The Curse of Chucky on Blu-ray and DVD 10/8

I have to admit that the Child’s Play movies for me are guilty pleasures. Since the first film came out in the late 80’s I was hooked. Working for a Blockbuster Video for over a decade I acquired a cool collection of Child’s Play posters, standee displays and promotional swag. In college I made a series of personal Child’s Play videos using a My Buddy doll I’d bought and not only painted it’s hair red, but cut out scary mouths from my Fangoria magazines and stuck on him for various reactions. The victims of those videos were my fellow classmates of my TV production school in South Florida. So after many years and many good and bad sequels (depending on who you ask), I was quite excited knowing a NEW film in the Child’s Play film series was in production, and now it’s out, and I’ve gotten an advance copy to review for you today. The new movie Curse of Chucky comes out tomorrow on Blu-ray and DVD…click ahead for more!

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Peekaboo!!!

Nothing surpasses the original 1988 Child’s Play, when it comes to a creative idea well executed (and there is no pun intended, I swear), things become recognized. The first film was unique in itself, while still borrowing from some of the magic of other great killer doll premises that came before it. Talky Tina from The Twilight Zone, The Zuni Fetish Doll from Trilogy of Terror, the deadly creations in Puppetmaster,  and who can forget Fats and Hugo the demonic ventriloquist dummies from Dead of Night and MAGIC, who all paved the way for “Chucky” aka Charles Lee Ray. As the sequels continued the storylines certainly weakened and the killing sprees became much more fun, following almost the same formula of silliness as the Nightmare on Elm Street films did. The animatronics improved and soon Chucky was walking, talking and stalking on his own. Before long little Andy from the first movie was a teenager, Chucky had a wife, and soon a child…who knew demonic dolls could procreate? So much happened since 1988, yet Charles Lee Ray never could escape his fate of being trapped inside of a 3 foot doll for almost two decades.

Here’s Chucky…

I invested a couple hours of my recent weekend to sit down and really give Curse of Chucky a chance. I didn’t know exactly what to expect. The trailers and the press releases didn’t really paint a broad enough picture to give me a good sense of the plot of this one, just that Chucky was back again! And really, did one need to know any more than that?

25 years after the original film, Chucky now has resumed his disturbing reign of terror, delivering more of the blood-curdling scares and bone chilling twists that have cemented his place as one of the world’s most legendary horror film icons. A troubled family with a long-forgotten past connection to Charles Lee Ray is terrorized when the doll shows up unsuspecting to their home. What they are unaware of is that Chucky has returned to settle a score of some unsettled business with them.

The biggest star in Doll’lywood

There were numerous twists and turns in the story and in the relationships of the characters that really caught me off guard, and after six films you’d think that’d be tough! The Director of Photography clearly had some fun with this movie because the use of high and low angles, time lapse 360 degree motion moves and creative point of view shots really added to the film and gave it a nice visual distinction of its own. Plot wise, what surprised me was how this movie actually bookended the original.  It brought it all back to the moment where (and why) Charles Lee Ray (aka “The Lakeshore Strangler”) ran from the police and into the Toyland toy store where he ingested his soul into a red-haired Good Guy doll. Along the way the film makes various nods to past incarnations of the Child’s Play films with one big surprise twist involving a past character who was a real treat to see again. Some of the same tongue in plastic doll cheek humor was there. Brad Douriff lending his voice and acting to play both the voice of Chucky and Charles Lee Ray in flashbacks really helped to keep the continuity flowing  (as well as the blood) from the past films, into this one. Bringing it back to the same sort of vibe we got from Chucky and Andy, was the character of Alice, a cute little girl who befriends Chucky and becomes his new “Friend to the End”.

Chucky in lifeless doll mode

Another Bride of Chucky? Nope, that’s him looking all pretty, wide eyed and with a little Botox work done!!!

What was quite welcome was that it seemed apparent that the production steered clear from the use of any CGI in this film for the facial or motion effects for Chucky. However, I was quite bothered by the inconsistency of the un-animated Good Guy doll and the animatronic hell-bent possessed one. The moment that Alice meets Chucky, the dolls face looks so bizarre…almost feminine in it’s features. At rest, Chucky seemed to not only have a bigger head but a fixed plastic mouth that didn’t seem to allow for the motion of talking, yet of course he does. Even the cover box art presents a wider faced doll than we ever see in the film! At the climax when (Spoiler Alert) we realize that this new looking Chucky is the stitched up and battered version we’ve known for years, (but cleverly disguised by a great…plastic surgeon), it’s then the doll we saw in Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky commands the screen and his animated anger is better looking than than ever.

At the end of the film you certainly are left wondering if this could be the last movie with the actions that the killer doll starts to embark on to attempt to transfer his soul again. But I guess if the home video sales do well enough, nothing keeps a Good Guy down, especially one with a voodoo cursed serial killers spirit raging inside of him!

There are some fantastic Bonus Features offered up on the Blu-ray as well, worth noting are;

Living Doll: Bringing Chucky to Life is an excellent featurette that shows the skill and creativity that goes into bringing Chucky to life for the various scenes of the film. You’ll gain a much bigger appreciation for the folks behind the scenes who go above and beyond to animate the killer doll.

Voodoo Doll: The Chucky Legacy is a real treat for fans of all the films and for those who may have missed a few along the way, it’s a great recap to the origins of Chucky and follows his reign of terror across six films and 25 years.

There’s also Deleted Scenes, a gag Reel Storyboard Comparisons, a Making Of Featurette and Director/Actress/Puppeteer commentary. Child’s Play fans will love it all.

Alice holding her new best friend Chucky

Head over to Amazon.com and order yours today! Heidi-Ho! Ha-Ha-Ha!!!