DVD Review: Bride of Chucky

Where to begin. I was never really a fan of the Child's Play movies. I'm not sure what it was about them, but I just found the whole exercise of the killer doll to be little bit tired and a little bit silly, especially the sequels. That was a long time ago. I recently watched the original film and found it to be an effectively creepy little horror movie with some funny dark humor tossed in for good measure. All in all, a pretty good example of the direction that horror films were moving towards in the mid to late 1980's. Well, 1998 rolls around and Universal decides to bring Chucky back to the big screen in a newly reimagined vision from Hong Kong import Ronny Yu, who would go on to helm the entertaining Freddy vs. Jason. The result is my favorite of the series, and officially made me a fan of the character.

This movie totally reinvents the character, it retains the black magic elements, the penchant for blades, and of course the doll. But, it takes it to another level, they have done away with the terrorize the kid aspect, amped up the humor, and given Chucky a new look more befitting of a budding horror icon. They even gave us a second doll to enjoy.

The movie starts on a rainy night, a cop is raiding the evidence lockers, bypassing many familiar looking instruments of death from other movies. He makes his way to a locker filled with bits of broken doll and delivers them to a mysterious woman. This is where the movie takes off and doesn't look back. The woman is Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), she was Chucky's former girlfriend who has been studying spells in an effort to bring her boyfriend back to the land of flesh. Through a mistake in the spell, and some mischief from the newly reanimated Chucky doll, we end up with two dolls who set out on a quest to regain their human form. But to do that they need to take a journey. To make the trip, they take advantage of a couple of lovestruck teens seeking freedom from her oppressive, police chief father. Needless to say, the trip results in mysterious, bloody deaths, plenty of dark humor, and a splash of style that was lacking in the previous volumes.

There is a lot to like here. The doll's new look with the stitched scars and such make him look more menacing and evil than before, where he just looked like a creepy kid's toy (which may be enough). The deaths are fun, going so far as to poke fun at the earlier entries with regards to the use of bladed weapons. The acting is a cut above, yet still falls clearly within the realm of camp. The dialogue is witty, the dolls banter, the kids bicker, the adults just plain have no clue.

This was Ronny Yu's second American film, following Warriors of Virtue, and brings this character up a few notches. Chucky was always a secondary horror star. But this film launches him up the ladder. Yu has a unique vision, and uses his decidedly non-American filmmaking style to great effect. What we get is a movie that is funny, yet has enough of a horror element that keeps it from being just a lark. And the DVD that resulted from it is also a nice package.

Video. The film is presented it it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is anamorphically enhanced. The image looks good for a disk of this age, it came out in 1999. It does get a bit dark at times and loses detail, but it is still a decent looking transfer.

Audio. We get a Dolby Digital 5.1 track which is very nice. Good separation and levels which make dialogue easy to hear. No complaints.

Extras. A decent selection is contained within, just too much text.
-Production notes. A text feature from the set.
-Jennifer Tilly's Diary. This is a reprint of her notes that originally appeared in Premiere Magazine.
-History of Chucky. More text about how Chucky started from the first film on up.
-Commentary #1. This features Jennifer Tilly(Tiffany), Brad Dourif(Chucky), and Don Mancini(writer). I cannot comment on this as I have not sampled it yet.
-Commentary #2. This one is solo with director Ronny Yu. It is a good track, Yu has an engaging personality and shares stories on how he came to be on the project and difficulties while making the film.

Bottomline. Bride of Chucky saved the character and reintroduced him to a new generation of horror fans. There is a great look and style, a witty story, and some nice kills. I just hope that Seed of Chucky can stand up to it.

Recommended.