Curse of Chucky (2013) Universal Pictures/Horror RT: 97 minutes Unrated Version (language, bloody horror violence, some sexual content) Director: Don Mancini Screenplay: Don Mancini Music: Joseph LoDuca Cinematography: Michael Marshall Release date: October 8, 2013 (Blu-ray/DVD) Cast: Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott, Maitland McConnell, Summer Howell, A. Martinez, Chantal Quesnelle, Brad Dourif, Adam Hurtig.
Rating: ***
I was thoroughly prepared to hate Curse of Chucky, the sixth installment in a series that began with Child’s Play (1988). The fact that the studio opted to release it straight-to-DVD was a bad omen. This could only mean that the latest chapter in the Chucky saga had to be especially bad, right? Wrong! This one is actually pretty good.
Up until now, I only liked the inaugural film and the super-campy Bride of Chucky (1998), the one that first introduced the sexy Jennifer Tilly (Moving Violations) to the series. The others are fine, but don’t measure up. I hate to admit it, but I like Curse of Chucky. It’s the weakest of my three favorites, but still entertaining.
For those who don’t know, Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) is a homicidal doll who resembles the “My Buddy” dolls from the 80s. In the movie, Chucky comes from the “Good Guys” line of dolls. The doll is inhabited by the evil spirit of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (played by Dourif). Since then, he’s been trying to transfer his spirit to a living child. Despite them being classified as horror movies, you can’t take any of the Chucky movies seriously. It’s a foul-mouthed doll running around and killing people, dropping one-liners all the while. For the most part, these movies are pretty campy and that’s certainly true of Curse of Chucky. It’s a fun horror flick as long as you accept it on its own bloody terms.
The movie opens with a mysterious package being delivered to the home of Sarah (Quesnelle) and her paraplegic daughter Nica (Fiona Dourif, daughter of series star Brad). The package contains the Chucky doll. The ladies have no idea who sent it or why. Sarah throws him in the garbage, but you know what they about not being able to keep an evil doll down. He comes back and Nica wakes up to find her mother dead from a self-inflicted stab wound.
The next day, her domineering sister Barb (Bisutti) shows up with her family: husband Ian (Brennan), hot live-in nanny Jill (McConnell) and young daughter Alice (Howell). She also brings local priest Father Frank (Martinez, Santa Barbara) to comfort the family. Alice finds Chucky in the bathroom and becomes immediately attached to him. As you probably already guessed, it’s going to be a night of deadly terror for the grieving family as Chucky takes them out one by one in bloody fashion. It all starts when Chucky pours rat poison into one of the bowls of chili that Nica prepared for dinner. I don’t want to say too much about the movie except that it comes down to a face-off between Nica and Chucky, but I expect that you already knew that. I’ll also say that there is a connection between Nica’s family and Charles Lee Ray. What exactly, I won’t say. See the movie for yourself and find out.
I can’t tell you about some of the best parts of Curse of Chucky as they occur in the movie’s final moments. All I’m going to say is stay tuned for a really cool post-credits scene. It makes it all the more worthwhile. The killings in this one are nicely gory, especially the twisted car wreck that claims the life of one victim. What gorehound doesn’t like a good decapitation replete with spurting blood? There’s also an electrocution, an eye-gouging and a bloody hatchet murder. None of it appears to be CGI, so that’s a great big plus!
The acting in Curse of Chucky is pretty good for the genre. Ms. Dourif has talent and it shows in her first major film role. I like that the cast doesn’t appear to be taking it too seriously and why should they? These Chucky movies are silly and don’t require the services of master thespians. However, there’s a limit to how much of a tongue-in-cheek approach one can take to a horror movie before it becomes more of a farce.
Director Don Mancini, who also created the franchise, takes this one a bit more seriously than Seed of Chucky. He doesn’t go OTT here, but that doesn’t mean it’s no fun. It is. It works much better than it should have. It has a few issues with pacing and the characters aren’t all that interesting, but it does have its heart in the right place. It could very well breathe new life into the franchise which has been near death more than once. A seventh movie wouldn’t be such a bad thing as long as Mancini comes up with a fresh idea. In the meantime, horror movie fans could do worse than Curse of Chucky. I won’t lift the curse from all future horror sequels, but it leaves one with a small glimmer of hope.
