Today’s film, Curse of Chucky, is the first brand new release in this year’s 31 Days of Horror series. This film marks the return of the killer ginger doll named Chucky, a Good Guy Doll inhabited by the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray.
Chucky is delivered to a home, in the middle of nowhere (cliché), to a woman and her paralyzed and wheelchair bound daughter, Nika. Nika is played by Fiona Dourif, daughter of Brad Dourif who is the voice of Chucky. When the mother mysteriously dies, Nika and her older sister Barb inherit the house. Little Alice, Nika’s niece, immediately becomes attached to the Chucky doll. Not one person in that family seems to know anything about the infamous Chucky doll so no one suspects anything strange about him. Of course, one by one they are separated from one another and killed off in some typical Child’s Play fashion.
While Curse of Chucky loses scary points by making Chucky a CGI nightmare, the film brings the Childs Play series back to where it belongs-horror. The original Childs Play was scary. Chucky was more violent and less jokes. Gradually the series took an attempt at a comedic approach, becoming absolutely ridiculous by the last film in the series, the 2004 film Seed of Chucky. If you haven’t seen it, Seed of Chucky is the horrible equivalent to Jason X, Halloween: Resurrection and Leprechaun in the Hood.
My complaints are few. As I said before, I hate the awful CGI work done on Chucky. He was so much scarier when he was a guy in a costume. I also hate that most of the scares in the film are jump scares, something I really despise about modern horror.
I loved a lot more than I hated. The story of why Chucky wants them all dead is the best part. Obviously, I am not here to spoil that ending for you but I will say that story tie-in is superb. They give you a tremendous amount of closure, answering pretty much every question you might have while watching the film. Of course, if you haven’t seen every single one of the other films, you will understand nothing. Nika’s paralyzed legs turn out to be a blessing more than a curse, saving her life more than once and entertaining the hell out of me. There is even the return of a few familiar faces. Hint: Watch after the credits.
While I wouldn’t call Curse of Chucky the best in the franchise, I would say that it’s the best since Child’s Play 2. I would recommend adding this to your collection and giving it a watch to catch the fun conclusion of the story. Make sure you watch the other five films first so you will understand the brilliance of the ending.
