Harefooted Halloween: Curse of Chucky

What I Liked: Pretty good atmosphere despite it being heavy handed.  Thunder and lightning constantly crackle outside, the power goes off in the house with Chucky loose, the house is decorated like a haunted mansion, the attic has all the usual junk a movie house has like a mannequin and a rocking horse, etc.

Strong performance from lead Fiona Dourif (yes, Brad Dourif’s daughter) who has to not only deal with her shitty family, a murderous Chucky but she also plays a disabled person in a wheelchair.  It seems random but there’s a reason for this (that’s spoiler territory though).  Anyway Fiona carries the picture with a strong will and likeable disposition.

The best aspect of the film is probably the cinematography (Michael Marshal (Locke & Key)) and editing (James Coblenz (Streets of Fire)).  A lot of the shots are nicely composed to give a sense of grandiosity to the house and also to make the scenes more weighty than normal.  That combined with the editing gives an almost dreamy veneer to the whole piece.  Like is this really happening or am I imagining a doll coming life and killing people?

What I Didn’t Like: I alluded above that the production design is kinda ham fisted.  The main setting is an old house and I don’t know who would design a place to be so dreary with doors painted almost to look like they have water damage and wallpaper from the nineteenth century and an old timey iron cage elevator and ornate chandeliers and so on.  If the people who lived there were goths or into Satanic shit or something that would be fine but these are regular Joe type folks.  In my opinion the house should look unassuming during the day and turn creepy at night or when the power goes out.

This is a bit of a slow burn which I’m always on the fence about especially in a horror film.  It sounds good in theory but tends to frustrate me more than satisfy.  While the pacing isn’t that bad really it could’ve been sped up a touch.  Maybe they could’ve added another death earlier on or maybe Chucky could’ve revealed himself sooner?  I dunno.

Overall Impressions: Polar opposite of the previous film, Seed of Chucky.  They went for a serious movie that’s a straight up slasher, it takes place in one location, uses a limited cast and relies heavily on the eerie surroundings and mood to carry the audience until the finale.  I’m not even sure if Chucky makes a single joke.

This is sorta more my speed compared to the campy Bride and Seed.  I like the idea of making a small Chucky film that doesn’t completely hinge on him trying to transfer his soul to a human body.  He made peace with being a doll forever in the last picture and it’s cool they stuck to that notion here.  This is about what’s lurking around the corner rather than devising a creative kill joined with a bad pun.

With that said the pacing drags a little and Chucky’s connection to the family he’s knocking off is really contrived.  It’s good to get back to the character flying solo and being less goofy but the results end up being a mixed bag.  This story might’ve worked better as an awesome short film.

The Child’s Play franchise continues to evolve and keep up with the era.  A decade earlier when Seed came out audiences dug some humor in their horror like Van Helsing, House of 1,000 Corpses and Freddy vs. Jason.  By 2013 they were looking for something more on the serious side with popular releases like The Conjuring, The Purge and World War Z.  It’s impressive that so far the keepers of the Chucky flame have managed to make this killer doll never feel out of time.