Curse of Chucky (2013)

With 'Cult of Chucky', series creators Don Mancini and David Kirschner wanted to take the popular horror franchise back to its darker origins by limiting the humor and ramping up the tension and visuals which makes for a wonderful comeback for ol' Chuck. The story this time around is about Nica Pierce (played by Brad Dourif's daughter Fiona) who is a paraplegic and isolated in her large country home with her mother. Then trouble begins again once Nica receives a mysterious package in the mail and from there non-stop mayhem ensues.

This time around, the film holds back on the extravagant and instead goes for a single location and an extremely creepy one at that. It's nice to see a somewhat Gothic art and visual design going on and it really sets the creepy mood. Out of all the 'Child's Play' films, this one would definitely work as a Halloween flick. Adding to that is a new theme and score by Joseph LoDuca which has a nice mix of Dario Argento's 'Suspiria', a music box, and some of the usual horror strings throughout making for my second favorite set out of the series. The players are also quite good in their respective roles and really only a few are left in the wind. We have Nica of course and Fiona Dourif really helps flesh out her character in just a short 90 minutes. We then have her dysfunctional family including her sister Barbara (Danielle Bisutti) her wishes to sell the house and send Nica away. Her constant bickering and bitching with her husband and sister may seem tedious at first, but in the end it does move the story along and helps with the climax.

Chucky of course returns and so does Brad Dourif. While he's great as always, I can't help but be picky about the design of the doll this time around. I know this is a direct to video sequel, but everything else has such high looking production value that I expected Chucky to look a little less cheap. It's a similar problem I had with the last entry, but nowhere near as bad and this time around they did manage to perfect the CGI mixing with the practical and animatronic effects which let's us see a fully walking Chucky for creepy effect. The film also brings us some nice little Easter Eggs throughout that are nice on their own, but they're even better knowing that they actually connect to the franchise as a whole including upcoming sequels. If you have yet to see 'Curse' I won't spoil anything for you here, but if you're a fan I think you're going to love those little tributes.

'Curse of Chucky' is a phenomenon in how drastically different it is from 'Seed'. Don Mancini manages to go against the trend and continue with sequels rather than remakes and it's a damn good thing he did. He not only brings us one of the best sequels in the franchise, but adds so much to the overall lore that I came out a happy camper. If you were disappointed with the last few films in the 'Child's Play' franchise, then give 'Curse' a chance.

( A )