Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Jennifer Tilly- Bride of Chucky (1998)

Few women have been given the chance to portray killer doll brides on the big screen. In honor of the most memorable, today's Ultimate Woman of Horror is Jennifer Tilly, who embodied Tiffany in Bride of Chucky (Yu, 1998).

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When Child's Play (Holland, 1988) was released, humor was not included in the script, and the main goal was terror and scares. I am a huge fan of this franchise, and have enjoyed all five of the films, Child's Play 3 the least, but it was still very watchable. Ten years after the first film, a reboot of sorts was given to the franchise, by introducing both a bride and dark humor into the mix. While for most series, adding humor is a death sentence, it fit Chucky incredibly well.

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The transformation of human Tiffany into doll Tiffany is the main plot of the Bride of Chucky. Here is a woman who has been in love with murderer Charles Lee Ray, later known as the doll Chucky, and gets her wish to be with him in doll marital bliss. Tilly is pitch perfect for the part, and her voice gives a great humanity to doll Tiffany. Without Tilly, this franchise would have been dead after the original three films, and we would never have gotten Bride or Seed of Chucky (Mancini, 2004). Now, some may think that that might have been for the best, but I find these films to be much more enjoyable than many of the horror films released today. The dark humor certainly helped to breathe new life into a dying franchise.

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This film also features an early performance by Katherine Heigl and a surprising villainous turn by John Ritter. It is definitely not necessary to watch the original three before enjoying this one, but like I said, I enjoy them and will be watching them this month.

Runner-Up:
Another fun woman in the Chucky franchise is Christine Elise from Child's Play 2 (Lafia, 1990). While she portrays the teenaged savior of Andy Barclay, Elise is none other than Emily Valentine, the psychotic stalker-girlfriend of Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills: 90210. So, here's to you, Emily Valentine. Yeah, you baked that cake and left it on Brandon's doorstep. Shannon Doherty sure didn't let him eat it though. No, she didn't.

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Come back again tomorrow for another exciting addition to the list!

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