1. Bride of Chucky
As good as Child's Play 2 is, Bride of Chucky is by far the best Chucky film by a mile. When picking the best Chucky film, one has to ask the following questions: Which one has the best script? Bride of Chucky. Which one has the best effects? Bride of Chucky. Which one has the best music? Bride of Chucky. Which one looks the best? Bride of Chucky. Which one is the scariest? Bride of Chucky. Which one is the funniest? Bride of Chucky. Under those considerations, I can't imagine why anyone would think that Bride of Chucky isn't the absolute best representation of Chucky on film. From the creepy, Rob Zombie-fueled opening to the bloody, frightening end, Bride of Chucky doesn't waste one second of film. Every moment works. Every scene clicks. This is a film that knows exactly what it's trying to do and completely succeeds. This isn't just a great Chucky film; it's a great film, period. Bride of Chucky begins when Tiffany, Chucky's ex-lover in his former life, played with white trash sexiness by Jennifer Tilly, gets a hold of Chucky's remains (which were all chopped up after Child's Play 3) and puts him back together. After this, she does everyone's favorite voodoo chant and soon, Chucky's back. After a lover's spat over marriage that involves at least one dead body, Chucky kills Tiffany and puts her soul in a doll as well. From this point on, the Toys R' Us version of Bonnie and Clyde hitch a ride with two young lovers in search of an amulet that will allow them escape from their plastic prisons. From a purely aesthetic point of view, Bride of Chucky blows all of the other films out of the water. It looks fantastic. Director Ronny Yu gives this film a real cinematic gusto that none of the other films have. It's worth noting that I didn't mention any of the directors of any of the other films. That's because Ronny Yu is the only one worth mentioning. His lighting choices, his camera angles, his editing choices, all of his input gives this Chucky film a higher level of quality than anything that came before (or after, unfortunately). This is the most expensive film in the series and it shows. This feels more like an actual Hollywood production and mainstream audiences must have agreed because this is also the highest grossing film of the entire series. Ronny Yu deserves a ton of credit for that. Sticking with the aesthetic side, it doesn't hurt that the effects in Bride are the most convincing they've ever been. The animatronics are considerably more detailed in this film than they were in the previous ones. The leap in effects from Child's Play 3 to this is insane. Chucky is a full-fledged character in this film. He laughs. He feels bad. He gets upset. He gets scared. Then he freezes. For the first time in the whole series, you really can't tell the difference between doll-Chucky and puppet-Chucky. The designs are exact. This is a big step-up over Child's Play 3's obvious use of separate designs and increases the suspension of disbelief quite a bit. Speaking of designs, the new Chucky design is awesome. This is a Chucky that's been through hell and back. He's stitched up and raggedy (pun completely intended). He finally looks on the outside how his soul must look on the inside: beaten up and twisted. The Tiffany design is great as well. The idea that Tiffany would change how her doll looks to reflect her human self works wonderfully and is a good contrast to her patchwork "husband". Overall, the dolls have personality to spare. And that personality shines through the script. The script is fantastic. There's great character work, great scares, and great laughs. While Child's Play 3 gave Chucky much more to do, Bride gives him an entire story arc. Our red-headed killer starts the film off completely laughing off Tiffany's idea of marriage. Yet, through their mutual love of killing, Chucky actually grows to love Tiffany and marries her...only to give in to his own selfish nature towards the end. It's a fleshing out of the character that never betrays his viciousness. Here we see Chucky have a genuine moment of regret seconds before he stabs a man to death. He falls in love only after he witnesses Tiffany kill two people with a shower of broken glass. Bride of Chucky manages to be scary, thoughtful, and hilarious all at once without ever experiencing a tonal clash. Don Mancini really wrote a great script here. Another great example of the script are the human characters. While in any other film, Jessie and Jane's doomed romance would seem very lame and cliched, the contrast between their innocent, young love and the dolls' sick, demented affair works amazingly well and provides the perfect accompaniment to the film's overall theme. Somehow, the two actors manage to be naive without being overly obnoxious and that's a testament to their performances as well as Mancini's writing. That said, there are quite a few obnoxious characters that need to be killed. However, with the renewed focus on Chucky's story in this film, you understandably couldn't have him spend the whole movie killing really good people. Also, given Chucky and Tiffany's need to keep the young heroes alive and keep them moving, it makes total sense within the context of the story for the tiny terrors to kill any and all evil predators who might want to hinder or take advantage of young Jessie and Jane. Chief of these predators is Jane's uncle Warren, the Chief of Police played with unapologetic pr*ckiness by the late, great John Ritter. Ritter really goes all in with the little time he's given and makes it that much sweeter when the dolls dispose of him not once, but twice! Never mind the Marilyn Manson wannabe at the beginning of the film attempting to woo Tiffany with a fake murder, or the sleezebag cop working for Warren who tracks the couple down. Those characters may as well have "kill me" signs written on their backs. But, again, it all makes sense within the context of the film. The soundtrack is off the charts. When Zombie's "Living Dead Girl" blasts through the opening credits, you know you're in for a different kind of Chucky movie. Between that and Blondie's "Call Me" during Tiffany's make over scene, I can't imagine how much of the budget went solely to music rights. Overall, this is the Chucky film that gets Chucky right more than any other. Child's Play 2 comes close, but it doesn't touch the three-dimensional depth that Bride applies to our favorite little Good Guy. As a result of Seed of Chucky's over-the-top goofiness, the upcoming Curse of Chucky appears to have abandoned the comic, three-dimensional element in favor of the more straight-forward horror of the first three films. I believe this to be an overreaction. The lesson to be learned from Seed was not that Chucky can't have any humor or characterisation at all. The lesson to be learned from Seed was that humor and characterisation can work in a Chucky film if the balance is right. Bride of Chucky proved that. Let's hope the makers of Curse of Chucky were paying attention.