Curse of Chucky Review

Chucky never scared me.  He makes me laugh.  Does that make me a bad person?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Chucky film series for what it is - this is a twisted, goofy pulp horror yarn, and extremely proud of it.  It's the corporatization of childhood gone horribly wrong.  It's the "Anti-Toy Story".  And it's clearly hit a nerve with people because here we are, 25 years later, with the sixth entry in the saga, "Curse of Chucky", which is my second favorite sequel in the series to date.  But I digress. . .

Here's a quick run-up of the saga, so far:


Child's Play (1988)

The one that started it all, and still the best.  It's great fun, and even manages to elicit a couple of honest-to-goodness chills.  And it's so very, very 1980s, which can be good or bad, depending on your viewpoint.  Catherine Hicks (as "The Mom") and Chris Sarandon (as "The Cop") are good, but it's the kid actor Alex Vincent (as Andy Barclay) who steals the show for me.  It's one of my favorite child actor performances of all time.  "This is the end, friend."  I cackle with glee every time I hear that line.  Add to that Brad Dourif's iconic voice performance as Chucky, Kevin Yagher's great puppet F/X, mix it all together under the talents of director Tom ("Fright Night") Holland, and you've got a horror classic.

Child's Play 2 (1990)

The inevitable sequel.  It's okay.  The highlights include the return of Alex Vincent as Andy, Dourif's foul-mouthed voice work, Yagher's puppetry, and an epic climax which takes place in a Good Guy doll factory and features the best Chucky death of the series (well, multiple deaths, really).  A by-the-numbers follow up, but watchable.

Child's Play 3 (1991)

You know, I tend to nod off every time I try to watch this one.  It's the worst entry in the series, says I.  Andy (now played by "Dungeons and Dragons" star Justin Whalen) goes to military school, and Chucky follows.  Nothing remarkable here except for the ridiculous tagline - "Don't F**k With the Chuck!"

Ridiculous.

Bride of Chucky (1998)

Here's my favorite sequel in the series.  In the post-"Scream"(1996) era, every new horror movie had to be all self-aware and ironic, and BOC was no different - but it worked.  While "true" fans bemoaned the more comedic turn that the series had taken, fans like me, who've always found the Chucky flicks to be hilarious, didn't mind it at all.  Adding Jennifer Tilly as Chucky's girlfriend Tiffany was a great addition, and Dourif's performance (as well as Yagher's gory F/X) have never been better.  Plus, hiring visionary Hong Kong director Ronny ("The Bride With White Hair") Yu was a boon - this is easily the most visually interesting of all the Chucky movies.

BOC's female protagonist is played by famous movie star Katherine Heigl, in a breakout role.  This is still, by far, the best thing she's ever done.

Seed of Chucky (2004)

First Chucky found a bride, now he's got a kid - the gender-confused Glen/Glenda, played by Billy Boyd (Pippin from "Lord of the Rings").  Meanwhile, Chucky and Tiffany attempt to transfer their souls into the bodies of rapper Redman and actress Jennifer Tilly (campily playing themselves).  As you can tell, this is the weirdest Chucky movie of them all.  Don Mancini, the man who wrote every single Chucky movie, makes his directorial debut with SOC.  It's a solidly-made flick, but head-scratchingly odd and a bit too cute.  It's like a Tim Burton movie on acid. 

Ultimately I have mixed feelings about this one, but it contains one of my favorite moments in the saga when Chucky, tired of always trying (and failing) to transfer his soul into another body, finally gives up and makes peace with who he is.  "I'm Chucky, the killer doll!  And I f**kin' love it!"

Curse of Chucky (2013)

Mancini returned to write and direct this new direct-to-DVD installment and made a concerted effort to create a more frightening experience for the fans.  He succeeded.  This is the only Chucky movie since the original that gave me a couple of chills.  But I still mostly laughed (with enjoyment).

Fiona Dourif (daughter of Brad Dourif, the voice of Chucky himself) is Nica, a paraplegic who lives with her mother.  One day she receives a creepy looking Good Guy doll in the mail and, soon after, her mother dies from a self-inflicted stab wound (yeah, right).  When the rest of the family arrives to mourn the loss of their matriarch, the mysterious Good Guy doll (okay, you guessed it, it's Chucky) begins to pick off the family one by one.

Simple premise, simple movie.  Mancini sets up some very suspenseful sequences and a couple of surprising twists, and it's all heightened by the fact that the character of Nica is wheelchair-bound, which makes the entire situation even more believable when she has to fend off the little ginger bastard without the use of her legs.  Nica is played very capably by Fiona Dourif (who can also be seen on "True Blood"), but it's a little disconcerting sometimes because she has the same intense eyes as her father.  That's a compliment.

There are plenty of surprises here for the longtime fans, which I won't give away (be sure to watch the scene after the end credits - the best scene in the movie, I think), and there's the central mystery of why Chucky is even bothering to kill off this family in the first place, which I won't spoil either (it may not be what you're thinking, what with daughter Dourif being in the lead role and all), but it all adds up to my second favorite sequel in the series.  Which would make it my third favorite Chucky movie, I suppose.

The only real drawback concerns the limited budget.  This is, by far, the least expensive Chucky movie, and it shows in some of the special effects shots (especially the CGI).  Tony Gardner (who took over puppeteering duties on "Seed") provides some good work here, particularly in the punchy gore effects, but he wasn't working with much.  He did manage to make Chucky himself look creepier than ever before, due to some slight redesign work, but he clearly wasn't working with many resources.

In conclusion, I was surprised by how much I liked this one.  It's not groundbreaking in any way, but it's solid low budget creepy cheese.  That's also a compliment.

Gravity Review

Do you like scary movies?  Then here's a good one for you.

It may seem odd to label a Sandra Bullock/George Clooney-starring astronaut adventure as a 'scary movie', but few movies have made me tense up and soak my seat with sweat (at least I hope it's sweat) quite like this one.  Just replace the usual horror villains such as creepy ghosts and brutal killers with fast-as-a-bullet flying debris, suffocation, freezing, burning and utter isolation and, presto, you have "Gravity".

Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men", "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban") took four years to develop this movie, and it was clearly worth it.  It's a work of efficient simplicity, like a breath of fresh air amidst the bloated, overbaked sea of movies we usually endure.  Essentially a one-character narrative, the story follows Bullock's character Ryan Stone as a space disaster strands her (and cohort Clooney) in cold, unforgiving outer space, and they must work together to survive and return to Earth.  Simple.  Clean.

For most of the 90-minute running time, it's one breathless setpiece after another.  Dizzying camerawork, perfect special effects, masterful sound design, excellent score, great acting - it all blends into one perfect suspense machine.  It's not without its quiet, introspective character moments, however.  It can be quite beautiful and moving at times, even trancendental, but it's first and foremost meant to be a wild, nail-biting ride.  In that respect, it succeeds admirably.

If you choose to see this movie (recommended), you MUST see it in IMAX 3D.  It's the perfect format for "Gravity", and an experience all its own.  IMAX 3D and "Gravity" were made for each other.

It's one of my favorite movies of the year so far.  If you want an exciting, amazing ride, or if you just want to see Sandra Bullock bark like a dog(?), then "Gravity" is the one you can't miss.