Now I was a bit worried when I heard that the next Chucky movie would be straight to DVD/Blu Ray and that the Chucky doll looked so strange in this film. However those worries were calmed by the knowledge that the movie has Brad Dourif reprising his role as Chucky and Don Mancini, the creator of the character, was back to write and direct. With the tiny budget of 5 million dollars and Brad Dourif's daughter in the lead we get surprisingly one of the best movies in the series.
I'm a long time Chucky fan. Child's Play was one of the first slasher movies I'd ever seen and was part of my induction into the horror genre. People seem to like taking a shit on the Child's Play franchise nowadays, but I love it anyway. I've never really found Chucky scary, I just love him as a character. How often do you have a slasher film where the slasher themselves is in near as much danger as the victim. He's got to be clever with how he kills because he's not really that strong or fast. The element of surprise is his only advantage. But honestly I watch the movies for Chucky himself. To me, Chucky is one of the most charismatic of all the slasher killers.
Isn't he just hilarious!
Michael Myers and Jason are both silent. Freddie Kruger has these clever one liners and jokes that he sets up. Pinhead from Hellraiser is so regal with his threats. Chucky is just a dude who likes to kill people, and happens to be trapped in the body of a little ginger midget. He's totally inelegant about it. As an eleven year old, hearing Chucky speak for the first time was amazing.
11 year old me: Were his first words 'You stupid bitch'????...... I freakin' love this guy!!!
I laughed my ass of throughout the movies. And this one is no different.
But onto this movie.
It's a micro film, taking place primarily in one location. Fiona Dourif, Brad's surprisingly attractive daughter, is the lead as our wheelchair bound heroine.
We start off with Chucky being mailed to this ostensibly random and unfortunate family, and hilarity ensues. They really make you wait to find out why he's there. All you know is that it's Chucky, so people are gonna die. Now what works with this movie is the fact that it goes back to the creepier elements of the early movies, while still acknowledging the later ones. You'll have to watch the movie yourself to see why Chucky has decided to visit this particular family, but I can tell you that Bride of Chucky, and Seed of Chucky are still canon and the film does reference them.
Another thing is that the kills are fantastic. One of the biggest separators of a mediocre slasher film from a really fun one; is how creative and gruesome the kills are. And they defiantly deliver on that front in this movie. There's one in particular that will make even avid fans of The Walking Dead go .......
I also love that this movie is funny without TRYING to be funny. My biggest issue with Seed of Chucky was that they kept inserting jokes and trying to turn it into a slapstick comedy. The premise of Child's Play (a foul mouthed, 2ft tall, ginger serial killer) is slapstick enough. The comedy is inherent in the story, you don't need to add jokes. The Child's play films have always made me laugh and cheer but not because they were delivering a bunch of corny jokes, they just were funny.
 |
| A doll with freckles and bright blue eyes screaming a bunch of curse words is funny on it's own, don't make him do 'The Shining' references |
This movie takes it all seriously. And there are some genuinely surprising and scary moments in this film. The story is pretty simple but it has some interesting twists and turns. Making the lead wheelchair bound was a great move. She is effectively slower and less agile that Chucky is, making him a much larger threat to her. And it has one of the best, end of the credits stingers I've ever seen. EVER!!
Overall I have to say that after watching it and having some time to think about it, this movie is my second favorite in the series after the original. That makes my ranking of the Chucky movies...
1.
 |
| Child's Play |
2.
 |
| Curse of Chucky |
3.
 |
| Bride of Chucky |
4.
 |
| Child's Play 2 |
And the Red-headed Step Children of the series.
5.
 |
| Child's Play 3 |
6.
 |
| Seed of Chucky |
So this film comes highly recomened. If you like slashers and especially if you like them to be fun I'd highly recommend it. Now you can see this one without having seen the others and still enjoy it but I would recommend you watch at least the first two before moving on to this one.
So there you have it, Curse of Chucky, at Redboxes everywhere so....
 |
| So go get yourself a copy!!!!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment