Chucky series

  • Cult of Chucky (2017)

    Cult of Chucky (2017)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, October 2020) I really wasn’t expecting much from Cult of Chucky considering the bland return to form of the previous Curse of Chucky, but this seventh instalment ends up recapturing some of the inspired lunacy of the previous films’ best moments. The tone is given early on, as a now-adult victim of the killer doll’s mass-murder sprees is revealed to keep the head alive… for torture. Bringing back bits and pieces of nearly ever single instalments so far (at least as much as I can remember from scattered viewings of the series), this Cult of Chucky is pleasantly over-the-top throughout, but goes fully crazy (in a good way) for the last thirty minutes of the film: By the end, the rules of the series are completely upended and the film sets itself up for even further instalments in traditional nihilistic fashion. (Although, as of 2019, the series seems to have rebooted.) The various gory sequences are sufficiently over-the-top that they have no relationship to reality, making them a bit easier to take. I still don’t like the series, and my tolerance of Cult of Chucky only goes so far, but this seventh instalment goes to surprisingly new places and ends up more entertaining than expected—perhaps only second to the metafictional comedy of Seed of Chucky.

  • Curse of Chucky (2013)

    Curse of Chucky (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, October 2020) Whatever progress Seed of Chucky may have made in transforming the series in a satirical self-aware comedy/horror hybrid is almost completely gone in Curse of Chucky, which goes back to the schlock horror roots of the series and loses a lot of interest along the way. This time around, Chucky finds a way to get into the life of a disabled woman, her mother, sister and niece—the results aren’t pretty, and they’re almost entirely without self-conscious irony. We’re left with just a standard-issue slasher with 2010s technical polish. Only a late-movie cameo by Jennifer Tilly ties it all back together, but it’s too late by then: Chucky’s insufferable quips have done enough damage (misogyny doesn’t help), and the throwback to the straight-up horror is more repetitive than amusing. But you can’t even blame this shift in the direction of the franchise being taken over by lesser creative talents: writer-director Don Mancini is once again at the helm of Curse of Chucky, so he presumably knows where he wants to go here—creative fatigue may be to blame given, well, where do you go after six instalments of a premise that’s not exactly expansive? Visually, there are a few interesting things about this instalment: the opening credit sequence isn’t bad, and there are a few other findings here and there. It also takes a surprisingly long time for the plot to actually start, and the epilogue is protracted far too long. But even those distinctions are not quite enough to make Curse of Chucky more than a perfunctory instalment in a minor franchise—it doesn’t have the gonzo weirdness of its immediate predecessor, which is what was most interesting about it. But then again—maybe getting away from Seed of Chucky enabled the previous film to offer a series conclusion on its own terms.

  • Seed of Chucky (2004)

    Seed of Chucky (2004)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, October 2020) I went into Seed of Chucky with very low expectations—I’ve never been taken by the series’ premise, which seemed like a joke carried too far even in the second sequel. Now that Seed of Chucky is the fifth instalment (of eight so far), I didn’t even bother to review my notes about the previous ones—killer doll, with a bride voiced by Jennifer Tilly, is about all I remembered. But as the film started, it became clear that this wasn’t the same kind of film as its first 1988 instalment—moving away from straight-up supernatural slasher to something akin to a bloody comedy, Seed of Chucky clearly spends a lot of time on what surrounds the kills—and is far more interesting when it’s not busy killing off various characters. The film quickly takes on a metafictional quality, as it plays with the notion that the dolls are celebrated Hollywood props, and Jennifer Tilly has a dual role playing herself and voicing the female killer doll. Once their son/daughter comes into the film, the script plays with notions of gender, in between throwing up as many pop-culture references and comically playing with expectations. (If you were expecting “Heeere’s Chucky!” then you’re going to be mildly amused.) Some of the jokes work: John Waters as a paparazzi is fun, the Glen or Glenda gag is amusing, and the technical aspects of the film are not bad. On the other hand, some of the series’ weaknesses remain: Chucky is just as annoying as he was, and some of the coarse humour of the film is more repellent than amusing. Some of the twists and turns are intriguing, but sadly, the film doesn’t quite manage to make it across the finish line: somewhere along the third act, Seed of Chucky disintegrates, perhaps in an attempt to subvert too many expectations. The ending doesn’t quite satisfy and doesn’t quite manage to pull all elements together. The result is still better than I expected at the beginning of the film, but still disappointing in how it introduces a few elements and a more comic tone without quite knowing how to wrap it all up. At least my expectations going into the next segments are back to being comfortably low.