Curse Of Chucky
1988âs Childâs Play was the auspicious start of a horror franchise where even the ads featured theatre patrons clamoring for more of its main villain Chucky, a.k.a. Charles Lee Ray, serial killer extraordinaire whom through a stroke of freak luck while being blown away by the cops transmogrified himself into a cheesy department store doll known as a âGood Guyâ, only to imbue the thing with his own vicious personality and then go on an unhinged killing spree where due to his diminutive nature almost all of his kills were carried out via sneak attacks (unlike Freddy, Jason and all the others who would confront you straight up face to face before finishing you). But what was even more remarkable about Part 1 in the series is in the fact that it really was quite the creepy masterpiece as it even managed to stay ambiguous about whether or not the doll was really alive at all prior to the now legendary reveal scene. But the sequels which followed started to go down a rather different path as Brad Dourif (who played Chucky as both a human and as the voice of the doll) started piling up the paychecks while bringing a Nicholsonesque quality to the Chucky character and the general absurdity of the premise (âbut heâs just a dollâŠâ) led to the whole thing becoming unabashed horror comedy especially with the eventual addition of Jennifer Tilly as the old girlfriend of Chucky (from his human days) with her own twisted and evil nature. Things looked pretty bleak for the series (and the other horror icon franchises were either dying out or suffering the indignity of being remade) until Don Mancini (writer and creator of every film in the series and little else besides this series) came up with a new concept for a Chucky movie in 2014 (almost 10 years after the last one) and not only got it made with himself as director, he was also able to bring back Dourif not only to do the voicework, but to appear onscreen as the human version of the character (in flashback) for the first time ever since the opening of Part 1 where he was gunned down, using extensive makeup applications along with a wig so that we can once again meet up with Charles Lee Ray the feared, ritualistic serial killer, and suffice it is to say that most of these scenes are a revelation in giving us more insight into this character than maybe we ever had in the past. Sadly, upon completion the film was relegated to the direct to video market rather than a theatrical release (although direct to video today possesses infinitely more marketable content than most of the Multiplex material) and fans were more or less forced to seek it out in order to see it, but they would be greatly rewarded. The film honors the continuity of the franchise along with the characters and storylines that went with it, but the style actually harkens all the way back to the first movie with its sense of dread and confusion as the characters all try to figure out whatâs going on. But possibly the real masterstroke here was in the casting of the lead actress: Fiona Dourif (daughter of Brad) as the wheelchair bound woman whom out of the blue receives a package in the mail only to find a Chucky doll inside. Why was it sent to her? Who sent it?? Besides the fact that her own family had a history with Charles Lee Ray (and the very real possibility that she is his daughter), Chucky has now become âreactivatedâ which means that the rules of his wacko voodoo practices dictates that he needs a child to take him on, learn his secret, and thus transfer his soul into that of a live human again and it just so happens that our heroine has a young niece visiting who fits the bill. As for Fiona Dourif, to say that she has a bright future ahead of her should be an understatement. She displays ample amounts of beauty and charisma (not to mention the family resemblance is undeniable) but she also possesses that much needed edgy quality which proves that (once her character is pushed beyond her mental breaking point) she can play it dangerous as well. Chucky happily goes through the rest of her extended family with relish (including her sister and the little girlâs nanny who are having a heated lesbian relationship unbeknownst to her husband) even ending one life with an axe to the jawline in a gore effect that must be seen to be believed. Another interesting aspect in the mix here is that of Chucky being a professed atheist, gleefully telling the innocent little girl that there is no God (which the little girl repeats to the family much to their dismay) and saving one of the more gruesome demises for the family priest who tries to stick his nose into their business. As stated, the film uses Part 1âs element of Chucky telling the child and only the child certain things including using generous helpings of profanity so that the child can let everybody know what it is that Chucky just told her so they can be suitably appalled. But the most significant thing here is in the way that Mancini figures out how to make Chucky mysterious again. We KNOW that Charles Lee Ray is inside that doll and that pretty soon heâs going to start killing again and we also know that the possibility of Chucky as a living thing being just part of a âchildâs imaginationâ is an angle which they will NOT use, but the secret here is to keep things subtle, not letting Brad Dourifâs cackling voiceover performance take over the movie until nearly halfway through while some other bits make it a point to only show us a hand here or a foot there even while we hunker down and sit through all of the crippled Fiona Dourif characterâs family drama with the singular location of the old dark house on the hill no doubt helping keep the budget low but when we do get to that final confrontation between the Chucky doll and his âdaughterâ, the ramped up intensity of Fionaâs acting as she mocks and even belittles The Chuck (not to mention finding reasonable methods of fighting back despite being in a wheelchair) makes her a fine candidate for possible repeat appearances in the series going forward as both a beautiful and unhinged adversary for the main villain. And the filmâs no holds barred final minutes, featuring shock cameos, sudden twists and some not so subtle homages to the earlier movies, at least brings things full circle in tying it all together as Brad Dourif gets to finally expand on his character through some much needed flashback work, a reminder of whenever Robert Englund in The Nightmare Franchise would (rarely) do the same by dropping the makeup and giving us some insight into Freddy beyond the dream killer persona, something which was long overdue for Chucky and is all the more welcome in making this the best of the many sequels to an undisputed horror classicâŠ
8/10