New Jersey’s Great Pop Culture Moments Vol.48: Bride of Chucky

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“It was buried with my corpse in Hackensack, New Jersey”

The original Child’s Play was a fine horror film and gave me the creeps when I was a kid, but Child’s Play 2 and 3 didn’t grab me. It is rumored that Childs Play 3-D will be released next year, but for now, let’s take a look back at 1998’s Bride of Chucky
Child’s Play was most effective within the time frame it was released since dolls like My Buddy and Cabbage Patch Kids were hugely popular. Dolls are really only popular with very young girls nowadays, while back in the ’80s dolls were marketed to boys and girls, making the idea of a murderous doll freaky for every young kid. The Chucky franchise changed after 10 years and with Bride of Chucky it incorporated a more comedic tone. Whether you like the direction of how the Child’s Play films continued or not, the Chucky story developed and became more intriguing than if they just continued to make straight up, cookie cutter sequels.

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In Bride, Chucky finds himself a main squeeze, Tiffany (voiced by Jennifer Tilly), and off to killing they go. Bride of Chucky seemed to breath new life into the series even though Seed of Chucky has been the only film that followed in 2004. Bride is truly imaginative, it pays tribute to many iconic horror films, and it contains some amazing visuals. The film was directed by Ronny Yu, who later went on to direct Freddy vs. Jason. Katherine Heigl stars as Jade and John Ritter also appears as her uncle.

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Chucky and Tiffany decide to embark on a road trip to a New Jersey cemetary in order to get the amulet and make Chucky human again. Soon after, they come to the realization that they’re dolls and they can’t actually drive. The dolls pay Jade’s boyfriend Jesse to drive them, but first, Tiffany has her own little montage where she’s applying makeup and painting her nails. Playing during this scene is “Call Me,” by recent Garden State Playmate Debbie Harry and Blondie.
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Here’s a little trivia you can share with your horror buff friends: The son of Chucky and Tiffany was born in New Jersaaay!