With creator Don Mancini taking back the creative soul of his murderous killer doll in the form of a hit SYFY series, aptly titled Chucky, we've decided to look back and rank every film in the Child's Play franchise.
#8. Seed of Chucky
After writing every entry in the series, Don Mancini finally steps in as the director for the fifth entry in the series and while it's kind of endearing to see Chucky's creator seemingly single handedly keep the series alive - this movie is a fucking dumpster fire. Seed doubles down on the fourth wall breaking, overly lowbrow humor that proceeded it in Bride of Chucky and this film absolutely crumbles because of it. But aside from the humor itself being even more off the mark, the design of Tiffany and Chucky's offspring is enough to write this film off entirely. Chucky's child could have been ANYTHING - and somehow they landed on a British hermaphrodite named after an Ed Wood movie who can't stop pissing him/herself? They absolutely beat the "anatomically correct" joke to fucking death in this movie, so how is Glen/Glenda even pissing themselves in the first place? Why is this a question anyone would ever have to ask themselves? I guess if you're really in dire need of seeing Chucky masturbate, incredibly dated jokes about Mini Me and Britney Spears or watching Jennifer Tilly take shots at herself by portraying a fictionalized caricature trying to hook up with Redman to revitalize her career - this is the movie for you. For everyone else, the Seed of Chucky would have been better off aborted.
#7. Child's Play 3
There's a noticeable increase in production quality jumping from Child's Play to Child's Play 2 and you'll barely make it past the opening credits before noticing how much cheaper part 3 is. The music, the doll, the acting - somehow all feels more dated than the film that came before it. And while part 2 leaned into showing off the killer doll with great success, director Jack Bender shows us way too much in the third outing. Right out of the gate with the first kill, his movements are as clunky and awkward as Chuck E. Cheese's animatronic band. And writer Don Mancini isn't off the hook here either. Paintball guns being replaced by real guns and no one in the military academy notices? The new little boy Chucky's after, Tyler, being so stupid that he thinks there's nothing wrong with a doll walking around and talking on its own? The dad from Hellraiser having a disturbing fetish for shaving everyone's head? There's not a single well crafted character (including a teenage Andy Barclay, who somehow had more depth as a 10 year old boy), no suspense whatsoever, incredibly uninspired kills and a "plot" that can be summed up as simply as Chucky chases a kid at military school.
#6. Cult of Chucky
Don Mancini seems to relish in his success a little too much. Similar to how Seed went a little too far off the rails after Bride brought the franchise back - he's done the same thing again with Cult of Chucky following the renewed fan interest he won back with Curse. This time though, instead of retconning some added depth to Charles Lee Ray's backstory, he decides to add some new recipes to Chucky's voodoo cookbook. The story itself becomes so convoluted in trying to maintain some semblance of continuity that it's really a struggle to get through this one. It feels like you're watching a little kid spend so long explain the rules to some game that he's made up that by the time he's finished, no one wants to play anymore. Giving Charles Lee Ray the ability to possess multiple hosts simultaneously just opens things up so much that it feels like none of it matters anymore, his powers are seemingly limitless. He's already un-killable but now, he can clone himself? Where does it end?
#5. Child's Play (Remake)
If nothing else, Chucky has always been a visually horrifying character. But the doll design in this remake is absolutely atrocious. He's not scary in any way. But the tech infusion and use of Chucky as an examination on how we're raising our kids in the i-generation; obsessed with recording everything and in constant pursuit of instant gratification through even the most vile content provides from some interesting conceptual groundwork. You'd think you might stumble into some kind of cool Black Mirror-like material here but all it really does is give Chucky some bland new ways to murder people with his bluetooth enabled index finger. And while I was initially really excited about the casting of Mark Hamill as the new voice of Chucky, he has nothing to work with here. He never really gets a chance to go fully off the rails, as Chucky's confined to just being a confused piece of hardware hellbent on doing anything and everything to make his owner happy. It doesn't ever quite register as menacing, just creepy. Chucky's been reduced from a sadistic serial killer trying to transplant his soul into the body of an unwilling child to that weird facebook mom that comments on every single one of your friends' posts.
#4. Bride of Chucky
After getting 3 Child's Play movies in 4 years, Bride comes off of a 7 year series hiatus and is the first film to break away from the Andy Barclay character altogether (as well as the Child's Play moniker). It's also quite the tonal departure from the previous films, with Freddy v.s. Jason director Ronny Yu delivering tons of stylized kills and an over the top comedic tone that makes this feel more like an x-rated gothic cartoon than a horror movie. It's as if Mancini wrote this film as a ten year anniversary party for the fans of the series. And aside from the fourth wall breaking winks at the audience, it also captures that same essence of the original film in asking how well do you really know someone? This time instead of a mother and her son, it's two hopeless romantic teenagers who run off and get married in the middle of the night. And while an improved plot, much more inventively gruesome kills, and the incredible re-design of the newly stitched up Chucky doll make this film a hell of an improvement over the last one; it still spends way too much time on painfully goofy jokes to really hold up. But Tiffany is definitely a welcomed addition to the Chucky universe, even if she's a bit of a cartoon character herself. Then again we are talking about a movie with a baby doll sex scene...
#3. Curse of Chucky
After re-inventing the series once already with Bride, Mancini returns yet again (this time 9 years between entries and celebrating 25 years since the original) with a new take on the infamous Good Guy doll. Granted, Chucky's been demoted to straight to video, but surprisingly it's the best sequel this series has outside of Child's Play 2. The flamboyant comedic tone has been completely subdued and Mancini seems to have really honed in his abilities as a director, creating an effective little funhouse thriller. And the addition of Brad Dourif's real life daughter, Fiona, as the wheelchair restricted Nica adds an element of horror that's been sorely missed in this series for some time. It makes Chucky physically threatening once again and gives the series a revitalized focus with its claustrophobic setting. Granted, some of the scares are a little cheap and the supporting cast doesn't add a lot of depth outside of serving as Chucky's ever escalating body count but as far as straight to video sequels are concerned - you can do a hell of a lot worse than this. Even if it's ultimately just a predictable slasher; the added elements of Chucky's backstory and the renewed emphasis on horror definitely make this the most worthwhile entry in the series this side of the new millennium.
#2. Child's Play
Looking back at the original Child's Play, it really feels like the only film in the series made for adults. Ultimately it's still a horror film about a killer doll but there's a much more grounded atmosphere created by the mystery surrounding whether or not Andy himself is the one responsible for the horrific incidents that keep happening around his plastic red headed friend or if he might just be telling the truth. Having the story unfold from the perspectives of Officer Mike Norris and Andy's mother give the story an emotional weight that's missing from the follow ups and makes it almost feel like a strange Halloween episode of a Law and Order style police procedural. The pace may be a little slower because of the suspense fueled build up but when it finally erupts as Chucky's secret is uncovered, the payoff is phenomenal. The story also has a subtle subtext about a generation of kids being raised by television. Andy watches the Good Guy TV show, eats the Good Guy cereal and spends all of his time with his new Good Guy doll - yet his mother knows nothing about it, other than her son wants it and she still trusts it alone with her child everyday. But instead of getting caught up in chastising negligent parenting, Karen is portrayed as a much more sympathetic character in her vigilant pursuit of the truth and trying to save her son. The movie rightfully makes Chucky the final focal point and thus a new horror icon is born.
#1. Child's Play 2
With the mystery surrounding Chucky solved in the previous film, the sequel spotlights it's villain and goes into full-on slasher mode. And while I would have liked to have revisited Mike or Karen's characters at some point, centering the follow up on Chucky's pursuit of Andy definitely makes the most sense. A possessed cabbage patch doll isn't going to be all that physically threatening to anyone that can just drop kick the little bastard into a wood chipper. But to a kid, Chucky's fucking terrifying. And with the newly polished doll design, a completely unhinged vocal performance from Brad Dourif and one of the best horror scores of all time (criminally overlooked, the music in this film is incredible) - Chucky's never been scarier. Where the original film has Chucky framing the murders as accidents - this time the kills are incredibly visceral and graphic, which added with Chucky's sadistic sense of humor make him more menacing than ever. There are definitely some logic leaps throughout but all in all, this is the pinnacle of the series for me and a 90 minute showcase of what this franchise can be at its best.
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