Child's Play Series Wrap Up

Wow, seeing all of these back to back is quite the experience.  Usually when I do a horror series like this I lock into a groove because each film tends to be more or less the same with only slight variances.  But not in this case.  There are clearly defined eras with their own aesthetic and agenda so every couple of movies it feels like a certified reboot even though it’s continuous.  I have to admit it’s a touch hard to link them all together in my mind.  With that said the results aren’t boring.  How many times have you heard me complain about sequels repeating the same plot over and over?  The Child’s Plays aren’t immune to that but they branched out and took more risks than most franchises and that’s great.  So let’s call to Damballa one more time to give us the power to tear through some final notes.

Chucky follows in the footsteps of Michael Myers, Freddy Kreuger and Leatherface in that he’s fully formed from movie one.  The personality, the voice, the look, his tactics, everything.  Sure he develops his joke arsenal much more in the sequels but he still pulls out some laughs in the original.  I guess it kinda makes sense because no matter what he does, film after film he can’t escape his ridiculous situation and he uses humor to cope.

One big thing that’s always in the background but never explained is Chucky’s biology.  Does he breathe?  He never appears to, especially when he goes into inanimate doll mode and he can be sealed in multiple layers of packaging and be sent anywhere in the world and survive.  We do see him smoke weed in Bride though.  Does Chucky need to eat?  The only time we see him eat is in Bride when he chows down on homemade Swedish meatballs (his favorite) and in the TV show when he noshes on an apple.  That also begs the question of does he poop or pee?  We never see either so not sure.  Does he need to sleep?  Probably not because not only do we never see that but he also appears to have endless energy.  Of course all the shit I just wrote is a pedantic exercise.  The biology is whatever the filmmakers need it to be in any moment.  “Will the scene play better with blood and guts pouring out of Chucky or as if a doll part is removed with zero gore?  Chucky’s gonna have sex in this scene and impregnate his wife so we gotta give him a fully functioning dick and balls.  It’ll be funny if Chucky reveals he’s killed a bunch of people by opening a closet door and three bodies come tumbling out so we’re gonna indicate that he’s at least as strong as an adult human.”  Whatever works.  But you know, we’re in a universe where supernatural shit exists so it’s fine.

Speaking of which, I do find it interesting that the first film is the only time when we encounter paranormal activity besides the soul swapping/splintering.  Chucky uses a voodoo doll to torture and kill the guy who taught him the Damballa incantation because he refuses to help get Chucky out of the doll.  While this technically makes sense it’s strange to see Chucky use magic for a death.  Everyone else must’ve felt that way too because only conventional means are used for murdering in all the sequels (well actually one time in the TV show Chucky places his soul in someone’s body and explodes it from the inside out).  And aside from Cult which uses a twist on the soul swapping no other spells or voodoo witchcraft is used anywhere else in any installment.  That’s a can of worms the filmmakers wisely did not open.  They know this is a slasher venture so a dash of supernatural can be acceptable but introduce too much and you’re gonna start frustrating people.

Unlike other slashers Chucky doesn’t target the usual teens partying, having sex and acting like assholes.  He couldn’t care less about that and so he ends up butchering adults almost exclusively (albeit adults that are set up to be jerks in some way or another).  He’s a very focused killer who’s doing what he must to get his soul into a human body.  This is an aspect that helps these movies stand out in a crowded field.  Even in part 3 when Andy is sixteen they could’ve put him in an ordinary high school environment but went with a military academy instead and avoided some, but certainly not all, of the typical tropes that come with that territory.

In order to turn this murderous doll into a believable threat the filmmakers utilized a wide selection of gags.  From closeups to POV shots to dressing children or little people in a costume and filming them from the right angle to quick editing to puppets.  A combination of any and all of these techniques are used throughout the series.  However, the big one to really sell Chucky is animatronics.  It takes a small army of people to work the arms, legs, fingers, head, face, etc.  Effects master Kevin Yagher (Sleepy Hollow, The Dentist) is responsible for bringing Chucky to life and amazingly no movie (or the TV show) strays from his initial work.  I applaud the producers and directors in their unwavering decision that Chucky must be represented by an animatronic on screen.  Some digital touch up has been employed here and there but a full on CG or motion capture version has been kept at bay and I think for good reason.  The sort of jerky imprecise movements of the animatronics quickly became part of the character’s essence in the early days so to smooth those out completely wouldn’t seem right.  He would almost certainly come off like an imposter.  And it’s somehow creepier when shots of a real person getting up from the ground for a second are mixed together with a robotic arm stabbing stiffly.  The juxtaposition of fluidity in Chucky isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.  Yagher and his team only worked on the first four pictures but they did such a tremendous job nobody wanted to change a thing and continued in their footsteps.  The series has a devotion to practical effects in general which is absolutely wonderful and hey, you can’t argue with the results.

On another note the Chuckys have surprisingly become a safe space for gay horror fans since Seed.  Creator Don Mancini modeled Chucky’s kid Glen/Glenda after himself where he’s conflicted about his sexuality at a young age.  Curse and Cult also contain characters in same sex relationships.  The TV show kicks this up a notch by stirring up a romance between its two adolescent male leads.  Incorporating LGBTQ+ elements is a mainstay of the series at this point and it’s really cool to see them embrace that.

I should expand a little more on the show developed for USA/Syfy because I did watch the first two seasons (the third is on right now).  The important thing to know is it’s not some offshoot or supplement to the films.  It’s the continuation of the saga so if you want to know what happens after Cult you gotta see all the episodes.  Chucky targets the community of Hackensack, NJ by picking off residents and turning the town into a chaotic mess.  Charles Lee Ray’s backstory is filled in as well, from childhood to that fateful night he was gunned down in a Chicago toy store.  It plays out like an expanded movie with all the usual slasher events stretched out.  They throw together the different styles of Chucky where it’s more serious at times and utterly absurd at times.  More than anything it reminds me of the Scream TV show from 2015 made for MTV.  They both take place in a small town, the leads are youngsters (this time middle school instead of high school), one of the characters has a true crime podcast, there’s a race to solve a mystery and stop the killings, the production is fairly cheap looking, it’s reliably trashy and the scripts are filled with so many cliches I swear they’re written by AI.  Similar to Seed Jennifer Tilly really gets a chance to shine playing a caricature of herself, especially in season two where her comedic timing is spot on.  I didn’t expect to like the show as much as I have so far, particularly with how off the fuckin’ wall it gets.  So I guess I do recommend it.

And hang with me for a sec because I wanna go off on a brief tangent.  The filmmakers/showrunners are fucking brutal to Nica (Fiona Dourif), the protagonist introduced in Curse.  Her fate is unbelievably tragic and she did nothing to deserve it.  She was minding her own business when her life abruptly turned into a waking nightmare.  Let’s recap.  (Some spoilers) Chucky stabs her while she’s in the womb causing her to be a paraplegic her entire life, he kills her whole family, she’s attacked by him in doll form, she goes to prison for years for several murders which she didn’t commit, gets sexually assaulted by her therapist, gets possessed by the soul of Chucky for who knows how long all during which he uses her body to commit more murders and have a bunch of sex, she gets kidnapped by Tiffany, is held prisoner by her for over a year and gets her arms and legs cut off.  Jesus fucking Christ!  And she’s still alive so it’s not over yet!  Yea Jennifer Tilly as occupied by Tiffany has been subjected to a lot of the same atrocities but she still hasn’t gone through quite as much trauma as Nica.  This poor woman is the series punching bag.

Anyway, Brad Dourif as the man behind the plastic deserves a lot of the credit for the success of the franchise.  His voice acting fits so perfectly with Chucky’s demented outlook it’s incredible.  He’s mean as shit, sarcastic, manic, witty, vulgar, emotional as all hell and the tiniest bit pitiful.  I mean it’s impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.  Although credit has to be given to Mark Hamill for his distinct and pretty neat spin on the character in the remake.  Instead of copying Dourif he found a different path in acting oblivious and naïve to the harm he causes.  It works better than I would’ve thought.

Out of everyone involved though Don Mancini is the guy to thank for giving us the Chucky-verse.  He wrote each movie, directed Seed, Curse and Cult and is the creator of the TV show.  There are also short films that he started in 2005 and continues to make today that involve different Chucky scenarios (none of which I got around to seeing for this series so you’re on your own for those).  The amount of Child’s Play content this man has pumped out is truly stunning.  This is his baby.  He’s steered the ship through three decades of success and shows no signs of slowing down.

What I’m shocked and impressed by most is the staying power of the character and premise.  It’s become one of the longest running horror franchises ever.  It might be the second oldest to use a singular timeline with consistent releases over the years after Hellraiser (and I could be wrong, I had to do some quick research as I tapped out after Hellraiser IV).  The longest gap between films is nine years, Seed to Curse.  No sequels skip over certain entries or commit egregious retconning.  Everything’s canon.  Not only that but Brad Dourif has voiced Chucky for every single damn picture including the TV show.  That’s friggin’ nuts.

The series as a whole is arguably stronger than other contemporaries too like the Friday the 13ths, Halloweens and Texas Chainsaws.  It’s more consistently entertaining and offers a greater variety to keep you engaged.  Sure, the first Halloween and first two Chainsaws are gonna shred any Child’s Play film but a lot of the sequels in those franchises are kinda trash which is a shame.  Chucky somehow always delivers regardless of tonal shifts, doll redesigns, zany plotlines and a rotating cast of characters.

Out of all the entries the best of the bunch is tied between parts 1 and 2.  Part 1 is maybe a better film but part 2 is more fun.  I can’t stress enough how excellent that showdown in the toy factory is.

The 2019 remake is probably the worst offender because they had decent ideas but botched most of the execution.  Within the main series Seed goes the furthest off the deep end but more because it’s not what I want out of a Chucky movie rather than it being so bad, which it isn’t honestly.  The TV show gets even crazier if you can believe it.  But there’s something about rolling with that level of madness and ludicrousness that’s fascinating and you’re so curious to see what bonkers bullshit they’ll do next.

Ok doke, that’s a wrap.  Go check out these Child’s Play pictures, they’re pretty fantastic!  They’re not scary so much as a helluva good time.  A doll coming to life and stalking you is a timeless tale and Chucky is without a doubt a character for the ages.  He’s the heart and soul of this whole thing (ironic since he wants to get his soul out of the doll).  He works because despite being an absolute psychopath he has a massive amount of personality and humanity so we all connect with the guy in some way.  We love hanging out with him.  And no matter the situation, whether serious or ridiculous, remarkably each film lands that connection.