The Child’s Play franchise has always had a bit of a Frankenstein edge. Like Mary Shelley goes to Toys “R” Us, Tom Holland’s original 1988 film begins with a thunderstorm transformation. Fatally shot by police, notorious murderer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) casts a spell that transfers his dying soul into the body of a nearby Good Guy doll. Eschewing Dr. Frankenstein’s lab and medical equipment, series creator Don Mancini uses dark magic to cinematically conquer death.
For three films, we watch the foul-mouthed doll befriend a little boy named Andy, played by Alex Vincent then Justin Whalin for the third, while continuing his ruthless murder sprees from inside this unassuming form. But as the franchise evolved through the years, the story outgrew its childhood lens and found new life with Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly), one of the most beguiling villains the horror world has ever seen.
After lying dormant for seven years, Mancini shocked the Child’s Play franchise back to life thanks to inspiration from Wes Craven’s Scream. Following the meta-slasher trend, Bride of Chucky is filled with campy humor, winking jokes that practically break the fourth wall, and commentary on the genre itself. But this dark romance feels most indebted to Elsa Lanchester’s brief but memorable scene in James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein. Rather than a monstrous woman created in a stormy lab, Tiffany tries in vain to embody Chucky’s ideal companion, losing herself along the way. We watch as this empowered woman slowly sees the prison she’s created by trying to please a monstrous man.
Director Ronny Yu begins the film with tongue planted firmly in cheek. A hired cop raids a police storage facility, walking past a series of iconic slasher memorabilia to steal an innocuous plastic bag. The moment he dares to peer inside, a mysterious killer slashes his throat. As Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl” overtakes the ominous score, a set of stilettos saunters through the bloody crime scene. A blonde bombshell in a black leather mini skirt idly perfects her nails with the bloody file she just used to murder the cop. She calmly retrieves the plastic bag, and we’re introduced to Tiffany, the former girlfriend of Charles Lee Ray. After ten years of searching for Chucky’s remains, this glamorous woman has finally succeeded in tracking down the love of her life.
Returning to her elaborately decorated trailer home, Tiffany gathers her craft supplies and gets to work. Manifesting the spirit of Dr. Frankenstein, she begins painstakingly stitching her man back together. But rather than stolen corpses and dismembered limbs, Tiffany uses doll parts, twine, and a heavy-duty stapler to reconstruct the notorious Good Guy doll still scarred by the violence of Chucky’s last rampage. With her crafting complete, Tiffany consults her copy of Voodoo for Dummies to perform a resurrection ritual. Moments later, Chucky springs back to life and murders Damien (Alexis Arquette), Tiffany’s latest paramour. But surprisingly, this long-awaited reunion is spoiled not by the grisly death but by Chucky’s horrific attitude.
For ten years, Tiffany has assumed that a diamond ring she found on the day her murderous boyfriend died was an engagement ring meant for her. She’s been wearing it ever since, while desperately seeking to restore her path to a fairytale ending — or at least one told through her violent lens. But when Tiffany mentions getting engaged, Chucky laughs in her face. It seems this ring is just a piece of his ill-gotten loot, stolen from a previous victim. Tiffany realizes that the relationship she’s been dreaming about has been a nightmare all along. Chucky never wanted to marry her, and their undying love is a fantasy. Heartbroken, she traps her would-be fiancé inside a makeshift playpen cage and then cries herself to sleep next to Damien’s corpse.
The next day, Tiffany vows to punish Chucky for his cruel dismissal. She thrusts a traditional bride doll into his cage, suggesting it’s the companion he deserves. But she’s handed the killer a dangerous tool. While lounging in a bubble bath, Tiffany watches Bride of Frankenstein and cries as she considers her doomed relationship. Meanwhile, Chucky is using the engagement ring to chip away at the playpen’s walls. Once free, he stalks towards Tiffany, dragging the bride doll in one hand and wielding a large knife in the other. Though she manages to fight off Chucky’s blade, Tiffany suffers a horrendous death when he pushes her TV into the tub. A modern version of Whale’s laboratory scene, Chucky watches electricity wrack his bride’s body, then completes his own transformative ritual.
Like Lanchester’s Bride, Tiffany awakens, horrified by her corporeal form. Though likely outraged to be trapped inside a plastic toy, she’s equally disturbed by the doll’s boring wedding look. She wastes no time swapping a French manicure for black nail polish; subtle makeup for a dark, smoky eye. She replaces a demure, brunette updo with platinum, blonde layers enhanced by dark lipstick and a beauty mark. Tiffany keeps the white satin wedding gown but tops it with a black leather jacket and a doll-sized pair of Dr. Martens. Channeling riot grrrl energy, this empowering makeover — set to Blondie’s “Call Me” — deconstructs traditional beauty norms and our concept of the perfect bride. “Barbie, eat your heart out,” indeed.
With her ultra-glam look and girly-pop edge, Tiffany embodies the individuality of Third Wave Feminism, a ‘90s-era movement built on feminized strength and reclaimed sexuality. Daughters of the women who once burned their bras began reinventing traditional female roles by infusing them with autonomy. Tiffany has no problem baking cookies for her man, but only if he reciprocates by cleaning the kitchen. Her idol, Martha Stewart, is a prime example of this dichotomy. The lifestyle mogul dominated the ‘90s with her WASP-ish style of domestic perfection, but she never sought to please a man and built a billion-dollar empire on her own. In fact, Stewart’s 2004 conviction for insider trading could be read as a symbolic punishment for unparalleled success in the masculine world of finance and business. Fully embracing her own villain era, it’s no wonder Tiffany idolizes a woman who has mastered the art of feminine strength.
Despite her new and exciting look, Tiffany longs for a human body. She and Chucky plan a road trip-turned kidnapping to Hackensack, NJ, intent on retrieving a powerful artifact. Buried with the body of Charles Lee Ray, the Heart of Damballa will allow him to transfer his and Tiffany’s souls back into two human bodies. Jesse (Nick Stabile) and his girlfriend Jade (Katherine Heigl) are their chauffeurs/hostages/future hosts redirected from their own impromptu wedding in Niagara Falls. Along the way, the lovers-turned-dolls reconnect over a mutual fondness for gruesome murder. Tiffany wows Chucky with a particularly vicious double homicide in a newlywed suite, and he recommits to the gorgeous doll. Surrounded by blood and shattered glass, he proposes with another stolen ring, this time ripped from the severed finger of Tiffany’s latest victim.
Unfortunately, there’s trouble in paradise. Desperate to save themselves, Jade and Jesse begin exacerbating cracks in the dolls’ fragile relationship. Jesse encourages Chucky to criticize Tiffany’s housekeeping while Jade points out Chucky’s laziness. Tiffany responds with explosive rage, hurling plates at her fiancé’s face. Jade takes this opportunity to push Tiffany into an oven, still hot from the cookies she baked for her man. The doll emerges charred and burnt to a crisp, an outward manifestation of her murderous rage. After everything she’s done for Chucky, he can’t even be bothered to clean a dish! While frustrating, Chucky’s callous attitude leads Tiffany to a deeper truth. The man she loves does not consider her an equal partner in their relationship, and in trying to become his perfect companion, she has turned herself into a monster.
That’s not to say that Tiffany was an angel before becoming engaged. Part of her intense attraction to Chucky is undeniably because of his ruthlessness. Damien tries to woo the bloodthirsty woman with a Polaroid of his latest kill, only to face her scorn when he sheepishly admits that it’s actually a picture of himself. Tiffany also racks up an impressive body count of her own. It’s she who devises an elaborate trap to kill Jade’s malicious uncle. Claiming that basic stabbings are out, she encourages Chucky to improvise. But regardless of how Tiffany views human life in general, she holds herself to a higher standard and demands to be treated with respect.
Watching Jesse’s attempts to rescue Jade, she finally admits that Chucky would sooner laugh in her face than risk his life for her. They have nothing like the love Jesse and Jade share, and the second they claim their new human bodies, that romance will crumble away to dust. Though she may be engaged to a serial killer, this is a death Tiffany cannot accept.
As Chucky begins the ritual, Tiffany stops him by quoting Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster: “Oh, Chucky. Look at us. Don’t you see? We belong dead.” In her all-consuming need for companionship, Tiffany has become someone she doesn’t recognize to please a man not worth her love. She may look and act like the perfect goth Bride styled to please her ideal mate, but her sacrifice means nothing without a partner willing to do the same. She has become a prisoner of a fantasy love that doesn’t reflect reality. And no ritual on Earth can transform her monster into a prince who loves her back.
Here Comes the Bride; Maggie Gyllenhaal’s spin on the Bride of Frankenstein arrives in March. We’re celebrating with a look back at the various iterations of the classic horror icon.
