl Buechler film Cellar Dweller, as well as the "Fitting Punishment" episode of Tales from the Crypt.

Body Count
Incomplete