Directed by Ronny Yu [Other horror films: Jui gwai chat hung (1983), Lung hei bik yan (1984), Meng gui fo tiao qiang (1988), Freddy vs. Jason (2003)]
I will admit, this was a deeply disappointing rewatch.
Much of the gore and death sequences in this movie are solid. Electrocution scene, well-done. Nails to the head, pretty good (though I could’ve done without the Pinhead reference). Waterbed death – good idea, not that great an execution. Overall, though, the movie is best when it focuses on these scenes.
Because nothing else is really worthy of much praise.
Jennifer Tilly’s voice annoys me, I won’t lie. But what annoys me so much more is all of the in-jokes this movie had, from the aforementioned Pinhead reference, to a joke about the amount of sequels this series has, and even throwing in artifacts from other famous slashers (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, etc.). It felt off. Not stupid exactly, but just too close to parody.
An even bigger problem is the story, though, which I just didn’t care for all that much. Because of it’s lighter tone, it’s missing almost all of the suspense that the first three movies possessed, and because of the nature of the plot, it felt extraordinarily ridiculous at times, pretty much all stemming from Tiffany’s character.
Acting was a mixed bag, with some good (Katherine Heigl and Lawrence Dane), some eh (Nick Stabile and Gordon Michael Woolvett), and some atrocious (Michael Louis Johnson is the biggest problem here). John Ritter’s character was a piece of trash, but it was nice to see a friendly face. Brad Dourif did just as good in this performance as he has before, but the script really didn’t help him out. And as much as I don’t want to bash on Tilly, I didn’t care for her character whatsoever, even before her soul went into the doll.
This is a steep decline from the first three movies. The third certainly wasn’t perfect, but it’s tone was still pretty menacing at times. This flick just felt glossy, a bit ridiculous, somewhat vapid, and aside from the gore, not really worth that much. And the ending was just terrible, I thought. Perhaps the most disappointing rewatch in a while, Bride of Chucky didn’t really do it at all for me this time around.
5.5/10
Bride of Chucky is one of the film’s Fight Evil has covered on our podcast, episode #31. Give Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and I a listen as we discuss this sequel.
Jiggy's Horror Corner 
5 thoughts on “Bride of Chucky (1998)”