3.Seed of Chucky
I know this isn’t a universally accepted choice, but this is my list and I really liked this film! It is a ridiculous send up of what has gone before, with its tongue firmly set in cheek. John Waters plays a paparazzi photographer for gods sake, that right there tells you the tone of the film. Whereas the last film was a bit too try hard this introduces the most hideous and unlikeable character yet – Chucky’s mealy mouthed seed Glenn/Glenda. It doesn’t even have a definitive gender. I laughed at this the whole way through. There’s not a scare to be had, but this is what the franchise had become at this stage and so Mancini embraced it, cracked the camp factor upto 11 and went balls to the wall. I guess that why this divides people so much.
2.Curse of Chucky
Back to basics on this one. A haunted house, Chucky on the loose and hardly any of the silliness that the rest of the “Chucky” branded half of this series has had. This film is slick and well written, with numerous references to the film preceding it, for those that are watching out. Mancini himself directs this one and some of the angles and shots used look just great. He also uses modern technology in a way that doesn’t hamper the story but lends to it instead. It’s worth noting that Brad Dourif who played Charles Lee Ray is still the voice of Chucky in this 6th instalment and it’s his daughter Fiona Dourif who plays the main character. It’s also the first time we see Charles Lee Ray since the first film, as this tells us a little more about what happened just before CLR transferred his soul into chucky. There’s a touch of silliness at the end but I guess when you have a series about a murderous doll you can’t ever get too far away from it.
1.Childs Play
The original is still the best! A simple premise that doesn’t get bogged down too much with the lineage of Chucky. There’s a clear 40 minutes before we even see Chucky in full flow, that whole game of is the doll alive or not (even though we know it is) is really well played out. Chucky hasn’t become a caricature of himself yet, so this one is played straight with Chucky just being the re-incarnation of Charles Lee Ray – Murderer and all round bad bastard. The relationship between Andy and the doll is great too, with everything being put down to Andys imagination until Chucky reveals himself to the mother and Andy’s imagination can no longer be blamed. Brad Dourif’s voice (as the chucky) is smooth and creepy, very like a twisted Jack Nicholson. This one sits nicely with the latest chapter “Curse of Chucky” as they have a similar tone, it will be interesting to see where the next instalment (rumoured to be Revenge of Chucky) takes the series.
