Curse of Chucky
Universal Pictures
8/10
Curse of Chucky marks the return of the titular killer doll for his 6th film in 25 years. In the latest Chucky movie, writer and director Don Mancini does a bit of a retooling with Chucky. The Meta and self-referential humor of the last two movies has been done away with in order to return to the horror roots of the franchise. Also worth noting is this sixth installment marks the series move to a straight to video release after the negatively received Seed of Chucky released almost 10 years ago.
Now for the record, I want it known that I actually enjoyed Seed of Chucky, but the general public wasn’t into it and the film also didn’t do too well financially. Keeping this in mind coupled with the fact that the film is a direct to video release many were left wondering if the film with any good. Well I am happy to say, as a long time Chucky fan, that this movie raises the bar for the franchise. It might even be just as good as the original if not better. Granted the film has its flaws but there isn’t anything too major I would complain about but we’ll get to that in a bit.
The movie takes place primarily in the protagonist Nica’s house over the course of one night which I felt was a good move as the centralized location allowed Don to control and craft the atmosphere into something truly haunting. The film itself really does a good job at playing up its surroundings in order to help Chucky be at the top of his game. In fact for the first third of the movie we are teased with Chucky’s presence rather than having him immediately kicking ass and taking names. Some might find this move to make the film a bit slow but I found it to be a fantastic decision. After witnessing the rise of the “torture porn” horror movies I’m glad that the movie was a bit “slow” as I would rather see a movie that focused more on crafting something truly frightening and having actual plot to it than simply trying to shock us with gruesome deaths.
Now as I mentioned the film does have its flaws but nothing that would ruin the movie, just things that either needed to be clarified or I saw more of. For example, I would have liked to see a bit more dialogue from Chucky, especially more of his comedic one liners. Perhaps Don was a bit scared to make Chucky a bit too funny after Seed but in the proper dosage Chucky’s humor is perfect. “How’s it hanging Phil?” will forever be one of my favorite lines in horror and I just feel like I didn’t see enough of that kind of dialogue in Curse. Also, although I felt connecting this film to the original was a great move I wasn’t sure if certain aspects of the original were being retconned or not. Without spoiling too much there is a scene in Curse that takes place just a bit before the events in the first Child’s Play. However, missing from the scene is Eddie Caputo, one of the catalysts that lead towards Charles Lee Ray becoming Chucky. I don’t mind if Eddie ends up being retconned I just want to know.
Overall I would say the movie is a fantastic return to form and sure to please the Chucky fandom. In my opinion it’s a must buy and plan on picking It up myself come my next paycheck.
-Armando Olivas