Bride of Chucky (1998) Revisited – Horror Party Movies

The episode of Best Horror Party Movies covering Bride of Chucky was Written, Narrated/Hosted, and Edited by Mike Conway, Produced by John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

From the director of Freddy vs. Jason and the writer of all things Child’s Play comes a romantic comedy as sharp as a bloodied knife. Join JoBlo Horror as we take the party bus on a road trip with our favorite Good Guy in Bride of Chucky (watch it HERE). Welcome to our horror party, kids, where we take some horror films and make a fun game out of it. I’m Mike Conway, and today we ditch the Child’s Play title and jump right into the “Of Chucky” era with Bride of Chucky, released in 1998.

Bride of Chucky follows Tiffany, the ex-girlfriend of serial killer Charles Lee Ray. After being torn to shreds in Child’s Play 3, Chucky’s former flame stitches him back together and ”ade dues” him back to life to keep that romance a-goin. However, after an argument, Chucky kills Tiffany and transfers her soul into a bridal doll. Now on a quest to find a magical amulet to restore them to human form, the pair arrange a road trip with Tiffany’s neighbor and his girlfriend, who are unaware of the living killer dolls.

So, what type of party is this movie? Well, according to this scale, this party is killer. And as always, I’ll be making a drink to tie along with the movie. As with any game, there are some basic rules you must follow. Keeping in line with horror tropes, take a drink when:

Someone drinks or does drugs
Someone screams
When there is a jump scare
When a car won’t start
When there is a clumsy escape
And finally with any kill.

If you are a more advanced partier, add these modifications to your list:

When Tiffany mentions anything about her mother
When Martha Stewart is mentioned
With any other horror movie reference
When Tiffany says “sweet face”

If alcohol isn’t your bag, there are plenty of other things to choose from. Cannabis if legal in your state, delta 8, 9, 10, or whatever the hell number they’re at now, caffeine, hot sauce, anything. Just know your tolerance. This is supposed to be fun; we don’t want to send you to the hospital. Basically, don’t be a dumbass.

So, on that note, slap on those JNCOs and tighten those Doc Martins as we take a trip back to 1998 to see if this romance is as awkward as I was that year. No one understood me. Anyway, let’s party.

The Movie opens with a little taste of ‘Murica at the Lockport Evidence Depository, which houses quite a bit of horror memorabilia such as Michael Myers’ mask, Freddy’s glove, Leatherface’s chainsaw, and the Jason knock-off mask you can pick up at any Dollar General within a two-mile radius. There, we have this dip wad of a police officer snatching a bag from one of the lockers before speeding off in the rain. Yo, those hands aren’t at 9 and 3. He then calls the person he’s delivering the bag to. Mmm Hmm. 9 and 3, my dude. 9 and 3. While waiting at the rendezvous point, the nosey crooked cop attempts to take a peak to what he is delivering. However, he quickly learns he has the right to remain silent…for good. Who is the other person you may ask? No other than Tiffany Valentine, played by the amazing Jennifer Tilly. She then removes the item from the bag, revealing it to be none other than the destroyed Chucky doll. Apparently, this flick takes place one month after Child’s Play 3. And quite honestly, after revisiting them recently, I have many questions as to how this doll is still intact. You know, being completely torn to shreds at the end of that film. But really, who gives a shit when you have the kick-ass Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie blasting through the speakers?

When this movie came out, I was completely obsessed with the soundtrack. It featured bands like Coal Chamber, Type O Negative, Static-x, F*cking Slayer, as my man Jose Mangin would say. I could go on about these bands, but let’s get back to the movie.

Tiffany takes the shreds back to her trailer park home to give it the ol stich-a-roo until it comes into Chucky’s most iconic look. We then cut to the other cast of characters where a high schooler comes a-knocking on the door of the chief of police, Warren, played by the late-great John Ritter. Back when I first saw this, I was totally mind blown this guy was in a horror movie. I always associated him with roles like in Problem Child or the severely underrated Stay Tuned. The high schooler, David, is there to pick up John Ritter’s niece, Jade, while in turn, he picks up on David’s stereotypical gay tropes. A young Katherine Heigl plays Jade before she got her big break in mediocre rom-coms. As it turns out, David is, in fact, gay and acts as a plant to distract her strict uncle from her true love, bad boy Jesse. Things get all hot and heavy, but their make-out session quickly gets cut short by Officer Needle Nose, sent out by Uncle Warren, who has a hairline just like mine if I decide to let it grow out. Skull Shaver, feel free to sponsor me anytime. You’d think Warren would be somewhat compassionate compared to the other John Ritter roles, but here he is the complete asshole who feels stuck with Jade and compares Jesse to trailer trash.

Back in the trailer, Tiffany takes a page out of her Voodoo For Dummies to recite the famous Dambella curse on her old flame but is having a hard time getting it to work. Well, no shit, you aren’t pronouncing it right. An unrecognizable Alexis Arquette, who plays her Crow cosplaying boyfriend Damien, then shows up at her door. He shows her some Polaroids of some nasty-looking kills he claims to have just committed to try to win her heart. Which worked until she noticed it was actually him in the photos. I mean, shit man, can you blame him? Woof. Tiffany sees her spell actually worked when Chucky has suddenly gone missing, which leads her to trap him for Damien. She then ties up on the bed, which he assumes is some kink, but instead of being all for Damien, it’s all for Chucky…and for the audience, if I’m being honest. Tiffany tells our Jerry Seinfeld from Pulp Fiction about how Chucky and her were once lovers and how jealous he would get if anyone would even look at her. After joking about the size of Chucky, the doll of the hour finally comes to life with a one-liner. Chucky then makes sure Damien will be silent, be still while sitting on his face with a pillow as he reconnects with Tiffany. Aw, wook at the wittle guy as she picks him up. So cute.

While searching for Chucky for ten years, she has been waiting to settle down and start a family, even wearing a ring she thought he left for her. But Chucky had other intentions. “What are you f*cking nuts?” Crushed by this revelation, she realizes he won’t change and keeps him prisoner in a playpen. “My mother”.

The next day, Tiffany gets Jesse, who’s her neighbor, to help load up a box containing Damien’s remains. She gets a little flirty. “Wanna grab a drink?” He turns her down and tells her he’s already in love, to which she gives him some advice. RECORD SCRATCH Hold up. So, Jesse lives alone in the trailer park and is obviously old enough to drink. Why is he dating a 17-year-old high schooler? That’s creepy, bro. I’m sorry, guys, but the older I get, the more I understand where her uncle is coming from. Anywho, while still locked in the playpen, Tiffany surprises Chucky with a present: a bridal doll, who not only looks like Jennifer Tilly with dark hair but also conveniently has her unique voice.

She takes a relaxing bubble bath while watching a movie this flick takes many cues from when Chucky finally escapes. In a very stylish scene, Chucky kills Tiffany by pushing the TV set into the tub and electrocuting her. Aww. Wittle man wuvs his bubbles. He then proceeds to Ade Due Tiffany’s soul into the doll. He explains to her the only way they can get back into human form is to travel to the grave site of Charles Lee Ray to dig up the body and remove the Heart of Damballa amulet. Apparently he was wearing it when he got shot at the beginning of the first film, but, you know, we can overlook that. In order to get across the states, Tiffany phones up Jesse to see if she can drive the dolls. He demands to do it for a thousand bucks, which he thinks he can use to runaway with Jade. Tiff then ditches the wedding garb and gives herself the makeover we all know. After Jesse picks up the dolls, he hauls ass to Jades house to giver her the news about his new income, which, in his mind, is the equivalent of what I thought a thousand dollars was when I was 5. He also thinks this is more than enough for the pair to get married.

What these two don’t realize…ya know other than she may need parental consent to get married at 17…is that Warren was spying on them the entire time. However, our dolls noticed and begin to prepare how to take care of the problem. Chucky has it covered, but Tiffany wants to take this pinhead out in style. You know, this would make a killer mask. Hop on it, Trick or Treat Studios.

The couple then head off on their road trip, but it quickly runs into a roadblock when Officer Needle Nose catches up with them at the most happening convenience store in the US. Jesse tells her he will take care of the situation and sends her off to grab some snacks for the road. But when Needle Nose searches the van, he almost finds Warren’s body until Chucky decides to distract him with a stash he was smoking on.

While Needle Nose is in his car to report Jesse, Chucky sneaks out to shove a piece of clothing in the gas tank and lights it. Smelling the smoke, the crooked cop looks ahead to see the dolls waving at him just before the whole thing explodes. Seeing the explosion, Jade and Jesse high tail it the f*ck out of there and also have their first pre-marital spat accusing each other of being cop killers. Yep, that’s one sure way to get her to stay with you. Really. It worked in Knocked Up. Their first official stop on the Killer Love Tour is at a little wedding chapel and sleazeball motel where the pair tie the knot. Eh, they’re mediocre at best. Just like the music scene in 1998. While Chucky jams out to White Zombie’s Thunder Kiss ’65, Warren busts out of the container he was in, which lets Chucky finally get to jam his knife into Warren. Classic. Soon after, a con artist couple busts in the room who seemingly want Jade and Jesse to partake in a freak fest, but really they are there to steal Jesse’s money. This doesn’t fly with Tiffany, so she heads to their room, where she throws a bottle onto an overhead mirror, which shatters and kills the couple. Isn’t it funny how real CGI looked back then? This immediately makes Chucky feel like Pinocchio down in his good guy parts, and the two get right down to the promise of the movie’s tagline

The next morning, the maid pops in to clean the dead couple’s room. Seeing a bloodied mess, Jade and Jesse again flee the crime scene, but not before their friend David meets them. He knows for a fact the pair had nothing to do with any of the killings that have been going on and decides to tag along for moral support. But he then smells something a little funky coming from the back of the van, where he finds the dead body of Warren. He demands to have the van be pulled over and then pulls a gun on the newlyweds. As he backs away in fear of seeing the dolls come to life, a mother f*cking semi-truck plows right into him. Holy shit. Back in the late 90s and 2000s, this type of kill was severely overplayed. But that didn’t mean I didn’t see this one coming.

Chucky explains to the couple how they all got to where they are now and the unfortunate situation they have gotten themselves into. Since Jesse and Jade have now made the news, and every cop in the area is looking for them, they ditch the van for a camper originally owned by some old folks. Tiffany then begins to give Jade a make-over to her liking since she’s about to take over her body while also baking Chucky some fresh hot cookies. This doll’s got it all, folks. Remembering the conversation with Tiffany earlier about the dishes, Jesse takes this opportunity to let Chucky know how shitty of a housekeeper she is. This starts a huge, but pretty adorable argument that leads to Jade kicking Tiffany into the oven and the RV crashing off the road. She ends up busting out of the oven and attacks Jade, but Jesse comes to the rescue and yeets her out the window. The pair jump out the door just before the RV explodes.

Hey, the RV crashed right at the cemetery. How about that? Chucky takes Jade hostage, kills the poor son of a bitch digging up the grave of Charles Lee Ray, and forces Jade to open the coffin to grab the amulet.

Now, with the power of Damballa, Chucky begins the body-swapping curse, but Tiffany suddenly has a change of heart by quoting her favorite movie “WE BELONG DEAD.” And if Tiffany had watched the previous movies, she would have known that you don’t f*ck with the chuck. The dolls then begin to fight to the death, and apparently the power of Damballa let them grow a couple feet. The fight ends with Chucky stabbing Tiffany, killing her. Jesse then shows up and tells Chucky to eat a shovel and knocks him into the grave. Suddenly, a detective shows up, and he sees the real person behind the killings. And if you Five Nights at Freddy’s fans shit yourselves when William Afton said the line, remember our little Good Guy said it first. ‘I ALWAYS COME BACK.’ With the death of Chucky, Jesse and Jade are free to go. Do they live happily ever after? Who cares? Because there is a seed of Chucky coming out this motha.

And that’s it. Bride of Chucky came out in October of 1998 and opened at #2, just behind Practical Magic. The Chucky series is my favorite horror franchise and this film in particular remains my favorite. Is it the best one? Not really, but it’s a little personal to me since it’s the first R rated film I snuck into. What’s your favorite Child’s Play film? Let us know in the comments and we will see you on the next one.

A couple previous episodes of the Best Horror Party Movies series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!