Review of Curse of Chucky (2013) by Jesse F — 12 Jul 2016

A very well crafted and smart entry in the childs play series, it works as both a reboot and a continuation, sort of anyway. It's sharp, funny and for the first time since probably the first, often proper scary, they give Chucky back his fear factor again, and the little guy has never been more malicious, sadistic and brutal.

Any post modern comedy imbued into the character from the last two sequels is long gone, replaced by the frightening little boogieman who made us scared of our toys when we were kids. The interesting thing they do here is that we dont see Chucky alive for ages, the filmmakers cleverly hold off for the best part of an hour into the 90 min films runtime before the "reveal", and it's easily Chucky's best and most scary introduction since the "talk to me damn it!" scene from the first, there's real patience and a really carefully built and masterfully paced sense of suspense and tension, especially the soup scene, were the films strong edge of pitch black humor comes into play.

It's also great how this is essentially a "Cluedo" esc whodunnit, trapping a badly dysfunctional and ghastly family together in a amazingly designed spooky house (really the production design in this film is great and the film is so well made that it's ridiculous that it went straight to dvd whilst shoddy, cheapo looking doll film Annabelle went to cinemas and made millions, but such is the utterly retarded world we live in) and the film also features a great performance from Chucky himself Brad Dourifs daughter Fiona, truly terrific here as Nica, the only sympathetic character in the film, and whose wheelchair bound disability makes the final chase scenes even more frightening.

It's also the goriest film in the whole Childs Play franchise, with some nasty as hell (and rather satisfying) kills. The only place it really slips up is in a convoluted, cluttered ending that tries too hard to tie up the series and please fans, which is a shame as it's attempt to be a stand alone entry was working very well up till that point.

But on the other hand if you are a fan of the series (like me) it is also a great call back and nod to past characters and events of the series as a whole (that post credits scene is fucking awesome!) so even with flaws this is a truly good, inventive Chucky flick, and a great little scary movie, perfect for a friday night in with the lights off.