Review of Curse of Chucky (2013) by Norman B — 10 Oct 2013

Nica lives at home with her protective mother trying to avoid reminders of her physical disability and heart troubles. When Good Guy doll Chucky is delivered to the house one afternoon, Nica disregards the strange arrival only to find her mother dead the next day. Reuniting with sister Barb after a long absence, Nica is forced to consider a move, with a house sale potentially on the horizon. Barb's daughter Alice eventually discovers Chucky, immediately bonding with the doll, who unleashes his malevolent wrath once the sun goes down, picking off family members one at a time. Nica, researching the murderous appetites of Chucky, discovers a connection to serial killer Charles Lee Ray, setting out to warn everyone of the doll's demonic presence before the killer has a chance to finish what he started.

Curse of Chucky made some direct connections to the original 1988 film that tinker with course correcting the ongoing narrative, returning Chucky to his intimidating, sinister ways. Unfortunately, Mancini doesn't have much of the budget to work with, keeping Curse contained solely to Nica's house, only leaving the premises in the finale, while the red-headed maniac doesn't truly begin his reign of terror until midway through the flick, leaving the set-up useless to fans who've stuck with the franchise for 25 years. It's not as though Mancini is delivering blisteringly clever material to hold attention. Instead, he dishes up one dimensional characters with thin motivations, while keeping the doll close to Alice to reheat the child in peril routine.

Curse of Chucky has its one speed of survival for much of the film, though it soon embarks on a series of twists that tie into the entire franchise, not just Child's Play. There's a thrill in seeing a few familiar faces, but these are only a few blips of life in an otherwise struggling movie. Die hard fans might be more welcoming to certain scripted detours, but Curse of Chucky feels like a cheap experiment to see if the faithful will follow the series now that theatrical demand has passed on.