Curse of Chucky

It kind of annoys me that such a modest, but brilliantly executed, film like this goes STDVD when pretentious piffle like Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby gets sharted over every screen in America.

I got the sense that everyone involved in this movie committed 100% to making an exciting piece of clever and entertaining genre filmmaking. The lighting, production design and music were fantastic and the cast equally superb. Fiona Dourif is an impressive new scream-queen/final-girl and Danielle Bisutti did a wonderful job as the somewhat-sympathetic bitch.

I very much doubt that Don Mancini will be winning a Director's Oscar any time soon, but IMHO he ranks higher than many of the past winners because I feel he believes in value-for-money entertainment - and some of those fancy directors could learn a lesson from him.

From the first couple of minutes it's easy to tell that Don Mancini is treating Curse more as a horror film than the previous couple of entries in the series. The movie is shot and edited to build suspense and is a world apart from the sitcom trappings of Seed.

A girl in a wheelchair (Brad Dourif's hot daughter Fiona) living in a rural home with her troubled mother receives a mysterious package one afternoon. It's Chucky, and he's somehow managed to get himself in the mail again. He's arrived to settle a score, and soon enough he has brainwashed a child into keeping his secret and is sneaking about in the shadows offing unsuspecting victims.

Many people are saying that this movie is a return to form, and that it retcons Bride and Seed out of existence. Er...no, the film very much DOES acknowledge the events of Bride and Seed. Even if you paid the bare minimum of attention it would be hard to not to realize this. But I guess that expecting the movie to go in a different direction only led to further surprises when it eventually did tie in to the previous movies as well as giving us more back-story to Charles Lee Ray.

I was worried that Chucky would be all CGI as Kevin Yagher has not been involved with the series since Bride, and while there IS some CGI, he's anamatronic for the most part. Instead of hogging the camera though he keeps quiet watches the humans interact for about half the movie before unleashing toy terror. Horror composer Joseph LoDuca delivers a pastiche of the Renzetti, Revell, and Donaggio's efforts without giving Curse a signature sound of its own. Not really a complaint, but more of a missed chance.

It's certainly a worthy sequel and a can be viewed as a genuine horror film without any of the guilty pleasure of Seed. Keep watching to the end of the credits for a further surprise that ties the series together even more (though it does contradict the closing scene before the credits actually roll).

Often pushed to a second tier among other iconic horror franchises like Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street, the murderous misadventures of Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray have been just as persistent and influential as those other game changing series. But Chucky, so too like Jason, Freddy and Michael, these characters have had their fare share of missteps in terms of quality, and in many cases saw their franchises descend into unintentional self parody.

The Child's Play saga has seen a similar trajectory, with the 1988 original still standing as a horror classic, it's immediate predecessor coming off as passable but more or less a carbon copy and the third as a junky, bland mess. After a seven year hiatus, the surprisingly satirical Bride of Chucky arrived along with a perfect Jennifer Tilly as Chucky's partner in slaughter. Things again took a turn for the worse in Seed of Chucky which aimed to amp up the camp of Bride but it came off as a grating and, ironically, childish.

Almost 25 years on we now get Curse of Chucky, a direct to home video instalment – a rather unceremonious release which certainly did not instil confidence in this horror fan. Well, you can consider my mouth shut as this is not only a strong, well crafted fright flick, it's easily among the franchise's best entries. Curse of Chucky takes the more gruesome elements that worked so well early on, some of the parodic flare of Bride and then even goes on to subvert horror norms and cliché. This is a film that knows firmly where it stands and the expectations of its audience and uses those preconceived notions to surprise in a number of ways.

The biggest and most pleasant realization I made from the onset is how well crafted Curse of Chucky is, from the art direction that brings life to your typical isolated home (at which our bloody events can transpire) the composition of shots which expertly use every angle in the book to bring complexity to the carnage and its generally polished look. It certainly doesn't bare any resemblance to most home video fare that looks as if it were shot in somebody's basement. But the accomplished aesthetics only serve as the launching point for some clever prods at the genre, some fun kills and a thorough grasp on its own franchise roots.

One of the things Curse of Chucky is finally able to figure out is how to present an adult protagonist that would believably be in peril when facing off with a pint sized doll. Our heroine comes in the form of Fiona Dourif, daughter of Chucky's voice, the iconic Brad Dourif (whose cackling laugh still brings a weird smile to my face after all these years). Daughter Dourif's Nica you see is confined to a wheelchair, putting her quite literally on even ground when the climax rolls around. There is a young girl about, who serves as the vessel through which Chucky's evil rumblings are heard, but this is more about Nica, and it all works rather well. In the end, it really comes as no surprise that this entry is penned and directed by Don Mancini who has written every entry in the Child's Play franchise. Even though he is so close to the series and its central character, he has clearly taken the time to step back and re-approach his baby in new ways. It's not something you see too often from someone who has been involved with something for so long.

Then we get the funny, subversive elements to the story which plays against our expectations, such as the role of a promiscuous nanny, who gets the knife and when and fake-out scares and potential deaths. Constructed in the way it is, Curse of Chucky should easily please fans of the franchise but also win over general fans of horror who are tired of seeing cookie cutter productions. There are certainly conventional elements at play, but it's all pulled off with a great deal of flare.

As for Dourif's Chucky, he's as vulgar, funny and creepy as ever, and even when delivering more simplistic lines reminds us why the character has persisted. There will certainly be some who will overlook the more clever elements of Curse of Chucky and hone in on what remains ordinary, but for me it was time well spent and easily introduces a new spark to the franchise and shows there is life yet in everyone's favourite killer doll.

A family gather together for a funeral, only a killer doll has an old score to settle; and blood & mayhem ensue.

Opening in a creepy large house (with its own Diamonds are Forever type lift), a mysterious death occurs in the first few minutes after a revamped 'Good Guy' doll is delivered. From the outset there's an updated excellently designed Chucky doll and Joseph Loduca's melodic eerie music score which sets the tone.

There's plenty of atmosphere in this installment from series veteran Don Mancini, with Curse sharing much with the Psycho films in design and pace. Brad Dourif again voices Chucky. The great one liners are fewer, a bit more poignant and cutting. There's a few relationship surprises and story twists. Web-cam moment, stitches reveal and closing are particularly memorable, also there's a great scene after the credits.

Some of the cast are debatably too polished, nevertheless, the horror elements are there and include the original mix of Nanny, young child and a killer doll. The child actor Summer H. Howell is strong and wheelchair bound Fiona Douif (daughter of Brad) is notable as Nica.

Many scenes are effective with inbuilt tension and jump scares, notably the shower encounter and dinner gathering. With lingering camera movements and interesting angles, Mancini also leaves plenty to the imagination as some of the set ups take place off screen, that said there are lots of effects, blood and gore on display - decapitation, an electrocution, an empty eyeball socket and an axe attack to name a few.

There are lots of nice touches that are fitting to the modern Chucky doll, that mirror today's toys, making him all the more menacing when he comes to 'life'. Pupils dilate, his eyes are bloodshot, walking and running - Chucky is back better, creepier and badder than before. For die hard Child's Play fans Dourif appears briefly in his serial killer Charles Lee Ray guise, some old photos and newspaper clippings feature Andy and scene's link direct to the first outing.

What the production has saved on the lack of locations, to it's credit, the money has been put into the excellent special effects. Mancini returns it to its Child's Play roots while making references to the rest of the series including a great cameo from one of it's most colourful characters.

It delivers with its back to horror basics approach, updated effects, Mancini's Hitchcockian execution and links to its previous counterparts. With this in mind Curse of Chucky is less likely to date than some of its predecessors. Recommended.

The depressed Sarah (Chantal Quesnelle) lives with her disabled daughter Nica (Fiona Dourif), who is stuck in a wheelchair since she was born, in an isolated old house. Sarah receives a package with the creepy red- haired doll Chucky and she throws it in the garbage. But during the night she is found dead and Chucky is sat on a chair in the living room.

Nica's sister Barb (Danielle Bisutti) attends the funeral with her estranged husband Ian (Brennan Elliott); their little daughter Alice (Summer Howell); the nanny Jill (Maitland McConnell) and her friend Father Frank (A Martinez). Along the night, there are mysterious deaths and Nica discovers that the package was sent from the evidence depositary. She also researches the Internet and suspects that Chucky might be behind the murders.

"Curse of Chucky" is a great return of the franchise with a sinister history of Chucky. The cinematography and the camera work are top-notch and the plot is well developed. Wait until the end of the credits since the movie continues with a long scene; in the end, "play with this"! My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Maldição de Chucky" ("The Curse of Chucky")