Cult of Chucky

The Child's Play franchise certainly has quite a few black marks within its history. The darkly comic original film of the franchise has been heralded throughout the years as a horror classic, but its sequel brethren have almost always missed the mark each passing. Going from a semi-hardened slasher to full blown horror comedies never stuck well in my books and made all the films from Child's Play 2 to the Seed of Chucky disposable. There were some redeemable elements from the franchise throughout its run - Jennifer Tilly appearing as Tiffany Valentine and the numerous, creative death scenes to mention - but nothing was ever able to really rescue the long running horror series. 

However, after an eight year break following Seed of Chucky, original story creator Don Mancini returned to helm Chucky's next adventure in Curse of Chucky. The 2013 film was pretty damned good in comparison to most modern horror films and the rest of the Child's Play movies. It was set up well, gave a decent backstory, and set up a new character in Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif). I found myself rooting for the wheelchair bound protagonist throughout the duration of the film - something I have not been able to do since Andy appeared in the first film. Curse of Chucky also ended on a fantastic cliff hanger that left me wanting more - and more is what we got. 

Cult of Chucky is the second film in the Child's Play franchise directed by Don Mancini and continues the story of Fiona Dourif. After the events of Curse of Chucky,  Fiona is now located in an insane asylum where she believes that Chucky is not real, and the events surrounding her life in her home were caused by her own self. This story follows her realization that Chucky is actually real, that she isn't crazy, and that she needs to fight back. On the other hand you have Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) rushing to the hospital in an attempt to save Fiona. But he also has to combat and race against Chucky's lover Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly). 

The problem with the film starts with the cast itself. Out of all the characters I can count in the film, there were only three that did a good job in their roles: Brad Dourif whose voice is always comical and fun to hear as Chucky runs around killing his victims; Fiona Dourif as Nica who, just like in the first one, puts her heart into her work, and, of course, Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany Valentine who always seems to have the most fun in her role. The rest of the cast seemed to have read their script once without much rehearsal and then attempted to put on an emotive face in the film - which failed miserably.

That being said, this was a direct-to-DVD release so I was willing to forgive that to an extent. After all, watching a woman get her head chopped off from a glass window above her or seeing someone get their eyeball drilled out from behind their skull was rather amusing. So, I do give out points for creativity there.

Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments in the film came from Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay. Yes, this is the original actor who played Andy in the original film as well, but time has not aged well with the man. He does suit his role just fine, but his portrayal of an adult Andy is stiff, sometimes monotone, and extremely hard to believe due to the listed factors. 

The twist of the film, however, is that there are more than one living Chucky dolls in this film. Some confusion occurs while watching the film. I was trying to figure out which doll was the real Chucky until I finally realized that they all were -  a revelation that is later revealed in the film. Throw in further possession antics and there are some intense moments to be had. 

I can pretty much name the good with the bad in Cult of Chucky side by side. For every pro there is a con; for every mutilated corpse there is an awkward scene. The film did end off on an interesting enough cliff hanger that I won't spoil, so I am looking forward to the next chapter. I just hope Don Mancini can iron out these wrinkles beforehand.