Review of Bride of Chucky (1998) by Sextet — 16 Sep 2021

Chucky's Chimeric Chuckles.

Normally by the moment a franchise has reached the fourth instalment most people involved from the paid script writers through to the paying public are beginning to lose heart. This is an excellent exception to that rule.

The premise of the film is that the soul of the late Charles Lee Ray is trapped inside Chucky the doll. Charles's former girlfriend Tiffany plans to retrieve the doll and by use of magic, revive chucky. If only life (and death in this case) could be so simple! Once revived, Chucky would much rather occupy Mr Ray's body, which was buried with the amulet required to complete this transformation. By this segment of the film, due to the treacherous machinations of both Tiffany and Chucky, they are now both dolls. What follows is a road movie as the pair kill travel under the radar while implicating two naïve star-struck lovers Jesse and Jade who finally are connecting the dots as to what is transpiring.

From the opening scene as corrupt cop Bailey makes his way through an evidence room to the Grand Guignol finale played out in a graveyard there are nods to various kindred films and characters from Michael Myers to The Exorcist, from Friday the 13th to Pinhead, throwing in clips from 'Bride of Frankenstein' and 'Murder, She Wrote' and a hilarious reference to Martha Stewart.The entertainment value comes largely from the relationship between 2 deadly dolls, their snappy one-liners, love-hate relationship and competitiveness in murderous invention.

Director Ronny Yu and writer Don Mancini keep both action and dialogue pacey and ensure an excellent balance of comic moments and sanguinary shocks. At an hour and a half good editing ensures no outstaying of welcome and the accompanying music tracks from Rob Zombie, Slayer, et al is suitably heavy. Special and visual effects are extremely well done and almost seamless. Of the acting, most of the cast do what is necessary despite being upstaged by the deadly dolls. Special mention should go to Jennifer Tilly for her dangerously beguiling femme fatale.

Interestingly, with only minimal references to previous films in this series, it is possible to treat this as a stand-alone item and derive just as much entertainment value from it.