Originally published on Set The Tape
Dolls have always been a source of horror, possessed or evil dolls have been a thing long before the series we’re discussing here. Bu, as soon as you say ‘evil doll’ there’s likely one that comes to mind first: Chucky. This diminutive slasher has been stalking victims for thirty five years now, and Arrow Video have decided to celebrate this with one of the biggest Chucky box sets you can find with The Chucky Collection.
The series begins in 1988, with the release of Child’s Play, a film that opens with serial killer Charles ‘Chucky’ Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) being chased through the streets by a cop. Chucky takes refuge in a toy store, but is wounded in the shoot-out. Rather than die, he grabs a nearby Good Guy doll and uses voodoo to transfer his soul into it. Soon after, single mother Karen (Catherine Hicks) buys the possessed doll for her young son Andy (Alex Vincent). Strange things begin to happen around Chucky, who Andy claims is alive, and when Karen’s best friend is killed whilst babysitting the blame seems to fall squarely on Andy. It’s not long, however, before she and the lead cop come to learn that Chucky contains the soul of Charles Lee Ray, and that he’s trying to get inside Andy.
The first Child’s Play film is an 80’s horror film through and through. It might have a silly concept, but the film never treats it as such. The possessed doll is never used as a joke, and the film treats him as dangerous, a foe more than capable of taking down a grown adult. The movie is suitably dark, and has a gritty, dirty quality to it that horror films set in city environments had during the ’80s. This approach works well for the film, and gives a firm foundation for the series. By playing things completely straight the coming films are able to go in any direction they want to, and boy do they.
The first sequel, Child’s Play 2, follows Andy after the fall-out of the first film. His mother has been put into a mental health facility for claiming a killer doll murdered everyone, and Andy is now in the care system. Whilst he’s slowly putting his life back together the Good Guy company has taken the remains of Chucky and rebuilt him in a show of public relations, to show that of course the doll couldn’t kill. But the still possessed Chucky soon escapes, tracks Andy down, and continues his plan to possess the boy. Whilst the film is very similar to the first in a lot of ways you do start to see the first signs of the lighter tone that the series will take her. Chucky makes more jokes, and the factory showdown at the end of the movie has big, bright colours.
This lighter tone is played down somewhat for Child’s Play 3 which sees an older Andy (Justin Whalin) at military school. Chucky comes to the school to go after Andy again, but figures out because he has a new body he can transfer into a new victim, and sets his sights on a young cadet. This puts the Andy character into a more proactive role, rather than being a victim, and the film uses the military school setting to do some interesting things with the story. Despite not actually being bad this seems to be one of the films in the franchise that gets a bad reputation. However, the ending, where Chucky gets diced, sets things up nicely for the fan favourite fourth entry.
Bride of Chucky seems to know that the series can’t just be horror any more, and embraces the comedy aspects. In this film Chucky’s girlfriend, Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), gets hold of Chucky’s remains, rebuilds him, and brings him back to life. After their relationship quickly sours, Chucky ends up killing Tiffany, and uses voodoo to put her into a doll. With them both trapped in dolls they hatch a plan to use a pair of young lovers desperate to break free of their oppressive lives to transport them across the country so that they can get an artefact that will make them human again.
Unfortunately, their murderous antics along the way makes it look like the young couple are on a murder spree. Bride of Chucky is a wonderful addition to the series, taking it in the direction it needed to stay entertaining, and Tilly joining the cast is frankly perfect. Tiffany brings a fantastic energy to things, and is the perfect companion to Chucky. The fact that Tilly would appear in every subsequent film shows that her addition was the correct choice.
The firth film, Seed of Chucky, is perhaps the most hated of the series, taking a more meta approach and really embracing the humour. It features Tilly playing herself, playing Tiffany in a film about Chucky, who the real Tiffany tries to put her soul into. However, it’s the most openly queer film of the series, introducing Chucky and Tiffany’s gender fluid child, Glenn/Glenda (Billy Boyd). Whilst this is easily the weakest of the franchise, it’s still got some great moments in it, and some of the best jokes of the series.
After the critical failure of Seed, the next film went back to its horror roots, seeing Chucky terrorising a family in their home, killing them one by one whilst trying to possess the child. Whilst it may seem to be copying the formula of the first film it manages to never feel like a rehash, and Curse of Chucky instead feels like a return to what captured the audience’s love the first time around. The addition of Brad Dourif’s daughter, Fiona Dourif, makes the film enjoyable too, and her character of Nica would become the new protagonist of the series. She would return in Cult of Chucky which also saw Alex Vincent return as Andy, and is perhaps the best film in the series thanks to its unique environment, a great supporting cast, and some of the funniest moments in the series.
As well as the seven films, the new box set also comes with the 2022 Living With Chucky documentary film that goes deep into the series, talking with both the stars of the films, as well as the people who worked behind the scenes. Very much a love-letter to the series, it’s a wonderful companion piece, and a great way to round things out. Each of the films are presented in high definition, with the early films looking better than ever. There are also audio commentaries for each film, featuring cast and crew, and a number of interviews and behind the scenes features, both new and archival, that are sure to scratch the itch of anyone wanting to learn more about the series.
The Child’s Play franchise is something of an anomaly when it comes to long running horror franchises. It’s had the same writer, Don Mancini, on every entry, David Kirschner has produced each one, the lead has come back every time, and despite the tone and genre going all over the place, there is a consistent story throughout them all. The fact that the killer is a doll might make this a series that people overlook in comparison to things such as Friday the 13th or Halloween, but it might just be the best horror franchise out there, and this new box set deserves to be on any horror fan’s shelves.
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