Flying Off Of Store Shelves Everywhere
There are seven Child’s Play/Chucky films. Read that again and then think about it, let it sink in, and realize that a film series about a killer doll has been successful enough to warrant seven films (and counting, as an eighth film is already being cooked up). What might be an even scarier fact is that I’ve now seen five out of those seven films. I’ve viewed Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, and Curse of Chucky. I missed Seed of Chucky for some odd reason, but plan to watch it and the most recent entry, Cult of Chucky, in the very near future.
I’m pretty sure that if you’re reading this, you are already familiar with the story of Chucky. If not, here’s a brief explanation of how a doll became a maniacal killing machine: Voodoo practitioner/psychotic serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) is chased into a toy store by the police, mortally wounded, and uses voodoo to transfer his soul into the plastic body of a Good Guy doll in order to survive. Unless he wants to remain a doll forever, he has to transfer his soul into a human host. In the first film, that human just happens to be young Andy. The second and third sequel has Chucky attempting to find and take over the body of Andy until we get to the Bride of Chucky, which opens up an entirely new can of worms.
Spoilers Ahead!
Curse of Chucky introduces us to wheelchair bound Nica (Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif’s daughter in real life) and her mother Sarah (Chantal Quesnal). They receive a large box in the mail that happens to contain a Good Guy doll. Writing it off as a joke, Sarah tosses the doll into the trash. Later, Nica hears her mother scream during the night and finds her dead on the floor as a result of an apparently self-inflicted stab wound. Chucky mysteriously shows up in the house again that evening.
Nica’s sister, Barb (Danielle Bisutti), Barb’s husband, Ian (Brennan Elliot), their daughter, Alice (Summer H. Howell), and young nanny, Jill (Maitland McConnell), move into the home with Nica. They have no plans to stay there permanently, as Barb wants to sell the home and use the profit for herself (although she claims it’s to pay for Alice’s schooling and other family needs). Alice finds Chucky and immediately takes to him. He’s in the kitchen with Nica and Alice as they prepare supper for the family and Father Frank (A Martinez), who showed up with Barb in order to check on Nica and to smooth things over with the family. Chucky poisons one bowl of chili and waits for his first victim.
After multiple shots of people eating the chili, characters start having reactions to the meal. Some make faces due to too much seasoning. Others squirm when they believe that the chili actually isn’t vegetarian. Ian pretends to choke, but then laughs it off and praises Nica and Alice for the meal. Father Frank begins to sweat, apologizes and leaves abruptly. He’s found bleeding to death after a car accident and is then decapitated when firefighters try to save him.
After Father Frank’s death, Chucky starts taking out members of the family one by one. He still has his trusty butcher knife, but he uses other methods to kill as well. I won’t go into all of them here because I don’t want to spoil anything. As the body count rises, Nica begins to realize that Chucky is the culprit, and she attempts to stop him. You’ll have to watch the film to see how it ends.
This movie was surprisingly good. In fact, I’d say that it is one of the best films in the series. That’s saying a lot considering the fact that it is the sixth film in the series. There are a few genuine suspenseful moments throughout the movie, and Chucky has a legitimate-to-a-sick-minded person reason for taking this family out. There’s also a subplot that uses a little misdirection to throw yet another surprise at the viewer.
The humor is stripped back considerably in this film. While there are still some laughs, especially toward the end, this movie plays out more like a straight horror and suspense film than anything else. It as refreshing to see a Chucky film where suspense was front and center and the humor took a backseat.
Dourif is the voice of Chucky, but he also makes an appearance as himself in flashbacks. You’ll recognize him from his work on Star Trek: Voyager, the Lord of the Rings films, Rob Zombie’s Halloween films, and tons of other films and television shows in the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres. After six films, I’m pretty sure that he has the character of Chucky nailed down pretty well. His daughter, Fiona, an excellent actress in her own right, is solid as Nica. The rest of the small cast do great jobs. Danielle Busetti and Brennan Elliott play off of each other extremely well as a couple on the rocks. Maitland McConnell plays their young and attractive nanny who is part of the reason that the family’s relationship is rocky, but with a twist. Young Summer H. Howell is good as Alice as well, and I look forward to seeing her in Cult of Chucky soon.
Jennifer Tilly reprises her role as herself/Tiffany from Bride of Chucky. She’s still a bombshell beauty. There’s another surprise guest thrown in as well (but, ironically, this person doesn’t show up in the Netflix offering of this movie).
If you enjoyed the previous Chucky films, specifically the first three, you’ll enjoy this movie. I put it right behind the original film as one of the best in the series. The gore is a bit campy, but it looks pretty good. The movie has an excellent amount of suspense and horror, and the story is fresh despite being six films deep.
As always, thanks for reading. I’ll see you all again tomorrow whenever I review my fourth film in Thirty-One Days O’Horror! Later, dolls!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 