[Now updated to include directorLars Klevberg’s 2019Child’s Playremake]
Decades beforeAnnabelledead-eyed her way into our collective nightmares, the world recognized only one killer doll icon: Charles Lee Ray, the Lakeshore Strangler, better known to his bestest friends to the end as Chucky. Inspired by the miniscule mute Zuni figure from the 1975 anthologyTrilogy of Terrorand the “Living Doll” episode ofThe Twilight Zone, screenwriterDon Mancinifashioned a homicidal porcelain terror with a personality; producerDavid Kirschnerdreamed up the iconic overalls look,Tom HollandandJohn Lafiapunched up the script, and Holland himself came aboard to direct what would eventually be titledChild’s Play, released in 1988. An instant slasher icon wasbornbuilt in a doll factory and possessed by the spirit of a serial killer using voodoo magic.
The improbable horror hit spawned six sequels, some far more bonkers than others, but all featuring the inimitableBrad Dourifas the cackling, wise-cracking voice of Chucky. (Except for MGM’sremake, in which addedMark Hamilltook over the role.) With Dourif’s always-unhinged presence to guide him, Mancini—who wrote every sequel—built the only franchise in horror without a straight-upbadentry. It’s come mighty close, mind you—Billy Boydas Glen comes to mind—but through its many jarring shifts and tonesChild’s Playhas always remained, at the very least, a blast and a half. At it’s worst, the franchise is in on its own joke; at it’s best, it’s gleeful slasher-fan heaven.
With this week marking the 30th anniversary of the original film, I revisited all seven films to see which are enjoyable messes and which are damn near horror masterpieces. So if any voodoo Sky Gods happen to be listening, give me the power (I beg of you) to rank every film in theChild’s Playfranchise from worst to best.
‘Child’s Play 3’
The danger of having a brilliantly simple premise—in this case, a freaky-lookin' doll gets possessed by a serial killer—is that you’re able to only go back to that well so many times without change or reinvention until “simple” becomes “stale.“Child’s Play 3has its share of decent kills and quips, but it’s definitely the creative lowpoint of the series. (For what it’s worth, Mancini has agreed several times over the years,noting"we didn’t really think about it that deeply” in regards to getting the story where it needed to go.)
Released an insanely-soonnine monthsafterChild’s Play 2, the film introduced the first feelings of Chucky fatigue as the murderous doll went after Andy Barclay—now 16-years-old, attending military school, and played byJustin Whalin—for the third straight time. The script does attempt to change it up a bit by introducing another child named Ronald Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers) who comes into possession of Chucky, but then the movie forgets to give poor Ronald any sort of personality other than another dumb kid who isn’t immediately horrified by a doll calling him a little shit.
So what’s left is another round of Chucky popping back up alive and unscathed, Andy being like “but whaaaaat”, and a few side characters getting knifed in the face. Like I said, this will never not befun, but on the third identical ride around the carousel, you start thinking about getting off. The grand finale of Child’s Play 3 inside the bowels of an amusement park ride is mostly a less fun re-hash ofChild’s Play 2’s doll factory set-piece, one of the highlights of the entire franchise. Chucky would go on to better, wackier things than this film, much like its directorJack Benderwould go on to direct the saddest goddamnGame of Thronesepisode of all time.
‘Seed of Chucky’
Seed of Chuckyis definitely not the bestChild’s Playfilm, but it is by far the wildest, considering it opens on animated doll sperm flying past the credits and only gets weirder from there. Chucky murders Britney Spears by driving her off the road. John Waters shows up as a paparazzi whose head gets melted by acid. A lot going on here, folks.
It makes sense thatSeedis the first in the franchise to be directed by Mancini himself, because it’s also the first in which Chucky and his doll-corpse bride Tiffany are the protagonists of the film completely driving the story. This might’ve made for an incredibly entertaining short film or TV pilot, but towardSeed’s climax it almost resembles a parody of aChild’s Playmovie more than an actual entry, likeScary Moviedoes Chucky.Seed of Chucky’s main issue is the exact opposite ofChild’s Play 3’s issue; Mancini wasn’t out of ideas, he hadall of the ideas, and they are all going to explode into a bloody geyser until we’re watching Redman getting disemboweled under a dinner table.
The human side of the equation mostly works to establishJennifer Tilly—the voice of Tiffany—as an actual recurring character in the Child’s Play universe, a bit of meta-storytelling that actually works better in later films than it does here. Tilly is one hell of a sport, weathering joke after joke that alternate between targeting her weight and her downward-sloping acting career. (You have to respect the balls it takes for her to say the line, “I’m an Oscar-nominee, for God’s sake. Now look at me, I’m fucking a puppet.")
But that’s mostly a distraction from the story of Chucky, Tiffany, and their wayward son Glen/Glinda, who is deciding between living life as a girl or boy. It’s a storyline that isdefinitelynot handled with as much care as it would be today, but, shockingly, is also not as aggressively offensive in a 2018 light as you’d expect from a film made more than a decade ago.
‘Child’s Play’ (2019)
What an odd movie theChild’s Playremake is, mostly because it kind of feels like a completely original idea tweaked just the slightest to become aChild’s Playmovie. (In 2019, I believe we call that “gettingCloverfield’d”). The film, directed byLars Klevbergfrom a script byTyler Burton Smith, trades the soul of a serial killer for a faulty piece of coding, as an overworked and abused factory worker building “Buddi dolls” disables one particular toy’s safety settings before taking his own life. It’s agreatpremise, rooted more in sci-fi than straight horror, that touches on our obsession with technology and the seediness that comes with capitalism. Throw in a touch of commentary on how shopping “holidays” like Black Friday drive the human race out of their goddamn minds, and you have a real timely horror tale on your hands.
Unfortunately, turning Chuckie into an A.I. gone haywire zaps a lot of personality from the killer doll.Mark Hamillis a voice-acting legend, no doubt, and he manages to instill a child-like creepiness into his more robotic-sounding Chuckie. But you never feel an actual connection between the doll and his victims, which robs the kills of their menace. It feels more like an iPhone casually requesting to kill someone. You know, like, “Alexa, commit murder.”
But for what it is, Klevberg’sChild’s Playis a blast that builds to a suitably bonkers conclusion inside a department store. Does it make total sense that the animal-like Buddi dolls were built with the ability to gnaw someone’s face off in the first place? Absolutely not, but I’m a simple fan; I seeAubrey PlazaandBrian Tyree Henrydodging evil drones and werewolf dolls while Mark Hamill chuckles in the background, I simply cannot write a movie off completely.
‘Child’s Play 2’
When people picture horror’s most iconic slashers in their pop culture-crafted forms, they’re usually not imagining the first movie in the series. Freddy Krueger didn’t get truly whacky until well after the firstNightmare on Elm Street. Jason Voorhees wasn’t even in the firstFriday the 13th, and the hockey mask didn’t show up untilPart III. And Chuckie wasn’t really the cackling one-liner-slinging slapstick-murderer we know and love untilChild’s Play 2, which cranked up the campiness and comedy just a bit for a sequel that more than lives up to its predecessor.
Really, the only thing holding backChild’s Play 2is the fact it mostly feels like an hour-and-a-half extension of the first film. Set two years after the original, the film once again follows Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) as he adjusts to life in foster care. As far as foster parents go, Phil Simpson (Gerrit Graham) is over Andy’s my-doll-is-alive shit hilariously fast, but the kid’s relationship with foster sister Kyle (Christine Elise) ends up being integral to the story. Unlike Ronald from the third film, Kyle is a fully fleshed out character, and tempering some of Andy’s more annoying child-character tendencies with a strong presence keepsChild’s Play 2on track.
And that track leads right to the previously mentioned finale set-piece inside a Good Guy doll factory, where Willy Wonka-ass machinery and endless plastic baby limbs whirl and collide into one of the most genuinely fun horror labyrinths of all time. The image of the hapless security guard—the job position with the highest mortality rate in all of horror—getting his eyes replaced with doll’s eyes is of the best deaths inanyslasher franchise.
‘Bride of Chucky’
Arriving eight years afterChild’s Play 3,Bride of Chuckymarks the moment that Mancini discovered the formula to reviving a tired franchise is to just start having as much fun with his own material as humanly possible. As the killer doll himself says, trying to explain just how the franchise ended up in such a bizarre place, “Let me put it this way. If this were a movie, it would take three or four sequels to do it justice.”
In some more Deadpool-y contexts, that type of self-referential wink-nudge humor is exhausting, butBride of Chuckyis so endearingly amused by the bloody absurdity of itself that you cannot help but join along. StarringKatherine Heiglas a 20-something named Jade who is framed for a few Chucky murders while eloping with her boyfriend (Nick Stabile),Bride of Chuckynot only ditches theChild’s Playbranding, but also introduces Jennifer Tilly’s Tiffany doll while adopting an entirely new aesthetic. Gone is the old-school 80’s/early-90’s staticity of the original trilogy, replaced by a dirtier horror-punk vibe that’s one partBatman & Robin, one partRob Zombiemusic video. (That doesn’t sound like a compliment, but it is!) Hong Kong directorRonny Yubrought a much more electric feel to the visuals, helped immensely by the senses of cinematographerPeter Pau, who would go on to win an Academy Award forCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Admittedly, your mileage may vary when it comes toanyfilm that includes a sensual sex scene between two dolls. ButBride of Chuckyis a masterclass in how to revive a franchise without actually hitting the reboot button. Like the lightning-struck corpse rising from the table in that old black-and-white monster mash that gave this film its name, this bride is very much alive.
‘Cult of Chucky’
The only thing more batshit thanCult of Chucky’s twisty, turn-y script is the fact that the seventh film in a horror franchise went straight to DVD and ended up this freaking enjoyable. More than any entry that came before it,Cult—written and directed by Mancini—is a love letter to the franchise and anyone who has loved it since 1988. Mancini’s script weaves a story that threads together every era of Child’s Play, bringing an adult Andy Barclay from the original films, the Tiffany-possessed Jennifer Tilly from the whackier late 90’s/early 2000’s chapters, and the Nica Pierce character from 2013’sCurse of Chuckyunder one insane asylum roof to do battle with an entire horde of Chucky dolls.
The multiple Chucky conceit also results in the most absurdly delightful performance in the entire franchise from Dourif, who alters his vocal performance just enough between different Chuckys to give them their own personalities. By the time Charles Lee Ray’s soul makes it into Nica Pierce’s body, it’s an unexpected delight to discover that she can do one hell of a Chucky laugh, a fact that’s downright heartwarming considering Nica is played by Brad’s daughter,Fiona Dourif.
Cultis also just the most inventively violent film in the franchise, with Mancini making the absolute most of his indie movie budget to decapitate and drill in wonderfully practical ways. The doll arm stuck down an inmate’s throat is a gruesome enough death to remind you Chucky ain’t no comedy icon.
‘Child’s Play’
With all the slapstick, one-liners, and meta-humor that came after, it’s hard to remember that the originalChild’s Playtook a much moreJawsandAlienapproach to its demented plastic star. In his follow-up toFright Night, director Tom Holland—no relation to Spidey—plays a lot more with the idea that a dollmightcome to life than he does make the doll the centerpiece of the movie. The result is oneunnervingfilm that traffics in that uncanny valley part of human fear that does not like when cute little things move just a little too fast in the corner of your eye.
The emotional weight of the film is carried byCatherine Hicksas Andy’s mother Karen Barclay, a stellar take on the classicwhy-won’t-anybody-believe-mehorror performance that sells a premise that easily could’ve been straight silly as a genuine threat. But a ton of credit must also go to the film’s effects department. We take it for granted now, but that Chucky doll coming to life, his face changing into a grimace and his kid shoes running across carpet, was a technical marvel. What movesChild’s Playalong at a frantic pace is the way it gradually reveals what its doll can do; just when you’re used to the Good Guy doll’s eyes turning into Chucky’s sneer, the film hits you with brief shots of the toy standing up, and just when you get used tothat, Holland and Co. dress up a damn two-year-old in Chucky costume and have him sprint past the camera. To this day, one of the creepiest images in horror.
Truly, though, one of the simpler pleasures of the originalChild’s Playis the reminder of a time when original stories valued pure entertainment over puzzle-box philosophizing. How did the serial killer’s soul get into the doll? Why, the serial killer knew voodoo magic, of course. All fine. Perfect. That’s all ya need to know.
‘Curse of Chucky’
As you may see, the key to theChild’s Playfranchise has always been reinvention, pivoting from straight slasher to meta-horror to slapstick comedy and back again.Curse of Chucky, the sixth and best film in the franchise, is the only entry to nail all those things at the same time.
As the series' first straight-to-video offering,Cursemight have movedChild’s Playout of the theater, but it also guided the franchise right back into legitimate horror territory. The originalChild’s Playis creepy,Curseis straight up scary, a primarily single-setting, locked-house horror show with cleverly gory practical kills—the idea of putting a nanny cam inside Chucky is an especially inspired gimmick—and a set design that’s like throwing a black-and-white filter overDario Argento’sSuspiria. But the change in mood doesn’t dampen Chucky’s personality; if anything, the slow build only makes the character shine. Like the original film,Cursetakes its sweet time before Chucky starts movin' and a-killin', but when he finally speaks its to laugh at a little girl saying she’s scared and whisper “you fucking should be.” Still the awful little scamp we know and love.
Fiona Dourif’s Nica is the best human protagonist in the franchise by a mile, a strong-willed paraplegic with a personal past tie to Charles Lee Ray. Sure, that connection comes abitout of left field considering it wasn’t hinted at in any prior film. But making Charles Lee Ray the reason Nica lost use of her legs—he stabbed her pregnant mother in the stomach. I’m not a doctor, I’ll allow it—and connecting that night to Ray’s death at the beginning of the originalChild’s Playis a deft way to turn Nica into an innocent bystander like Andy Barclay to someone with a damn vendetta against a killer doll.Sigourney Weaver’s “Get away from her, you bitch” inAliensis still the G.O.A.T. applause line, but you could make a genuine argument for Fiona Dourif telling Chucky, the iconic slasher character voiced by her own damn dad, “You wanna play, motherfucker? Let’s play.”
