The Child's Play series takes a turn to horror over comedy in 'Curse of Chucky', the sixth entry to the long running franchise following a killer doll and his thirst for blood.
The film begins with wheelchair bound Nica living with her mom Sarah. One day, they get a package delivered to their house - a Good-Guy doll named Chucky. That night, Chucky comes to life killing Sarah. The death, ruled a suicide, prompts Nica's sister Barb and her family (plus a priest) to come home and support her. We soon learn that Barb is a terrible sister to Nica, wanting to send her away to an assisted living center and sell their mothers house in order to pay for her expensive lifestyle.
At dinner that night, Chucky poisons one plate of food (cleverly the viewer doesn't know which one it is that he tampered with). We eventually discover it was the priests food as he drives off the road and dies. Meanwhile, Chucky roams around the house terrorizing Nica and her family being disappearing and appearing randomly without anyone moving him. After a couple more murders, we get an Charles Lee Ray backstory. Tiffany wasn't his only love before his death at the toy store in 1988. It turns out he was obsessed with Sarah before that and plans to take revenge on her entire family. It'll be up to Nica to save everyone from the killer doll.
'Curse of Chucky' was way more enjoyable to me compared to its predecessor. After mixed reviews and a poor box office showing with "Seed of Chucky", the filmmakers decided to take the series back to it's roots and lay off of the campy comedy. Despite the change in direction, this one still managed to tie in both the original three and Bride/Seed very nicely. The Good-Guy doll itself looks just as it did in the first film, and even says its infamous catchphrases like "I'm your friend to the end" and "I like to be hugged". The relationship Chucky builds with Barb's 9-year old daughter Alice felt similar to him and Andy Barclay.
I thought the backstory of Chucky and Sarah was a smart touch, along with bringing in Andy Barclay and Tiffany (in Jennifer Tiley's body) with cameo appearances. The one thing the "Child's Play" series has always done is stick to the series timeline very well. A major downside for me was that we didn't get to hear Brad Dourif until the middle of the movie as Chucky keeps a low profile early on. The ending was OK for me, it obviously done with the mindset that there would be another sequel.
Acting wise, Brad Dourif voiced Chucky yet again with brilliance although very little to work with in terms of script. The real star of this one was Brad's daughter Fiona Dourif who played the final girl Nica. She brought a lot of fight and energy to the role, and had to do it all in a wheelchair. The rest of the cast held their own as well, along with cutesy cameos from Jennifer Tiley as Tiffany and Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay.
Overall, 'Curse of Chucky' was a refreshing sequel to a series running out of steam at that time. It tied into the original films which had success, and also brought horror back into the franchise. It's a shame it didn't go to theatres, easily tied with 'Child's Play 2' as the best sequel in the series.
7/10.
The film begins with wheelchair bound Nica living with her mom Sarah. One day, they get a package delivered to their house - a Good-Guy doll named Chucky. That night, Chucky comes to life killing Sarah. The death, ruled a suicide, prompts Nica's sister Barb and her family (plus a priest) to come home and support her. We soon learn that Barb is a terrible sister to Nica, wanting to send her away to an assisted living center and sell their mothers house in order to pay for her expensive lifestyle.
At dinner that night, Chucky poisons one plate of food (cleverly the viewer doesn't know which one it is that he tampered with). We eventually discover it was the priests food as he drives off the road and dies. Meanwhile, Chucky roams around the house terrorizing Nica and her family being disappearing and appearing randomly without anyone moving him. After a couple more murders, we get an Charles Lee Ray backstory. Tiffany wasn't his only love before his death at the toy store in 1988. It turns out he was obsessed with Sarah before that and plans to take revenge on her entire family. It'll be up to Nica to save everyone from the killer doll.
'Curse of Chucky' was way more enjoyable to me compared to its predecessor. After mixed reviews and a poor box office showing with "Seed of Chucky", the filmmakers decided to take the series back to it's roots and lay off of the campy comedy. Despite the change in direction, this one still managed to tie in both the original three and Bride/Seed very nicely. The Good-Guy doll itself looks just as it did in the first film, and even says its infamous catchphrases like "I'm your friend to the end" and "I like to be hugged". The relationship Chucky builds with Barb's 9-year old daughter Alice felt similar to him and Andy Barclay.
I thought the backstory of Chucky and Sarah was a smart touch, along with bringing in Andy Barclay and Tiffany (in Jennifer Tiley's body) with cameo appearances. The one thing the "Child's Play" series has always done is stick to the series timeline very well. A major downside for me was that we didn't get to hear Brad Dourif until the middle of the movie as Chucky keeps a low profile early on. The ending was OK for me, it obviously done with the mindset that there would be another sequel.
Acting wise, Brad Dourif voiced Chucky yet again with brilliance although very little to work with in terms of script. The real star of this one was Brad's daughter Fiona Dourif who played the final girl Nica. She brought a lot of fight and energy to the role, and had to do it all in a wheelchair. The rest of the cast held their own as well, along with cutesy cameos from Jennifer Tiley as Tiffany and Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay.
Overall, 'Curse of Chucky' was a refreshing sequel to a series running out of steam at that time. It tied into the original films which had success, and also brought horror back into the franchise. It's a shame it didn't go to theatres, easily tied with 'Child's Play 2' as the best sequel in the series.
7/10.