Cult of Chucky

"Cult of Chucky" (2017, Don Mancini, Universal 1440 Entertainment) is the seventh Chucky film and a direct sequel to 2013's "Curse of Chucky".


This time we get to meet up with Andy (Alex Vincent) again. He's all grown up and making extremely strange life choices... like living in what looks like Grandpa's house from "The Lost Boys" and keeping the still-animated severed head of his childhood trauma, Chucky (voiced so iconically by Brad Dourif), around for torturing. No wonder he's single, really.


We then catch up with our pal from the last movie, Nica (Fiona Dourif), who wound up taking the blame for all of Chucky's murders in the last film and has found herself incarcerated in a home for the criminally insane. When a new therapy technique with Good Guy dolls is introduced, more Chucky mayhem unfolds as the wisecracking mad-doll begins his usual rampage.


The film has some really good points. Brad Dourif, as usual, being one. He always gleefully takes the role of Chucky on. It's hard not to enjoy it. The doll is also very well animated and looks pretty organic without losing that nice 80s vibe that makes Chucky such a fun franchise. Another good point is, of course, having Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), around a bit more. She deserves more screen time.


The film has a B-movie feel about it. From the weird, awkward silences, the strange unnatural acting and all round scripting of it, it's pretty apparent that this is on purpose. However, it was maybe too successful and lost some of the atmosphere and more satisfying jumps that were garnered in "Curse of Chucky". Nica's character is also a bit underutilised until past the halfway mark making her feel less like a protagonist and more of a plot device.


There are hidden jokes and nods to both previous entrants of the Chucky franchise and other projects of the cast and crew. It's a pretty self-aware piece, clearly made for fans. The film enjoys taking the already batshit premise and antics of Chucky and not only slabbering them on with gusto, but also adding to the lore and creating a premise for new opportunities for the murderous duo.


It is more cheesy than Curse, less fun than Bride and gives a sprinkling of cartoon-style gore.

[Image: Universal 1440 Entertainment, et al]

Hani

Gingerclown

"Gingerclown" (2013, Balázs Hatvani) is a horror comedy set in 1983.

I add "comedy" in loosest possible way....

A group of unconvincing high school bullies dare Sam (Ashley Lloyd) to go into an abandoned amusement park. One of the bullies' disgruntled girlfriends, Jenny (Erin Hayes), who seems to be growing a conscience, goes in after him, spurring the bullies to follow suit.

Unfortunately, the park is now home to a pack of monstrous creatures who, as well as hating each other, also enjoy torturing and killing hapless humans.

An absolute 'WTF' from the get go. From the forced "bad movie" dialogue from our 'teens' to the foul-mouthed rubber creatures, this film is just not what I expected.

It's like someone said "you know, Tim Curry was terrifying as IT and Brad Dourif really was fantastic as that sweary little dolly... I wonder if they'd voice a scary clown and a gross alien creature for us?" and somehow convinced them, and Lance Henriksen from Aliens, to join the cast! Albeit with voiceovers probably recorded elsewhere...

But that's as far as the creativity went...

From start to end, this film smacked of wanting to make a 'so bad it's good' film, without actually being able to pull it off. The result? So bad it's... well, bad!

The purposefully stilted delivery of all of the lines gives the film an odd feeling. Rather than being 'in the style of the 1980s' it comes across more of someone doing a really bad impression of an 80s film...

The styling of the creatures is fun. From evil tea kettles to head-punting spider monsters, but each scene is the same. It's like walking through a ghost ride with a camera then playing it back to find that you really had to be there to enjoy it.

1) Sam stumbles into new scene
2) Jenny follows
3) awkward conversation about how all the others are dicks/escaping
4) cue monster
5) monster swears a lot and says some crazy stuff (eg. a crap riddle)
6) monster attacks
7) Sam and Jenny escape and move onto next scene
8) Repeat steps 1 - 7

Ginger Clown himself (Tim Curry) doesn't look much like a clown, and doesn't really sound like Tim Curry... Which surely defeats the purpose?

It's very formulaic and I wouldn't sit through it again, but I must commend Mr Hatvani on getting a horror-star studded voiceover cast into his movie, even if the end product is just a horror channel worthy effort.

Hani

Curse of Chucky

"Curse of Chucky" aka Child's Play 6 (2013, Don Mancini, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal 1440 Entertainment) is the straight to DVD, 6th instalment in the killer doll franchise.

Chucky is a marmite horror character, dividing opinion amongst genre fans for years, and I fall in the liking him camp.

It was nice to see Chucky (voiced by the wonderfully manic Brad Dourif) back to being a creepy guy again. This time he's been posted to a wheelchair bound woman (played by Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif's daughter)'s house to terrorise and slaughter her family.

The setting being a creepy old house seemed a bit odd, but somehow worked. However, the plot is painfully slow and, although it did keep some of the humour Chucky films are synonymous with, it felt a bit lost in pacing.

The enveloping plot is a little thin, I mean not as bad as Seed, but still had a kind of 'stuck on the end' feeling to it.

However, there were some good jumps, a lot of creepy nuances and tiny movements from Chucky and plenty of his gutter mouth.

The characters are interesting, if unlikeable, and the gore is fun, although it seemed very eyeball-centred.

We also get a nice cameo from his lovely wife!

Not really a welcome back to form for Chucky, and I hope it might be the last sequel, but certainly entertaining, impressively put together for a sixth anything and a step back to being a real horror again, even if he's not yet a real boy.

[Image: Universal 1440 Entertainment]

Hani

Child's Play 3

"Child's Play 3" (1991, Jack Bender, Universal Pictures) is the third movie starring Chucky the killer doll (again voiced by the talented Brad Dourif).

Set several years after the second film's events (yet only released a year later), teenager Andy (Justin Whalin) has now started military school (it seems to be the thing for young, troubled, disowned or orphaned movie teens - see "The Omen 2"). Although his past has not forgotten him he finds, when Chucky turns up in yet another brand new Good Guys body, thanks again to that pesky manufacturer for continuing to reboot the same disastrous doll over and over again!

However, after engaging his brain this time, it dawns on Chucky that he doesn't have to target only Andy and despite the fact that he's a fully grown man in a doll's body, he seems to have a creepy penchant for child victims, and so instead targets a little kid called Ronald Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers).

A pretty dull film up until the climatic ending, this sequel is really an exercise in bullying in military academies.

A funfair, however, adds a little bit of excitement and a good setting for Chucky's battle against Andy on familiar grounds.

The props & animation are, as usual, excellent.  And the acting is all pretty good, but a dull script and schlocky one-liners (even for a Chucky movie) mar the film.

In my opinion, the weaker of the sequels, and yes that does include "Seed of Chucky"...

[Image: Universal Pictures]

 

Hani

Child's Play 2

"Child's Play 2" (1990, John Lafia, Universal Studios) is the sequel to 1988's murderous doll movie, "Child's Play".

After living through the first film, Andy (Alex Vincent) has been placed into foster care and his mother into mental care. He's been put into the care of foster parents, Phil (Gerrit Graham) and Joanne (Jenny Agutter, known to most horror fans as the nurse and love interest from "American Werewolf in London") Simpson.

The Simpson's appear to be professional foster parents and also have another child in their care, rebellious teenager, Kyle (Christine Elise). Kyle's a girl for the record.

Typically, no one will believe Andy when he begins to explain that Chucky (rebuilt for some unknown reason by the manufacturer) has found him, destroyed and replaced the Simpson's Good Guy Doll, Tommy. I see that Chucky is made from a much more malleable plastic than Tommy was after the face mashing incident...

Chucky is out to steal Andy's body again before his time in this new doll body is out, leaving him trapped as a little ginger dolly freak forever! But, he's also inclined to commit a few murders on the way there. It is, after all, his main hobby.

Maniac as always, Brad Dourif brings the little beggar to life with a murderous glee and a maniacal laugh unparalleled.

Sadly, this film was never going to surpass the original in that it is a rehash of itself. However, the action, props and animation are excellent and there's some interesting kill scenes on the doll Production Line (as an Engineer I have to say the lack of safety devices or any kind of poka yoke on that line was shoddy, even for the early 90s!).

Despite his murderous inclinations, I do kind of feel for old Charles Lee Ray in this film, he doesn't half get tortured! You'd think he would have given up by now...

And, I've never noticed how creepy "The Skye Boat Song" sounds when hummed...

[Image: Universal Studios]

Hani

Bride of Chucky

"Bride of Chucky" (1998, David Kirschner, Ronny Yu, Universal Pictures) is the fourth film in the franchise.

Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) is an ex-girlfriend and admirer of murderer, Charles "Chucky" Lee Ray (Brad Dourif). She's followed his devious escapades since becoming Chucky the Killer Doll and has found a way to source the, now dismembered doll parts, planning to stitch them back together and restore Chucky’s soul to the doll.

She expects him to propose to her in gratitude and also because she had mistakenly thought he had planned to propose before his voodoo transformation in the first film.

Upon learning that he doesn’t wish to marry her, Tiffany cages Chucky in a playpen prison and taunts him with an ugly doll bride. Sadly for her, Chucky still has his voodoo skills and he kills her, trapping her inside the body of the doll.

Putting aside their differences, they then go on a murderous road trip with two eloping teens (Katherine Heigl and Nick Stabile) that are unaware of their stowaway passenger’s killing spree, believing them to inanimate dolls.

“Bride of Chucky” is a horror comedy with some gore and a lot of in-jokes and nods to other horrors as well as the Child’s Play series itself. This is a film for the fans, and even then not everyone will like it.

I do love Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany, both as her evil self and in doll form. Not to mention I reckon Brad Dourif’s maniacal laugh is even better as the films go on.

Excellent effects, as I can only expect from the Child’s Play franchise and a good, if thin, plot.

It’s not a great film and it's certainly not scary, but it’s not trying to be. Falling into the so-bad-it’s-good-category was clearly the director’s aim, and I think it goes a long way in saving the series from falling into the trapping of constantly recreating the wheel.

Plus Chucky and Tiff make a cute little homicidal couple!

[Image: Universal Pictures]

Hani

Seed of Chucky

"Seed of Chucky" (2004, Don Mancini, Rogue Pictures) is the fifth in the Child's Play franchise and one of the ones which admits that Chucky (Brad Dourif) is more of a dark comedian than a scary monster.

Chucky and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) have checked out of their little doll bodies and their consciousness is somewhere in limbo. They're now being used as props in a TV movie about... well themselves.

Meanwhile, somewhere in England their puppet-son, Glen (Billy Boyd), is living the life of Pinnochio with a mean ventriloquist. Also, it appears Glastonbury has a larger range of festivals than I had imagined...

For some reason Tiffany and Chucky's spawn seems like a hybrid between a member of the Sex Pistols and Oliver Twist. He has recurring nightmares where he is killing people, but abhors violence. That is, he abhorred violence...

Discovering his parents' existence while watching TV, he escapes and heads to America to hunt for them. Only to find, after reviving them with a voodoo chant, that he is the freak, puppet son of two freak, puppet murderers.

Feeling that she should be more responsible now that she's a mother, Tiffany attempts to give up her 'murder addiction' by going cold turkey. It doesn't last. However, whilst trying to better herself, she and Chucky are also holding actress, Jennifer Tilly (who voices Tiffany), hostage and are intending to steal her body for Tiffany. Yes, yes, it's all very clever!

They updated the special effects for the dolls running to be more computer generated, which just isn't as effective or fun as the original physical effects, but the facial expressions are still excellent.

A self-aware, campy and unapologetic mad-cap B-movie with gore and terrible one-liners. Just a bit of fun.

[Image: Rogue Pictures]

Hani