Curse of Chucky… The newest entry in the Child’s Play franchise seven years in the making. Currently, the straight-to-DVD release has yet to make up its production budget; however, DVD sales – as with CD sales – are somewhat on the decline. Reviews of Curse of Chucky have been mixed since its release in September of 2013. Do mixed reviews contribute to a mixed buyers’ gross? I’m not sure, but you can at least my review below to read what I thought about the film.
Curse of Chucky is written and directed by Don Mancini, the man who has written every single feature in the Child’s Play series. Cast members include Chantal Quesnelle (“Blue Mountain State”), Fiona Dourif (“True Blood”), Danielle Bisutti (Insidious 2), A. Martinez (“Longmire”), Maitland McConnell (“General Hospital”), Summer H. Howell, Brad Dourif (returning as The Voice of Chucky); and cameos from Alex Vincent (returning as Andy) and Jennifer Tilly (returning as Tiffany).
“After the events of Seed of Chucky, Nica, a young woman forced to a wheelchair since birth, has to regroup her sister, Barb and her brother-in-law, Ian for a funeral after the death of her mother. While dealing with Barb, Ian, along with their 5-year-old daughter, Alice; Nica receives an odd package – a creepy doll. After people start showing up dead, the fearless Nica soon suspects that the creepy doll is much more than just a doll.”
As if you couldn’t already tell from the return of Andy and Tiffany, Curse of Chucky is a direct sequel to the rest of the franchise. In horror films these days, franchises are continued with sequels that sometimes have little to nothing to do with its predecessors except for the unfortunately unfolding events. With Don Mancini on board as writer, the original voice of Chucky doing voice over work, and two returning cast members – Curse of Chucky is as direct of a sequel as you can get.
Cinematically speaking, I’m unsure why they decided not to go to theaters with this latest entry. Made on a seven figure budget, Curse of Chucky is visually pleasing, at least to me. The setting – an old, creepy mansion – was the perfect environment to see Chucky renew his plans of murder and mayhem. The texture to the film has a very dark, but sharp quality that is mirrored perfectly by expert lighting and a director-of-photography with a talented eye. Beautiful and handsome faces in front of the camera who can actually act (and are quite accomplished, btw) lend more quality to this production that make it appear better than its estimated budget.
But, here is the big drawback. And it is a big drawback. Curse of Chucky doesn’t feel like a Child’s Play movie. It feels like a new crop of talent took over the writer and director’s chairs and put their own vision on the project. Mancini has always had – at least in my eyes – a very particular filming style. It seemed like it was a mainstream version of late 80s film that carried into later sequels including Bride of Chucky. The style of film making that Don uses disappeared completely from Seed of Chucky, but I’m sorry but that film was an abortion to begin with. He still owns Chucky, he couldn’t have sold out. So what happened? Seriously! He looks decent in the picture above, but wait until it’s time for him to move.
Even more-so, Chucky doesn’t look or act like Chucky in this entry. He looks faker than usual, mostly due to what I assume is CGI. I don’t think CGI has been used to produce any Chucky doll, until now; and that really kills a lot of what makes Chucky a LIVING killer doll. His mannerisms and dialogue is also out of place and doesn’t seem like his normal self. Maybe he’s calmed down in the last seven years and decided to take a different approach to his slaughters?
Curse of Chucky is a really good straight-to-DVD title, but it doesn’t feel like a Chucky movie. For that reason I have to give it a 6.5 out of 10.
