Bride of Chucky (1998)

Episode 381, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: We continue our series on Chucky this month by skipping the third. We did the second last week, and I don’t know, Craig, you know better than I, so you suggested that we go ahead and skip the third and go with 1998’s Bride of Chucky.

So that’s what we’re doing today. What was the reasoning behind that again? 

Craig: Okay, so the third is not a bad movie, but it’s probably most people’s least favorite, except for there are some people who really hate the most recent ones. It’s just because It doesn’t do a whole lot. I mean, there’s a story, but it’s basically, Andy’s eight years older, he gets sent to military school, Chucky finds him, the chase ensues, the only thing that’s different is that Andy’s older, it’s at a military school, and Chucky decides he doesn’t have to go into Andy, he can go into somebody else, and he gloms on to this other little boy, and manipulates this other little boy to like, help him do bad things.

There’s a cool set piece at the end, just like there was in part two, and that’s really fun. Ten minutes are great, but there’s not really anything consequential in terms of the pl the overarching plot of the whole story. It rarely gets called back to because there’s just not really much to call back to.

So I thought it might be fun for us to watch sometime when we had time to like do a minisode or whatever, but we’re trying to squeeze in as much Chucky as we can, and I don’t think that one makes the cut, if we have to cut any of 

Todd: them. You’re right. Well, we got to cut some because this, we don’t have enough months.

There’ve been so many Chucky sequels. We did cover just kind of do an overview of the series and talk about the TV series in a mini soda a few months ago for our patrons and we will be covering child’s play three. In a mini sode for our patron. So if you’re interested in hearing a full discussion about that, it will not be on a publicly available podcast, but you can go to our Patreon page and get a sneak preview of that.

And if you like what you hear, consider becoming a patron joining the club and getting access to that. And a bunch of other Mini sos. So that is a chainsaw ho.com. You can follow the link for our Patreon page or go to patreon.com/chainsaw horror, and that is our commercial for today. Now onto the bride of Chucky.

Like I said at the beginning of this, I had said I’d only seen the first Child’s Play and that was a lie. I had actually seen Bride of Chucky as well. Those were the only two I had seen before we started this and I think it’s kind of part of the reason I was really interested in doing this whole series this month is because I am not as caught up as you are.

Craig is a mega fan. Definitely. I remember seeing Bride of Chucky back in the 90s and enjoying it a lot. It has a real mid to late 90s sensibility to it and I think it was rebooted after what, I think there’s seven years between. Child’s Play 3 A long, 

Craig: yeah. A long 

Todd: time. I think it was Scream and sort of the new era of slashers that inspired Don Mancini and uh, the producer, David Kirshner, something like that, to uh, reboot this series and definitely update it with more of a late 90s sensibility, so it’s got a lot of self referential stuff in it.

It’s very self aware. 

Craig: Right. 

Todd: Hung firmly in cheek, and it’s very, very slick production with beautiful people. 

Craig: Ha ha ha, like we had during there. Yeah, because it was expensive. This was the most expensive one to date, as far as I know. I think it was like 25 million. Wow. And I think it shows. Well, it totally 

Todd: shows.

I mean, the series, even from the beginning, I think invested a lot of time and money and effort into getting these puppets right. I assume a lot of that production money went into this, but also just into the general set. I mean, this is a much bigger movie. It has explosions, and it has more locations, and.

It’s just grand in scope. And I’m not surprised because as soon as the credits came up, I said that the director is Ronnie Yu. And I am a big fan of Ronnie Yu. His movie, The Bride with White Hair, which came out a few years before this, and certainly is a big reason why he was selected to do this, is just phenomenal.

Craig, I don’t know if you’re into like, I sense you’re not really into, like, wuxia movies, like, kung fu type 

movies. 

Craig: No, the only thing that I know that Ronnie Wu did was Freddy vs. Jason. 

Todd: Oh yeah, he did that after this, didn’t he? Later. He did The Bride with White Hair, and I would suggest that if anyone out there is interested in getting into those Millions and millions of Hong Kong.

Wuxia is like a genre that combines, you know, martial arts with magic. And so people are flying around. And I think like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was one of the first sort of Hollywood movie, certainly not the first Hollywood movie, but certainly probably the most popular Hollywood movie that kind of brought Wuxia to mainstream American audiences.

And it was a big hit. The genre gets. Pretty wacky, way wackier than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon ever was. And I think more fun. There’s a lot of horror crossover there. Like a lot of horror fans, I think could really get into that. And I would suggest if you’re at all interested, The Bride with White Hair is the perfect gateway movie into that genre.

It is just exciting. It’s fun. It has a heartbreaking story. It’s full of action and. It’s got a lot of the, those horror elements as well. It’s just a blast. And so, yeah, I can’t speak highly enough of that movie. So I’m really not surprised to see that he was behind this one, which I really enjoyed. I enjoyed it when I first saw it.

I enjoyed it again when I saw it, probably even more so when I saw it this time. In, in what, in some ways it was kind of like going back to an old friend because I remembered it and I remembered the sensibility. In other ways, it was like going back to the 90s and remembering what horror movies were like during this time as well.

And it seems to have set the stage for a turn. In the series, if you will, towards the, what the Chucky is more or less now, unless, unless we’re in kind of a third incarnation at this point, you can tell me 

Craig: more about that. Yeah, I would say we are maybe kind of in a third incarnation now. It’s a little bit different because these, even more so the next one, Seed, really lean into the silliness.

But this one does too. I have to be honest with you. When, you know, we decided to do this. I was down because I am a huge fan, but when I thought, okay, I’ve got to watch, I’ve got to watch Bride here in the next day or whatever, I was kind of like, uh, God, and part of that is just because I’ve seen it so many times, like so many times.

I’ve seen it. I’m like, uh, you’re kind of tired. I’ve seen it right. And then I started it and I realized right away that I hadn’t watched it from the very beginning in a really long time. I was sitting here. You know, in my living room, in front of my computer screen, as I always am, and from the get go, I was so into it, and I was dying laughing through the whole thing, like, I thought it was so funny, and it’s quippy, it’s one liners, but they land for me, and I’m just, it’s, it’s like Puns and, and, oh God, but it’s really well written.

Yeah. I basically retyped the script because there were so many lines that I loved. And so I had hoped that you would enjoy it because otherwise I was going to think, Oh God, I don’t know how to defend this movie. If you don’t like it, you just don’t. But it, it gets me like it gets my sense of humor and it’s action packed.

The acting is really good. And Jennifer Tilly, and I just love Jennifer Tilly. I just think that she’s fantastic. I’ve never seen her in anything that I didn’t like. This is what I know her from the most, but she leans into this character so much. Not to mention the fact that she is drop. 

Todd: Yeah, teenage Todd was very much in love with Jennifer 

Craig: Tilly.

Oh my god, she’s curvy and she just exudes sex and she’s got that Bixany kind of voice. Like, I love her voice. It’s, uh, and she’s great both as Tiffany, both as Tiffany Valentine, the person where you actually get to see her doing physical stuff, but then also as the voice of Tiffany, the doll. I just love her.

She’s my favorite part of the series. Period. The 

Todd: end, and that was our episode. No, she’s like a modern day Betty Boop. Especially back at this time. Like, she’s got that voice that is cute and doll like in itself, but also she’s got that huge sex appeal. It really works well, I think, in this movie. 

Craig: And she’s like, I don’t know, when did this come out?

I didn’t even write it down. 1998. Oh, 1998. So, a long ass time ago, and the girl still looks great. She looks faaaaaaantastic. And she’s working 

Todd: like crazy. She has so So many credits. Uhhuh . It’s, it’s insane actually. I think right now she’s in, I think she’s been doing Family Guy Forever and uh, she’s in the Chucky series now as well, right?

Craig: Yes. She’s an integral part of it, and it’s so good. Oh, it’s so good. But I, this movie’s great and I think it’s one of the greatest cold opens, like it’s one of my favorite cold open. Ever the evidence depository this, you know, it’s a dark and stormy night and you see a sign that says, I don’t know, Lakeview or whatever evidence depository and this, this lone guy walks in and all the lights are out.

So it’s just the like moonlight and lightning shining through the high windows that’s illuminating tall rows of evidence and in there you see the crate from. Creepshow, you see Jason’s hockey mask, you see Freddie’s glove, you see Mike Meyer’s mask, I think, and Leatherface’s chainsaw. Like, these are just all in this one police depository.

It’s so campy. And I thought, it’s so great. And this guy’s like, obviously being shady and sneaking around, and he opens up a locker and he grabs the contents, he throws something else inside, and then he leaves. As he’s driving, he calls somebody, and it’s a woman who we don’t know yet, but it’s Jennifer Tilly, and you can’t mistake her voice.

He’s like, I got it. And she’s like, okay. And just don’t forget, and then he like almost dies because he’s not paying attention to the road, and she giggles into the phone when he’s almost dying, and then he’s like, don’t forget what? She’s like, uh, curiosity killed the cat, and so he parks at the location that they’re supposed to meet, and it’s raining and thunder and lightning, he gets curious, and he goes to start to open the bag, and classic I told you, this becomes a thing.

People popping out from behind the driver’s seat of a car. It happens so often. And this is one of the best, and she pops up from behind him and slits his throat and pulls, you know, once he’s dead, she pulls out the eviscerated Chucky. And he’s all kind of mangled like that because of the way that he dies.

Well, no, I’ll save it. It’s because of the way that he dies in part three that he looks like that. Okay, yeah, I wasn’t And, uh, I just thought it was, uh, I just thought it was such a great, I love that it, it’s so atmospheric, and it really kind of sets the tone. This movie is really interesting tonally. They, they, it references, obviously, in the title, Bride of Frankenstein, and Jennifer Tilly watches Bride of Frankenstein later, and there are Parallels to the two stories.

And it kind of has a little bit, sometimes, not all the time, that kind of classic hammer feel where it’s always, yeah, yeah. And where it’s always dark and stormy and the lighting is really severe. And I 

Todd: love that. There’s lightning flashing through half of the scenes in this movie. Every time they’re outside, it’s dark and there’s lightning and there’s either a storm going right now because it’s raining or there.

It’s just a storm coming because it’s flashing all over the place. Yeah, it’s really great. That helps to add to that grandiose feel. And I might add a bit of that. Woosha. Uh, taste to it as well. You’re gonna find that kind of thing a lot in the wuxia action movies. And, uh, it’s really cool for me because I remember this period of time, I was just out of high school, I was in college right now, but this was the grunge slash, we were moving into like industrial type stuff, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, all those were becoming popular, and it seemed like our movies were getting a little bit of that.

Edgier aesthetic and this film seems to really lead into it. We got a lot of Rob Zombie songs in here. Yeah, uh, Jennifer Tilley’s boyfriend who comes in. I wasn’t surprised to find out earlier that part had been offered to Marilyn Manson because the guy comes in looking like Marilyn Manson and he is this absolutely.

Ridiculous kind of wanna be goth guy. She’s very much a goth girl. Her trailer that she’s in is covered with dolls, and it just has, quite frankly, a really cool like haunted house aesthetic to it, and she’s clearly wearing the pants in this relationship. And I like that. Like, yeah, he’s pathetic. She is really strong.

You know, you really need a strong female character to kind of Go up, not against Chucky, but kind of with him, right, to play off of him in this movie. He ends up sort of abusing her, but she ends up getting come up and says here and there, like she’s not going to take his shit. And she does that both as an adult and as a doll.

And I think that by play really helps. Make this movie work as well. She feels in many ways almost as strong as Chuckie. Oh, absolutely. And certainly it’s strong in personality, you know? Yeah, 

Craig: she’s a great rivals, not the word, but adversary, I guess for him, like like a Bonnie and Clyde type. Right, right.

They have a love hate relationship and it works really well. And I love that. And Damien is played by Alexis Arquette before her transition. Like I think she’s great in this movie, but she is playing a spoof of Marilyn Manson. So it’s almost funny that they would offer it to him because he would really have to have a really good sense of humor about himself, which I kind of have a feeling he doesn’t.

Todd: I kind of feel like that. 

Craig: He doesn’t seem to be like a very good. person. I think Alexis does a great job. And I also forgot that before, you know, I’m sure she still was after she transitioned, but before she transitioned, she was hot. Like she’s covered in tattoos. She’s ripped. I was like, okay, Damien, like, I don’t know.

Okay. We forgot to say. She brings home the doll Tiffany brings home the doll and she like stitches it up and this version of Chucky just looks badass He’s like mangled. Did you notice they brought back the metal skull? I did 

Todd: notice that I was I had forgotten about that I get to make it more durable, right?

Craig: I guess but she she stitches them up and then she tries to do she has voodoo for dummies and she tries to do the They do a dim blah and you know she goes through the whole thing and at the end she says awake awake and he doesn’t wake up and she says what a crock and throws the book down and then Damien comes over she’s annoyed with him because he like says he’s going to kill people but he doesn’t really like he showed her a fake picture that was just like him made up to look all mangled or whatever but as they’re talking she noticed she looks and Chucky’s gone so she doesn’t know where he is but she kind of tries to get Damien to uh, Inadvertently look for him.

Todd: It’s like she wants Damien dead. Oh, she definitely does It’s obvious early on and Damien is it’s just a complete dork 

Craig: Hey, Tiffany. What are you doing here? Come on. Let me in. I’ll catch my death out here 

Todd: By the way, I knew so many guys like this in high school is kind of funny it’s so funny the by play and It creates a lot of tension for us.

I thought I really enjoyed this whole sequence, which could have, you know, maybe some people thinks this whole thing and maybe the whole movie drags on a bit. I found that the movie was really skillful in its writing that there was always, even if there wasn’t a kill, even if there wasn’t Chucky, there was always something really damn interesting happening on the screen, in my opinion.

And, and in this sequence is just well constructed and I really liked it. 

Craig: Yes, I do, too. And eventually Chucky, like, I don’t know, pops up somewhere. Tiffany, I knew you were obsessed, but I’m not obsessed. Chucky? He’s so 80s. He doesn’t even look scary. No, he’s not. Yes, he is. I feel like that was the attitude people, some people, skeptics had when they were bringing it back after 10 years or whatever it was.

Chucky, he’s so 80s. He’s not even scary. Stupid doll. Hilarious. Tiffany handcuffs Damien to the bed and sits Chucky on his chest and then dances. for both of them. That 

Todd: was really 

Craig: hot. At this point, she reveals her entire history with Charles Lee Ray. You see, we lived together for years. Of course, that was before the cops killed him.

That was before he passed his soul into that doll there. Boy, was he ever jealous. Anybody even Chuckie would take care of him. Wouldn’t you, Chuckie? We were gonna get married. Damien says something insulting. He’s like, he’s not even big enough to satisfy a woman like you or something like that. Chucky’s head turns around 180 degrees.

Very much Exorcist like. It’s 

Todd: not the size that counts, it’s how you use it. Yeah! 

Craig: Every line killed me! He rips out Damien’s face, piercing, this is a gory movie, I like that too. Lots of great, great practical effects. And then he suffocates him by holding A pillow over his face, and then just sitting on it while he has a conversation with Timothy.

It took him a long 

Todd: time to 

Craig: suffocate. And their conversation, their conversation is like, How you been? And she says, It took me 10 years to find you. And, and he’s like, Well, what are you doing with that guy? And she’s like, Well, 10 years is a long time. And she said, And I haven’t even been with him. You know me, I’ll kill anybody, but I’ll only sleep with someone I love.

She just, she leans into this character so hard. And at this point, she has to love doing it. I mean, I certainly hope so. It’s possible she’s just doing it for the check, but I really don’t think so. I think it’s just such a. I, I, I think it would be so fun to play and she gets to be wild and crazy and scream and do physical stuff later.

Again, I’ll try not to spoil too much. I kind of feel like you have a general idea later. She gets to have a lot of fun. Jennifer, Jennifer Tilley gets a lot of have. Fun lampooning herself and and she’s great at that too. So I could go on about her for the next 45 minutes. So we should probably just move on one thing that we have failed to mention so far.

And this is the only part of the movie that I don’t like. It’s the stupid starcrossed lovers subplot. Oh, yeah, it’s dumb. I don’t care for either of those actors. I mean, I don’t know him really from anything other than this. I looked at his IMDB page. He’s done a lot of like daytime soaps and some other stuff.

He’s a handsome guy. He’s very, very handsome and he’s not terrible. I just don’t care about these characters and anytime they’re on screen, I just wish they would go away and get back to the other things. And Katherine Heigl is the girl and I, I don’t care for her as an actress. I don’t know. She’s probably a lovely person, but I just don’t enjoy her as an actress and I don’t enjoy her here.

She was 

Todd: big at this time though. Well, this is right 

Craig: before she got big. I think, yeah. This is, she is right on the cusp of her huge breakout, which was Grace, of course. But, uh, Julia Stiles was originally cast, but she had to drop out to do 10 things I hate about you. I’m kind of happy for her. Because it’s just, it’s this star crossed lovers thing where this girl, she’s from the right side of the tracks and he’s from the wrong side of the tracks.

They’re both ridiculously good looking, but they want to be together, but they can’t because her parents have died and her. I don’t know her guardian her uncle. I don’t know if they ever make that clear But her guardian is like the sheriff and he’s sheriff John Ritter. John Ritter is awesome. By the way.

Oh, he is always yeah yeah, I think he passed before we started doing this because if if He hadn’t we certainly would have done a tribute for him cuz cool amazing amazing guy and and he’s fun in this It’s just fun to see him pop up and he’s sinister. He plays a bad guy in this Yeah, and he does everything he pulls crooked cop shit to keep them apart Like he’s constantly got like one of his deputies like trailing them and stopping them and stuff But they’re so in love and they just like they have to run away together and get married Uh, like it’s so boring.

Todd: You’re right These scenes are boring and it’s so typical and it’s cliche and I think it’s supposed to be I think they’re really Setting up kind of a parallels here between their relationship and then Chuckie and and Tiffany’s relationship, you know, very much right? Yeah, it’s almost obligatory, right?

You gotta have the teenagers in there doing teenage stuff. I also noticed that this also followed that late 90s sensibility that has carried into the 2000s of super, super gory, really, really chased on sex. Yeah, that’s true. There’s almost no sex in this movie and what sex there is, there’s clothes on and it’s, it’s almost a, a parody of sex really.

And except when the dolls get down to it. And I was really sad, but that’s just in silhouette, that was really sad. That was mostly in silhouette. That was kind of, you know, it took a, what team America world police to really give us a solid pornographic doll sex. 

Craig: Oh God. I love that scene. What, what, what kind of kicks off the events?

It just so happens that Jesse, who’s the Romeo, he lives in the same trailer park as Tiffany. Tiffany is dragging Damien’s body out in a big trunk and she asks him to help load him into the trunk. Which he does, it’s all very funny, it’s a very funny scene. But eventually, she hits on him, which I don’t blame her at all because I don’t believe for a second that that guy’s 19 and even if he was I could make an exception.

So she hits on it, but he’s like, nah, sorry, I’ve got a girl. And she, she’s like, Oh, well, she’s really lucky. She’s like, but be, be good to her. And he’s like, what do you mean be good to her? And she’s like, my mother always says she’s, she says that all the time. My mother always says she tells him, you know, like a good, you know, if she cooks you a nice dinner, do the dishes, you know, just, just, just be a good guy.

Tiffany is. A murderer like she kills like three people in the first 15 minutes of this movie, but she’s also a hopeless romantic Yes, honestly Her character develops and goes through different changes in different faces. I don’t even care when she is a villain I am rooting for her. I like her She’s very like she’s fun.

I think she’s a tough bitch and, and she’s very sentimental and girly in some ways. Like all this time, she’s been trying to get Chucky back cause she thought they were going to get married. And when he tells her, I didn’t leave you that ring. I just took it off some lady that I murdered and it was, I was going to pawn it.

It was worth a bunch of money. Then her heart is broken and she’s really sad. And so she turns on him and says, okay, well, I guess you’re just going to be my little baby now. And she locks him in a playpen. Yeah, 

Todd: and she even buys a little bride doll for him, which is a little girl doll. Yes! Chucks that in there as well.

And mocks 

Craig: him. I love 

this. 

Todd: I used to have a speak and spell when I was a kid, when I was really young, like before kindergarten, I asked for one and my parents were shocked and I learned to read through that thing. I loved it. And he’s got a little speak and spell in there as well. And I love that bit where, cause the speak and spell is, it says words and then you have to punch the words in.

And he, he’s Buncha Sid, bitch. And that just sums up his philosophy. Yeah, 

Craig: it’s hilarious. That, that sound is so nostalgic for me. Spell woman.

Todd: Oh God, I 

Craig: loved that thing. Folks, folks our age will get it. You youngsters won’t get it, but she, she makes the mistake of She put the ring that he gave her on a necklace around that doll’s neck and he uses it to like Hacksaw his way out of the thing. Okay. Meanwhile, she is looking like a snack lounging in the bathtub in the bubble bath watching Bride of Frankenstein, and it’s the scene where the bride comes alive and rejects the monster, and the monster is heartbroken, and says that they would both be better off dead, and she’s crying, like there are tears running down her face, she’s such a hopeless romantic, and you see Chucky like, from behind, like marching towards her, dragging the bride doll, and then he presses his face up against the clear shower curtain that she uses as like a door, and then, He just lunges at her with a knife, and she screams!

She screams so much in this movie. She’s got a great scream queen scream. And, but she’s quick, and she kicks him away! But before she can get out of the tub, he tips over the TV stand, into the tub, and it electrocutes her, and she’s writhing and screaming and splashing, and bubbles are floating all over the place, and Chucky’s just sitting there enjoying every second of it.

And then she died and like the, I love the effects. They’re a little bit cheesy, but it’s a parallel to the Bride of Frankenstein. You know, just like the Bride of Frankenstein was brought to life with electricity. This is how she dies, but it’s a very Frankenstein y electricity kind of moment. Yeah. And so Chucky, Chucky does, he looks at her and he puts the doll on the ground and he does the ah de do a dembala thing.

And it doesn’t seem to work. And he does the same thing she did. He said, but load of crap or whatever she said before, but then Jennifer Tilley shoots up in the tub for just one second and falls back down. And at the same time, the doll comes alive and she immediately looks. It’s totally different. Like, much like Chucky evolved, you know, her brow gets much sharper and she heard the expression on her face is much harsher, but she looks great and they come up with a plan eventually, but one of the first things she does is give herself a makeover.

There is a makeover montage in 

Todd: this movie. I know. It’s so cute. She has to make herself as goth as she was in, as a per, as a human. And so it’s really funny. Now, you’ve got to help me out with this. Maybe you know more than I do about this. I’ve read in the trivia or it’s Wikipedia or somewhere that this movie kind of really spoke to the queer community and now the whole series is kind of a fan favorite among the LGBTQ.

Is that true? Do you know? 

Craig: Uh, I mean, Jennifer Tilly is a gay icon, so there’s that. And then there are definite LGBTQ issues in the next one that we’re going to watch, and they’ve just kind of fully embraced that. The reason that I said that some might say that the show is in a new iteration is because there are a lot of people out there that would describe the series as woke.

It clearly has a progressive point of view. All of the characters, That we know and love are very progressive. Chucky, Chucky is totally cool with the gays. Like, uh, so, so, you know, I don’t know. I can’t speak for the community, but I, I, I could understand why. And I do know that it is true that it has been recognized for positive queer representation in the series.

Several organizations have recognized it for that. So. I think that’s cool. Yeah. But, uh, so now they’re dolls and they have a problem, but here’s where they start to mess with the mythology. Now, all of a sudden, Chucky says, there’s this amulet, the Heart of Dumballa, and we need to get it. Or else we’re gonna be stuck in these bodies forever.

Mmm, we’ve never heard of this before. This is a new development. You’d 

Todd: think this would have been the first thing he was looking for in the first movie, right? If this was, uh Right. Wow. Oh, God. There’s always gotta be a MacGuffin, right? 

Craig: Right, right. And the way that the two stories, the two Sets of leathers stories intersect is that Tiffany calls her neighbor Jesse and says, I need you to do something for me.

I’ve got these dolls that I need delivered to a friend in Jersey or something, which is where he’s buried, which is also doesn’t line up. He was killed in Chicago, and they say in this movie that he was killed in Jersey. The both the first two movies take place in Chicago. I don’t know why they would change that at this point, but he’s like.

I’ll give you 500. All you have to do is drop him off somewhere and he’s like, I don’t know I really need the money. I don’t need to get I don’t get messed up in anything. He’s like, I’ll do it for a thousand She says fine. We’ll give you 500 up front and 500 when you get back So he talks to his girl and it’s like we have to run away And he kind of talks her into it.

I love when she offers him the 500. She said, I’d do it myself, but I have to take care of a friend who’s mentally incapacitating. 

Todd: Like, 

Craig: Everything she says is so funny. And so then when Jesse goes over there to get the dolls, Like, as he’s opening the door, Tiffany kind of acts like she doesn’t know what to do.

And Chucky just goes, act natural. And then it shows Jesse coming in. And then when it comes back, Chucky’s just sitting there like a doll would be. And she looks like she’s on a fainting couch. Like she has one arm up to her forehead and like her head cocked. Oh my God. This movie is so funny, but they go, okay.

So then he goes to pick her up and they have a conversation about how they just, they should go, they should run away and get married. Unbeknownst to them, her guardian. Is standing right behind the van and he’s like, he calls his deputy and he’s like, they’re getting ready to leave and then he’s breaking into the van to plant drugs in the car and Tiffany’s like, what is he doing?

And Chuckie’s like, he’s with our ride. And so they kill him. Because they don’t, they need this ride, right? Like they don’t have anything personally against him. Not that they ever really need any reason to kill anybody. They kill a bunch of people in this movie, but this was one of the great kills where John Ritter like comes in, he plants the drugs and then he’s kind of looking around and Tiffany is in the passenger seat, I think, or the driver’s seat doesn’t matter.

Chuckie is kind of down in the floorboard and as he leans in, he looks at the dashboard and he sees that it’s lined with. Nails just like leaned up against it and Tiffany comes alive and says now and Chuckie cuts a line and the airbag goes and shoots all of those nails into John Ritter’s face and it looks great.

Like, that’s why I said I can tell this movie was expensive because it looks so good. It does. Everything looks good. Everything’s clean and sharp and the, the makeup looks great, the, the practical effects look great, the puppets, the movement of the animatronics or puppets or whatever they are. That’s fantastic.

It looks as real as I could imagine making it look real. And they do different things, like there’s one point where there’s an aerial shot of Chucky crawling. I don’t know if that was an animatronic. At the end The two dolls fight one another. I think those were little people. They were, didn’t you think?

Yeah, 

Todd: they were famous ones 

Craig: too. Gotcha. But they just did the, you know, so many different techniques to make these dolls appear as lifelike and realistic as possible. And I really think that they were super successful. here. I would even say this is one of my favorite iterations because in the newer ones, they’re still doing mostly practical, but they are doing some CGI.

Um, and I would almost just rather it look a little bit more rough around the edges and be all practical, but I’m not complaining too much. It’s still looks good. I understand that. Times change. Well, we talked about 

Todd: it in the last couple of episodes on the, on the, on the previous two movies as well. You know, these dolls, they’re animated dolls.

And so I like the fact that it’s not, you know, the rubber has limits. The dolls eyes can only move so much and its mouth can only move so much, but it’s not stilted, it’s expressive and, uh, it moves as much as it can. So I really dig that they would just look like cartoon characters and I would totally hate that.

Craig: Right. So. Right, or you’re right, like elves or something biological. Right. And to some extent they are, like, they bleed and they can be killed and stuff, but they still maintain the appearance of a doll. Which I appreciate because I think I don’t, wouldn’t like them to look like little weird humans. That would be weird.

Right. So now it becomes a road movie. The Guardian is dead. They hide him. There’s a hilarious scene where they have to clean this all up in like five seconds. And Tiffany is just on the floor like scrubbing like.

And there are hilarious moments like there’s a moment where Jesse opens the back to throw Jade’s. Luggage in, and Tiffany looks up, she’s still cleaning, and he just throws it right on top of her, like, cause he’s not even looking at what’s in there, and then they just manage to scurry back to their seats before they get in, and then they get pulled over immediately, the deputy had gotten tipped off, and there’s a whole series of events where he finds the drugs, and he’s like, well, you’re in trouble now, and Jesse’s like, oh no, but Jade’s not there cause she went inside to get some food, and in the meantime, again, you Chucky and Tiffany still need their ride.

So Chucky crawls to the car, the cop car sticks some fabric in the gas tank, sets it on fire, and then crawls back and the car explodes. Killing the cop, obviously. But Chucky also dropped a piece of evidence because what ultimately happens is the cops think that Jade and Jesse are a Bonnie and Clyde, and that they have been responsible for all of the murders that have happened in this movie.

Right because they’re all connected because they are all connected because they’re connected by Chucky and Tiffany They’re trying to pin it on Jesse and Jade because obviously they don’t know 

Todd: about the dolls and Jesse and Jade They’re going off to get married, 

Craig: right? Well, I don’t know if that was the in I think that was the ultimate goal But at this point because they were separate when the cop got killed, they’re both suspicious of each other They’re hearing about themselves and how their suspects on the radio Is it true that Jesse and Jade may in fact be the serial killers that you’ve been tracking for the past We can’t confirm that at this time.

The previous murders appear to be the work of just one killer. It’s possible, actually, it’s possible that one of them is a hostage, or simply unaware of what the other is up to. So they’re both suspicious of each other. Yeah. But for whatever reason, I think it’s because they know that there’s, well, you know, they’re eminently in danger.

They stop at Niagara Falls and go to an all night wedding chapel and they do get married. I had forgotten about that too. Yeah. Guys, guys. 

Todd: This must be why they said it in New Jersey, you know, in New Jersey, or they had to go to New Jersey because they wanted to get Niagara Falls in there because that’s, you know, that’s that classic your grandparents wedding destination, right?

That everyone has a honeymoon in Niagara Falls. And I wonder if that’s the reason why they moved it to the East Coast. I don’t know. 

Craig: I don’t know. I’ve never read any reasoning for that. Then there’s, there’s a fun scene here. Well, they’re both suspicious of one another, but they also have to deal with these swingers who are in the adjoining suite who just come in and make themselves at home and they’re putting the moves on that.

Like it’s our honeymoon too, but you know, the more the merrier. And Jade and Jesse are not Interested in sexy times, even with each other. They’re just trying to get rid of them. But the woman swipes Jesse’s wallet. And I think the ring, yeah, because Tiffany sees it. And after they’re gone, Tiffany whispers to Chucky, that slut doesn’t deserve to wear that ring.

So I love this scene too. Like it’s just a series of great scenes. This one’s one of my. Favorites. 

Todd: It’s a great set piece. Yeah. The two are basically on their bed and this is one of those. The, the, the swingers. Yeah. The swingers. Yeah. And this is one of those themed love hotels, basically. So it’s this big round bread bed.

There’s a mirror up above them. Water bed, right? Oh yeah. It’s a water bed. This is the chaste sex, you know, where they both got most of their clothes on, but they’re acting like they don’t and they’re getting all hot and heavy. And Tiffany comes up, grabs one of the bottles of champagne, and slowly sneaks up on the bed, and he, the man, turns around and looks up at the mirror, because he’s on top of the girl, and he sees Tiffany, which must have been terrifying, coming at her, coming with the bottle, and I was like, what is she going to do with that bottle?

Is she going to whack it with it? I knew exactly what she was going to do with it. Oh god, it was so funny, and then she throws the bottle up, breaks the mirror that’s above the bed, and all these shards of mirror Improbably anyway fall down on them and impale them also getting the bed and so there’s just blood and water just gushing out across the 

Craig: floor.

You said improbably yet totally improbably because not only like are they killed this would probably be very uncomfortable and could lead to some serious injury but no you wouldn’t necessarily die. These these people are, you know, just impaled with glass all over their body where close ups of it later, but it also.

Falls apparently with enough force to make the bed explode, right? 

Todd: The water 

Craig: shoots like 10 feet into the air 

Todd: and it’s completely filled with blood at this time, right? It just goes across the floor. They stand there later on a woman comes in. Well, I think I’ll go ahead 

Craig: Well, I was just gonna say you can’t forget that Chucky witnesses all this and it makes him super, oh, that’s right I was gonna say it makes it was gonna say it makes him super horny, but it’s not even that he just looks at her in awe and says I love you.

And then they reconcile and have a romantic moment and he proposes. He says, will you be my bride? And he puts that ring on her thumb. And I mean, it’s even huge on her thumb. Oh my God, I’m crying. I wonder if all the plumbing works. Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel like Pinocchio here.

I am. Anatomically correct. No. What? No, you’re not. Of course he’s not. We’ve seen you naked before. That was another retcon. Maybe it’s a 

Todd: voodoo thing. He has a voodoo dick. Is that what it is? 

Craig: So they start kissing and they start like, they’re, we’re seeing all this in silhouette. He’s on top of her and she’s like, Wait, wait, do you have a rubber?

And he’s like, have you seen me? I’m all rubber. It’s just like, I thought you were plastic. And I don’t even remember what he says, but then they, they make sweet, sweet love. 

Todd: Yeah, they consummate their 

Craig: marriage. And the next morning, the maid, who is Kathy Najimy, What are you doing in this place? It’s so weird.

It is weird, but there are I don’t know. I guess this kind of is the first one that there are big can’t like big cameos. Like people would just show up to film for like a day recognizable people. There’s a big one in the next movie that we’re going to watch too. But Kathy and Jimmy finds them and, and you know, they’re dead and she screams and Jesse and Jade run in and see what’s happened.

And they grabbed the thing and run away at some point. They both. Call their gay friend, David, who we haven’t mentioned, but he’s friends with both of them, and he’s helped them out of sticky situations before, and they both call him because they both think the other one is crazy, and because they both call him, he’s convinced that they’re both fine, so does he meet them here?

I think he does, because she told, she told him on the phone where they were. So, right before they take off, he like, knocks on the window and he, he rides with them in their van. And this is a funny scene too, where he’s telling them, Listen, you both were so sure that it was the other one, that I think that there must be some sort of misunderstanding.

Todd: Yeah, you’re both innocent. By the way, something smells odd in here.

And he keeps saying this, and he, as he’s chatting with them and convincing them they’re both innocent, he goes to the back and opens his trunk where the body of John Ritter’s character. Was that her uncle? Or just godfather? Who, who 

Craig: was it? I, I don’t know. It was her guardian. I don’t know how they were related other than that.

Todd: Anyway, he’s, he’s in there and, you know, he opens it and he sees that and he closes it and they’re like, what’s up? What’s going on? It’s, it’s classic comedy. It’s pretty funny. But then, uh, I think, isn’t this when Chucky and Tiffany pop out? 

Craig: You, well, he grabs A gun. The, the guardian’s gun, cause, cause he’s the sheriff.

And he’s pointing it at the two of them and there’s a lot of confusion. But yes, then the dolls reveal themselves. And I don’t remember if they have guns. Maybe Chucky has a gun too. Maybe they grab his, I can’t remember, but. Maybe, I don’t remember. But Jesse pulls over on the side of the road and David gets out and he’s still waving the gun at all of them and he like signals the police and the police are coming.

Now is when the dolls reveal themselves. Right. And David is just so startled by this that he backs into oncoming traffic and gets plowed by a semi truck and just explodes into, into a pool of mushy goo. 

Todd: As you do. 

Craig: And then The dolls hold the kids hostage and make them run from the police, and they do, and there’s a big car chase, and huge car crashes, and 

Todd: What I love about the series so far is Chucky’s constant ability to hold people at gunpoint or knifepoint and make them do what he wants.

And that’s what they do. But then there’s all this cool byplay where Jesse and Jade kind of like start an argument between Chucky and Tiffany, because she’s back in the back of the RV, like making cookies and and things. Well, you’re such a good cook and yada, yada, 

Craig: yada. The dolls say, I mean, a couple of things happen, like they’re still in the van.

The dolls have to explain to the kids what’s going on. And Chucky says, like, they start talking about it. And then Chucky says, if it was a movie, it’d take like three or four sequels to do it justice. It was funny, but the dolls also make it clear that they, I mean, they, they all, but say it outright that their plan is to possess these kids, but the cops have found Chuckie’s fingerprints.

They, Charles Lee Ray’s fingerprints. How shocking update. I don’t know. I guess Chuckie has. Charles Lee Ray’s fingerprints. It doesn’t make any sense, but they, they have. So now there’s, you know, they don’t know what’s going on, but they also say they’re going to exhume the body. So the dolls panic. So they steal an RV.

They kill the old people and we don’t see it on screen. But later, as you said, as Tiffany’s like being a domestic goddess, like her hero, Martha Stewart, I just wish that this podcast, like I wish we could just watch the movie with. Everybody. Right. Because there are so many funny one liners and so many parts.

And they’re running the time to talk about them all. Yeah, 

Todd: and running gags. Like the Martha Stewart things are running gags. Chucky’s like, you know, again, it’s one of these 80s things that Chucky’s back awake after so long. Early on in the movie, Tiffany mentions something about Martha Stewart, and he’s like, Who the f k is Martha 

Craig: Stewart?

She’s a domestic goddess and my hero. 

Todd: It’s so funny that this woman would have Martha Stewart as a 

Craig: hero, right? But that’s, I love, she’s, she’s, she’s a, she’s not just one thing, and I love that about her. Pile 

Todd: of contradictions, like all of 

Craig: us. Uh huh. Yes, and and she is she you know here she’s wearing an apron She made Chucky Swedish meatballs because they’re his favorite and he’s like nobody makes Swedish meatballs like you babe Then she brings him some cookies and he’s like, thanks, babe.

These are great and she starts to walk away You know if I had known that marriage was such a great gig I would never have waited this long to tie the knot on the other hand. She’s not much of a housekeeper is she? Tiff Those, uh, dishes aren’t gonna wash themselves, you know. You were nice enough to cook for him.

The least he could do was wash the dish. And so Tiffany gets really pissed. And she starts throwing dishes at Chucky. And they’re shattering like on the windshield. Chucky says, Hey, what would Martha Stewart say? Martha Stewart!

Oh my god, it’s so funny. But they end up My I already said the first part, but also, Martha Stewart can kiss my shiny plastic butt! Jade kicks Tiffany, the doll, into the oven, which is presumably still hot because she was just baking. And Jesse kicks Chucky out the window. And then, I don’t know, he didn’t intentionally crash the RV, right?

No, it’s 

Todd: just, he just, in the commotion, I think he lost control of it, yeah. 

Craig: Burnt Tiffany jumps out. And she’s all burned up now. Like she’s charred from head to toe. She still has her hair, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but no, but she’s in her dress is all sooty and black and she’s completely charred and like her plastic is cracking and stuff.

Um, and she attacks Jade, but somehow. They get out, and then Jesse jumps out and the RV explodes, he like jumps out of the explosion. They just 

Todd: happen to be at the cemetery now. Chucky forces, uh, Jade to take him, I think, and Jesse’s following, like all four of them are just basically walking to the grave.

Craig: Right. Chucky kills the gravedigger who was working late into the night exhuming his body. Right, 

Todd: with no one else around, late 

Craig: at night. Like, you. And he Right? And Jade opens the coffin, which is real easy, and retrieves the amulet, and there is, you know, silly lines, like Chucky’s like, hey, you broke my head off, or you broke my neck, or something.

Uh huh. And Jesse tries to use Tiff as a hostage to make an exchange. And he does the two girls, you know, it’s that classic exchange, like, you know, I’ll let her go. You let her go. And they, they cross one another. And right as Tiffany’s walking away, she looks at Jesse and says, why can’t I ever get it on with one of the real good guys?

I love that. Like, I love that the dolls are good guy dolls. Yeah. So it’s a great play on the words anyway. You know, she’s with a good guy, but not a real good guy. And Jesse’s a real good guy. And you feel bad for her. She’s a mess. Yeah. Murderer 

Todd: don’t feel 

Craig: bad for and I, my heart breaks for her. She deserves love, 

Todd: even mass murder, 

Craig: right?

And as she’s passing Jade, she looks at her and says, you’re a lucky girl. And she walks up to Chucky and she says. Catch me, Chucky. And she, she like falls forward and he sidesteps and just lets her face plant on the ground. Oh. So the, the lovebirds, the real lovebirds are reunited, but Chucky throws a knife into Jessie’s back and then he pulls a gun on them and ties them up and starts the ritual.

I don’t know why he would stab the body that he’s planning on. Immediately going in. Yeah, that doesn’t 

Todd: make a lot of sense. Also, it doesn’t seem to matter anyway that he had a knife in his back. It just gets pulled out and then it’s almost like it never happened. 

Craig: Right. And he tells Tiffany he’s like, this is it, babe.

And they embrace and Tiffany says that they belong together forever and they embrace and kiss, but she stabs him in the back and he falls down like an agony. You know, it’s very difficult to hurt this guy most of the time, but I guess she knew exactly where to stab him that it would like take him out.

It was in the heart. Maybe. On the back. And, uh, she says to him, We, we belong dead. It’s the, it’s the call back to Bride of Frankenstein. Mhmm. And, goodbye darling, I’ll see you in hell, and she falls over dead. But, Chucky is, oh no, she doesn’t fall over dead. Chuckie’s not dead. He gets up and this is when they fight with shovels and it’s all shot from above.

Big fight scene. Yeah. I can tell that it’s a little people. I don’t care. Just barely dark. What else are you? You know, that, that’s an excellent idea. Yeah, that’s a great idea. Shoot it from above. So the perspective is a little bit off, you know, dress them like the dolls. They look small. They, I believe it.

Love it. It’s great. Yeah, he ends up stabbing her I guess and she falls over but Jesse hits Chucky into his grave and Then pulls up the ladder. So Chucky’s stuck down there. He’s like, let me out. Let me out But the detective who’s been working on the Jesse and Jade case these murders the whole time shows up alone Just out of nowhere shows up alone and he pulls a gun on The kids, but then, he sees Chucky down there, I think it’s Jade, points a gun at her, at him, and he says, Go ahead and shoot, I’ll be back, I always come back, but dying is such a bitch.

And, and she shoots him a bunch of times and he’s screaming, but then he’s dead. And then the cops look at the kids and he’s like, nobody’s gonna believe this, but somebody calls him on his radio and he’s like, uh, we’ve got another body out here or another couple bodies or whatever, you know, send backup or whatever, but Jesse and Jade, they didn’t do it.

I think he says it’s a long story or something like that, but he has communicated to somebody that they didn’t do it. It’s always 

Todd: that, you know, convenient way to wrap things up at the end is to get some person of authority and to see, you know, something incriminating at the very end and then it can just unwind this whole mess for them.

So we know they’re going to be fine. Right. 

Craig: They’re going to be okay. He’s like, and he even says, you kids go home. What? How are they going to 

Todd: go home? How? Take his car? I 

Craig: guess. God. But then we’ve got the end where it’s just the detective alone in the cemetery and he walks up to Tiffany’s body and he’s like disgusted by it.

But then she sits up screaming, just wailing, screaming, screaming, screaming. And he sees something moving under her dress and then. A huge amount of blood splashes from out of between her legs, all over his face, he’s covered in blood, and he’s trying to wipe it off, and then the baby from It’s Alive crawls out from under her skirt, and it’s got those little sharp teeth, it’s quite literally the baby from It’s Alive.

It is, yeah. It jumps on his face, and then it cuts to black, and the credits start to roll. 

Todd: Setting up a sequel. 

Craig: Honestly, I didn’t expect to enjoy it this much, this time around as much as I did, but I am so glad that I revisited it, and if you are somebody who is a fan, but for whatever reason hasn’t revisited this, sit down and watch it from beginning to end.

Maybe with, you know, maybe with some buddies, maybe have a couple beers, but it’s a fun time. It’s a fun movie. And like we said, with part two, it moves like it just moves and moves and moves. The slowest parts are like the, Oh, we’re star crossed lovers. But even it’s not like those go on forever. Like you get a couple of those scenes here and there, and then it gets right back into the good stuff.

Yeah, I just, I loved it. And I forgot. I don’t know if I had read this before, but this was Brad Dourif’s favorite Chucky movie up until one of the more recent ones. He has since changed his tune, and there’s another one, one of the future ones, that is now his favorite. But at this point in time, this was his favorite one, and I get it.

It’s a bigger budget, it’s bigger in scope. It gives him more to do. It gives him more to do, he gets to be funny, and I think he’s really funny, I think the character is funny, I think that Tiffany and Chucky are a great, great combo, and the dynamics of their relationship are just fun to watch, Jennifer Tilly is a goddess, I think she’s, I mean, she’s great in this, and this is a silly role, and I love that she embraces it, I’ve seen her in other things, and she’s good.

She’s just a good actress. It’s interesting. I didn’t know before this time around that the first pick for Tiffany was Gina Gershon, maybe most famous for starring alongside Jennifer Tilley in bound, which is a huge movie for the LGBTQ community. Lesbians love that shit. I don’t remember if Gina Gershon turned it down or what, but I think that she I don’t know if they were already considering Jennifer Tilly, but she put in a good word for Jennifer Tilly and told Jennifer Tilly she could do it.

And I think Gina Gershon would have been great. Spoiler alert, she shows up later. I think this is a perfect role for Jennifer Tilly. She’s hilarious. If you don’t like chocolate with your peanut butter, if you don’t like comedy with your horror, this is not for you. Oh no. Um, because it is It is much a comedy.

Yes, at least. 

Todd: At least. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, it’s, it’s fun. Honestly, it’s not as corny as Freddy got. It’s funny, it’s, but it’s slick. It’s not trying too hard, but it’s not afraid to be a little 

Craig: silly. Freddy kinda got into dad jokes. Yeah, I’m a big fan of a dad joke, but, uh, I 

Todd: just like, you know, I think more sophisticated comedies, they set something up that have payoffs later.

You know, I, maybe my, the best example that is Sean of the dead, that, that movie is just brilliant for that. In this one, you’ve got these running gags, you have the Martha Stewart thing, you know, you have the, the, the comedy I think is. It’s more sophisticated than just quippy one liners and dad jokes, you know, and for that I really enjoyed it, and the special effects are great, the directing is awesome, the cinematography is fantastic, it’s a stormy night through the whole thing, and you’re right, it’s clear that Bride of Frankenstein and those Universal monster movies in general inspired the production, inspired the writing, inspired all of this, and I think, you know, those are classics for a reason, and so they really reach through and speak to me as well.

I dug it. I just dug the whole movie. I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time, maybe even more so as an older adult. And I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens to this little Chucky baby, because I have no 

Craig: idea. I am really like, I am so interested to see what you think of this next one because this next one is polarizing.

So I’ll be very interested to see where you land on the spectrum. I think you’re either going to really like it or really not. 

Todd: That is exciting. Tune in next week for Seed of Chucky, as we work our way through the Child’s Play franchise this month, and join our patrons at, uh, ChainsawHorror. com, you can follow a link through there, or go to Patreon.

com slash ChainsawHorror, and for just five bucks a month, you can have access to the mini show we’re gonna do on Child’s Play. play three, as well as all the other minisodes we do, all the conversations we have behind the scenes and a Christopher Pike book club that just popped up. Thank you all for listening.

The best thing you can do is forward this podcast to a friend who would enjoy it or write us a review online at any of the places that you listen to your podcast. Until next time, I’m Todd and I’m Craig with Two Guys and a Chainsaw.