Curse of Chucky Review

As a fan of franchise horror, of course I count myself among the legion of Chucky fans. I love Child's Play #'s 1-3, but I absolutely hate Bride and Seed. I'm talking like "Robocop 3" hate them. The reason is the exact same reason that I don't particularly dig the Elm Street films past 3 all that much. I will never for the life of me understand why studios take their horror icons and turn them into comedians. I do not like funny killers. Period. Curse of Chucky promised a return to the good old days of the franchise though, and while I've heard all that before, I'm happy to report that Chucky is indeed back, and back the way I like him.

The plot of Curse is one that can be enjoyed by anyone, but for long time fans has lots of winks and nudges that are fun. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm not going to say anymore than that regarding it, but do make sure you stay through the credits. 

When the first official trailer hit, I remember a lot of my fellow horror bloggers bitching about the "horrible CGI" on Chucky's face. Well, they're either way smarter than I am, or just looking for something to nitpick. I didn't think he looked bad at all, and in fact I could hardly tell his face was CG. In fact, I hardly noticed any CG, even with the kills. There was some, sure but most of the effects at least appeared practical to me, which I always enjoy. The kills were pretty good, the gore was great, and Chucky was a mean little bastard and laughed all the way through with his signature Brad Dourif giggle. 

Performance wise, Brad Dourif of course steals the show with only his voice. He isn't the only Dourif with some acting chops though, as his daughter Fiona turns in a great performance as the lead character Nica. The other notable for me was Danielle Bisutti as Nica's older sister Barb. She's one of those "so despicable it pisses you off" characters, and Bisutti totally nails it. 

When all was said and done, and the credits were rolling, Curse of Chucky had done exactly what I wanted it to do. It brought the franchise back to it's roots and completely re-ignited my excitement for the series. Why the hell this went straight to video I won't pretend to understand, I would have gladly paid to see it on the big screen. I ended up paying about the same amount to watch it on VOD at home anyway. I can't recommend this enough for fans of the original Child's Play movies, Chucky is finally back the way he's supposed to be. Now, give me more, Mancini.