Bride of Chucky - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Bride of Chucky



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Nearly a year later, Scream Factory is finishing up the final 4 Chucky films in 4K, and to start out this extravaganza of stabbings, is the last of the original sequels that had much merit to it. The series had started to devolve over the years with the films getting campier and campier. The kills becoming more gory, and the scares being pushed out for dark humor and more of Chucky, rather than the human element of the horror franchise at the forefront. The first will still be an absolutely amazing 80s horror flick, with the 2nd and 3rd sequels having some merit, but Bride of Chucky is where the series sort of went full on late 90s campy. HOWEVER, I will very gleefully admit that Bride is one of my favorites of the series, almost next to the second one, just for the sheer campiness of it all. We have Jennifer Tilly, doll sex, and John Ritter hamming it up as a jerk uncle. What’s not to like?

Set 10 years after the 3rd movie where Chucky gets destroyed for the “final” time, we come back into the story as Charles Lee Ray’s ex Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) convinces a cop (and subsequently cuts his throat) to bring her the body of Chucky. Putting him back together she attempts the same voodoo spell that Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif once more) used to put himself into the good guy doll, and it actually works. Only thing is, Tiffany forgot how much of a creep her ex boy toy was, and decides to put him in a cage as punishment. Only thing is, Chucky don’t stay down, and decides to kill her and put her soul into a doll as well.

Time’s running out, though, and the two of them have to make it to physical body’s burial location to get a mystical voodoo amulet that was around his neck when he died that can actually restore them into human form. Unfortunately short stubby plastic legs won’t get them very far, so the maniacal macabre pair decides to hitch a ride with a pair of star struck lovers (a baby faced Katherine Heigl and Nick Stabil) who are trying to get away from the clutches of the corrupt town sheriff (John Ritter in an oddly different role than he’s used to playing).

As you could have guessed, murder, mayhem, and general death happens along the way as the start crossed lovers are soon implicated for some of the deaths that Chucky and Tiffany are causing. That being said, the two dolls aren’t exactly having the best time either. Twisted love soon turns into distrust, hatred, and ultimately betrayal as Tiffany learns that stalking level obsession with her old boyfriend may be her undoing, and Chucky finds out that love sometimes has a bit of a bite to it as well.

Bride of Chucky is a massive change of pace from the previous films. The first 3 films are very much evil horror movies with some sly dark humor thrown in. Even the 3rd one focused more on the human element with Chucky the psychotic killer. This film throws the human element almost completely out of the window, instead focusing on Tiffany and Chucky’s relationship. Instead of sly humor and biting wit, we have full blown campiness and heavy handed winks/nods at the camera as Chucky alludes to previous films, other horror movies, and generally makes a mockery of the dark character that was before.

As many flaws as the film has, Bride of Chucky is one of my guilty pleasures. The film is SOOOOO late 90s, with a full on cast of big name (and some small named) actors of the day, with John Ritter hamming it up to level 9, and Michael Gordon Woolvett making an appearance as the gay best friend before he showed up 2 years later as series regular on Kevin Sorbo’s Andromeda. The film is absolutely bonkers, but in a good way. The jokes work, Jennifer Tilly is that perfect va-va-voom that the series needed, and the doll sex scene is still one of the funniest scenes in the entire franchise. I can’t help but giggle like a 12 year old whenever that part of the film comes up.




Rating:

Rated R for strong horror violence and gore, language, some sexual content and brief drug use




4K Video: Video:

Bride of Chucky got a notoriously mediocre transfer from the Universal Blu-ray. It was taken from a DVD era master, and suffered from a lot of problems related to that ear. Scream Factory has supposedly gone in and gotten a new 4K scan from the negative, which is used for both the Blu-ray and the 4K UHD included in this combo set, and the results are absolutely stunning. I was shocked at the difference a new master makes, as both the Blu-ray and 4K UHD disc looks fantastic. The Blu-ray sports a more brightened look, but the 4K has a more natural tone amidst all of the inky blackness that the night time based film revels in. Colors are rich and well saturated, and black levels are absolutely superb. Detail levels are absolutely amazing, as we can see everything from John Ritter’s stubble, to the creases and cracks in Chucky’s pieces together plastic form in perfect HD. There is some possible grain reduction going on, but nothing major, and most of the grain left is spot on perfect. There’s a few oddball scenes (such as at the cemetery) where we get grain spikes and there’s some mild chunkiness. Otherwise this is a superb looking 2160p transfer that beats the old Universal transfer by a mile, and improves quite nicely on the great looking new Blu-ray that Scream has included.








Audio:

From what I can tell, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is a direct clone of the Universal disc, or at least taken from the same source that the Uni disc had (and possibly simply re-encoded). That mean’s it’s a very solid sounding track that makes good use of surrounds, and a very prominent dialog track up front. There’s not a TON of bass, but it does show up in the Nu-Metal score and when Michael Gordon Woolvett’s unfortunately meets the front grill of a semi, otherwise it’s fairly muted. There’s a lot of front heavy activity with the talky bits, but I was actually pleasantly surprised with the ambient noises like Chucky’s footsteps skittering around from the back of the room, or the rattling of traffic. Good track, may not be Atmos, but it’s still very solid.







Extras:

Disc 1: 4K UHD
• NEW 4K MASTER FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
• DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
• Audio Commentary with director Ronny Yu
• Audio Commentary with actors Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and screenwriter Don Mancini
• Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0
• Optional Engish subtitles for the main feature

Disc 2: Blu-ray
• NEW 4K MASTER FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
• Audio Commentary with director Ronny Yu
• Audio Commentary with actors Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and screenwriter Don Mancini
• BRIDE OF CHUCKY Spotlight on Location
• The Making of BRIDE OF CHUCKY
• Additional screens from the television version
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots

Final Score: ​

Bride of Chucky was probably the last hurrah of the original series before it goes straight downhill in the next film (which would be it’s swan song until they decided to sorta reboot it a few years back). It’s a huge tonal shift from the previous films, adding in late 90s humor, less gore, and more Jennifer Tilly’s trademark “ girl” humor. I still die laughing at the doll sex scene, but this is a more of a “splatstick” style of Chucky movie vs. a dark gore fest with Chucky taking all the comedic lines. Great 4K disc though, and a nice face lift to those of us who have been stuck with the mediocre Universal disc for years. Fun watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Katherine Heigl, Nick Stabil, Alexis (Robert) Arquette, Gordon Michael Woolvett, John Ritter
Directed by: Ronny Yu
Written by: Don Mancini
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 89 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 28th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Watch