Bride Of Chucky
For the fourth chapter in the adventures of the killer dolly, the influence of Scream (released two years before) is evident in the self-referential tone, as director Ronny Yu places several quick nods in the first 30 seconds alone to Jason, Freddy, Leatherface, and Michael Myers, and a later kill is an obvious tip of the hat to Pinhead as well. Obviously, any sense of fright or scares is gone now, replaced by pitch-black, campy humor, but at least an attempt was made to add new blood to the mix in the form of Jennifer Tilly (the baby-voiced sex kitten that Joey Lauren Adams only wishes she could be) as Tiffany, Chucky’s old flame from when he was human, who obtains what’s left of the doll and brings him back to life using the book Voodoo For Dummies. What follows can actually be construed as a lot of fun, as soon Chucky kills Tiffany (naturally) and transfers her soul into a customized “Bride” doll, and the two set out on a road trip to Chucky’s grave to retrieve an amulet that can transfer their souls into new bodies (though why Chucky didn’t come up with this idea in the previous films is a mystery). To make the trip, the two acquire the services of an unknowing teenage couple (Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl and block of wood Nick Stabile) to drive them out to Hackensack, NJ(?) and take care of business. Heigl certainly shows early signs of the beauty and sex appeal that went on to make her a star, while her romantic lead just tries to get his lines right. Naturally, Chuck and Tiff are forced to kill anyone that gets in the way, and the film scores some nice points by having the young couple become paranoid and suspect that their mate is the psycho killer without realizing that the dolls are alive. As an added bonus, we get the late John Ritter as Heigl’s police chief uncle and guardian who is a major prick of the first degree, though an early reference he makes to Christian Slater might go over the heads of those who weren’t following the tabloid media in 1998. Indeed, the film tries too hard to be hip at times, right down to the obligatory late-90s marijuana reference so popular in films of the era. At least Brad Dourif as Chucky seems back on the ball doing the voice-over after slumming through part 3. The film throws as much in as it can, including a dolly sex scene seen only in silhouette (and would later be topped in Team America), and the couple’s gay best friend who only manages to serve as cannon fodder. The film stumbles some in the closing moments by deciding to actually have Tiffany turn “good” for the sake of dramatic conflict with her beau, but the final gruesome bit involving the idiot detective who has spent the whole movie being two steps behind is truly memorable. Overall, the best that can be said about this is simply, stupid, but entertaining…
7/10