In RFMC’s “All Dolled Up” series, I’m taking my first journey through the seven original films, one reboot film and one TV series of the “Child’s Play/Chucky” franchise. Spoilers follow.
Overall impressions
The original “Child’s Play” trilogy used the same plot each time (Chucky stalks Alex, and no one believes him), but writer-director Don Mancini finds fresh angles into the material in the next four films, still going strong for the seventh entry, “Cult of Chucky” (2017). The touchstone this time is psychiatric conditions, as he doubles down on the issue wherein no one believes the protagonist.
Fiona Dourif returns as sympathetic paraplegic Nica, wrongfully institutionalized, and in a side plot we get the return of Andy (O.G. actor Alex Vincent, who cameoed at the end of “Curse of Chucky”). Not merely fan service, a strong plot is built around them, and the multiple Chuckys provide a sense of mystery. Maybe this isn’t groundbreaking horror, but it’s nonetheless remarkable that Mancini keeps this saga fresh for so long.
“Cult of Chucky” (2017)
Director: Don Mancini
Writer: Don Mancini
Stars: Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif
Outsider status
Psychiatric patients. Thanks to steady shock treatments, the wrongfully convicted Nica now believes she was indeed insane, like everyone says. While it’s mildly frustrating how long it takes people to see what’s really going on, it does make logical sense because it’s in the interest of Dr. Foley (Michael Therriault) to maintain the status quo that these people continue to be labeled crazy.
Other patients include a schizophrenic woman who believes she is a ghost, a man who switches between personalities (including Michael Phelps and Mark Zuckerberg), and a woman who killed her baby and believes one of the Chucky dolls is her child.
Though he’s not institutionalized, Andy has had his chance at a normal life compromised because his prospective girlfriends look up his background as someone who claimed a doll is a killer. He has a Chucky head locked in a safe at his home; he hangs out with it and tortures it. Chucky has been so well built up as a nasty piece of work that we understand Alex’s behavior.
LGBTQ. Nurse Carlos (Zak Santiago) is gay. Not particularly remarkable for 2017, and indeed, it’s a ho-hum aspect of his characterization.
Comedy quotient
65 percent horror, 35 percent comedy. In “Curse,” Chucky has to be sneaky, so that is almost a straight horror movie. In “Cult,” not so much, because he’s protected by the environment where all the patients are assumed to be crazy. So we get a split-personality movie, in a good way. As many as three distinct Chuckys run around, causing havoc, violently murdering people and dropping one-liners. A serial-killer doll in an institution is an inherently wackadoo setting for dark humor.
Magic and the dolls
The idea of a soul splitting into multiple bodies is broached in “Seed of Chucky” when Glen/Glenda seemingly takes over both of Chucky and Tiffany’s human twins, but it’s not explained very well. In “Cult,” there are four Chuckys — plus a fifth, the possessed Nica, by the end — and two Tiffanys (one human, one doll). Chucky explains that he figured out how to do it on VoodooForDummies.com.
We learn that the Good Guys toy line includes 50 distinct names, and Chucky is one of them. It’s a little odd that they are identical, but Alex finds a way to make one more distinct by giving it a military style haircut (perhaps a nod to “Child’s Play 3”).
Special effects
The doll designs are step up from “Curse,” closer to the saga’s high-water mark – probably done with CGI but not too far removed from the earlier, practical charms. “Cult” boasts several impressively gory kills.
Best kill
A patient is drugged and can’t move, trapped in a room with Chucky. He explodes the skylight window, and shards of glass ravage her, including one shard cleanly slicing off her head. Not realistic, but certainly striking.
Best one-liner
“I just can’t with this guy! I don’t know whether to kill him or take notes!” Chucky, evoking modern parlance, is amazed to meet someone more depraved than he is: Dr. Foley, who hypnotizes and sexually abuses his patients.
References and meta commentary
Composer Joseph LoDuca riffs on Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” theme for this movie set in a psychiatric hospital, and further confirming the connection, we get the line “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” “Bates Motel” (2013-17) was on the air during this time, but Mancini is perhaps a bigger fan of “Hannibal” (2013-15), as Chucky laments that show being canceled. “Chucky” would itself join the world of prestige TV from 2021-24; it’s possible Mancini was already thinking of making that leap.
Continuity and predictions
“Cult of Chucky” embraces a potentiality that had always been there: Chucky possessing a human and running rampant. (Of course, Tiffany has been in control of Jennifer Tilly’s body for a few films now, but she’s mostly off-screen.) Adding to the meta quality, Fiona Dourif channels father Brad as Nica-possessed-by-Chucky. I don’t know where the story is gonna go in the TV series, but I’m on board. Mancini has left the predictable nature of the original “Child’s Play” trilogy in the dust.