FRIGHTENING FOWL
Monster
Brides
‘Frankenstein' and
‘Cbucky’ have gone the
married route to add life
to scary sequels
By Nicole Garton
Oregon Daily Emerald
Even monsters must succumb
to the siren call of wedding bells.
Take Frankenstein. He coerced
his creator into carving out a bux
om, bloody bride. And Dracula?
He’s forever seeking his soulless
mate.
The homicidal toy Chucky, on
the other hand, wasn’t so eager to
bind himself in
unholy matri
mony.
You
might say she dragged him to the
altar biting and slashing.
Don't know why — she’s such
a doll.
But true love must prevail, and
in Chucky’s fourth feature film
since the 1988 debut of “Child's
Play,” the toy killer finds a plastic
playmate and joins the few but fa
mous ranks of wedded horrors.
In “Bride of Chucky," the dead
ly doll is brought back to life by
his ex-girlfriend, Tiffany, who
cherishes hopes of settling down
with her “sweet face." But
Chucky has other ideas. Furious,
he kills her and transfers her soul
into a female doll.
As the two hack and slash their
way toward inhabiting hu
man bodies, however,
Tiffany’s murderous
tendencies finally
win Lhuckys
heart and
hand, mak
ing the
dolls
one of
t h e
few
pairs of monstrous mates since
Frankenstein and his big-haired
bride.
After tlie wild success of "Bride
of Frankenstein” in the 1930s,
surprisingly few movie monsters
have actually followed in the
green guy’s footsteps, said English
graduate teaching fellow Mike
Arnzen. Die-hard horror fans may
recall a few obscure monster mar
riages, but the icons — Freddy, Ja
son and Mike Myers — have all
died again and again without
finding that special someone.
From a business perspective,
that's a little hard to believe,
Arnzen said.
‘“Bride of Frankenstein’ is one
of the most successful sequels
ever,” he said. By turning the
monster into a romantic hero, the
movie forged a new connection
between Frankenstein and his au
dience, he explained.
The movie became a romance
as well as a horror flick, and this
combination has earned it the
lasting reputation as one of the
finest in its genre.
Of course, Frankenstein’s mar
ital life wasn’t exactly blissful, so
it’s easy to see how his experience
would dissuade succeeding mon
sters from taking the plunge.
“Usually, the woman becomes
even more of a monster than the
real monster,” Arnzen added. “I
think there’s a bit of sexism
there.”
Whether or not Chucky’s aver
sion to marriage resulted from
Frankenstein's failure, however, it
was the patchwork predecessor
who pushed the demonic doll
into matrimony — or rather, it
was the cover of “Bride of
Frankenstein” in the video store.
With the recent revival of the
horror genre, thanks to movies
such as “Scream” and “I Know
What You Did Last Summer,”
“Child’s Play” creators David
Kirschner and Don Mancini
wanted to bring Chucky back
with a bang, according to the Uni
versal Studios Web site for the
movie. When Kirschner saw the
classic film sitting on the video
store shelf one night, inspiraton
hit.
“My immediate reaction was,
'Wow, wouldn't it be great if we
were able to create a bride for
Chucky?’” he explained. “By in
troducing another doll, we’d get
to see a whole other side to
Chucky.”
The result is an odd blend of
horror and romantic comedy.
“Tiffany represents Chucky’s
Achilles’ heel in that his feelings
for her cause him to be vulnera
ble, and when you think about it,
that’s really a pretty hilarious
state in which to see this little
Napoleonic tiny terror,” Kirschn
er said.
Like “Bride of Frankenstein,”
the latest Chucky movie not only
melds horror with romance, but it
seizes the opportunity to com
ment on the societal aspects of
marriage.
“These movies make fun of the
whole idea of marriage, and they
help us to deal with anxieties
about weddings and sex," Amzen
said. In addition, they reflect the
social conventions and changes of
their eras.
“‘Bride of Frankenstein’ was a
metaphor for the rise of women
and their role in the home and in
the culture at large,” he contin
ued.
And “Bride of Chucky”?
Perhaps the plastic serial killers
offer a commentary on the
disinetgration of family values.
Without giving away the end, it’s
safe to say the demonic duo does
n’t live in domestic harmony. (“F
— Martha Stewart,” Tiffany yells,
throwing a plate of cookies at
Chucky’s head.)
As in many romances, although
Chucky and Tiffany are clearly
meant for each other — how
many other dolls out there host
human souls? — happiness isn’t
necessarily guaranteed.
“In every romance, there’s al
ways a problem where the couple
can never seem to get together,”
Arnzen explained. “They don’t
always live happily ever after;
they’re destined to be together,
but they can never be together.”
By giving Chucky amorous feel
ings and marital problems, “Bride
of Chucky,” like its progenitor,
humanizes the monster and al
lows the audience to sympathize
more with him.
“There’s the idea that these
people are dead or inanimate ob
jects and they suddenly have a
sex life and reproduce. It makes
them more human,” he said.
Have sex? Reproduce? But
Chucky’s a doll.
“Anything goes in a movie
where a doll can talk and kill peo
ple,” Arnzen noted. “Anything
can happen.”
COURTESY PHOTO
w'w'w'w'w'wr
Great Stuff for your
Halloween Fun
782 Blair Blvd.
(in the 8th Street Plaza,
8th & Monroe)
338-0340
Used clothing for women,
men & children, gifts & novelties,
wigs and some new clothing,
jewelry & accessories.
i Get on the Ball!
“ ODE Weekly R
|Supplement 3
i
THIS FALL
OCTOBER 31. EMU Ballroom
Tw Dow Hpmw
Piqtur* Stow
Doors open at 10:30pm,
Pre-show at11:00 pm
Featuring
Local Cast
Forbidden
Fruit
HALLOWEEN
COSTUME
CONTEST
wmirrtzes
. FREE Admission with
Student ID and
Halloween
Costume,
$3 without
Costume.
$5 for
General
mar Public
Manual Mwteaol Cast
M no run ace caatalas
I rat Ml caataat
Presented by Office of Student Life-New View 2000, A.C.T., and UO Cultural Forum