Nightmare Fuel 2017 Day 8 – Cult of Chucky

I’ll admit, I’ve had a pretty dodgy experience with the Child’s Play franchise.  The original, telling the story of a serial killer putting his soul into a toy so that he wouldn’t die and then continuing his bloody doings against the family that purchases him, is a solid-enough flick, one that deftly walks the precarious line between overly-campy and serious.  The first two sequels read more like rehashes than anything and were mostly harmless.  Then things started getting weird with Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky, with a doll-based girlfriend and son being introduced and a touch of meta quality sitting atop things.  These films were decidedly goofy, and it was rather difficult to take them seriously as horror movies.  I guess audiences agreed, as the series went into a mild hibernation for nine years.  Then came Curse of Chucky, which was a bit of a breath of fresh air for the series, introducing a nicely dark atmosphere, removing much of the doofiness of the previous pair of entries, and crafting a solid slasher flick.  For once, a franchise actually seemed to be going in the right direction.

Then came this year’s Cult of Chucky.

Cult directly follows Curse, with the sole survivor of that film, Nica, finding herself in a mental hospital.  The doctors are convinced Chucky was just a figment of her demented imagination and are trying to get that across to her.  Meanwhile, Andy, the series’ original victim child, apparently is in possession of Chucky’s head, the subject of his repeated vengeful tortures.  Andy’s attempts to exonerate Nica are in vain, and she finds herself beginning to be tormented once again by Chucky.  As it turns out, Chucky has found a way to possess multiple dolls — and people — at once, and he is looking to shut the door on his former victims.

While not a total backslide into the franchise’s former inanity, it’s still a backward step from Curse.  The whole psychological thriller aspect is interesting, but it stalls for me once the cult situation is made known.  There are also a few flicks of the old meta flavor, especially with Jennifer Tilly, who’s told she really looks an awful lot like that actress, y’know, Jennifer Tilly.  (I groaned so damn hard at that.)  The color palette, though not as bland as Leatherface‘s, is still drained and white-heavy, providing nothing interesting for the eye to look at.  Writer/director Don Mancini, who’s penned the entire series and directed four entries, does decent-enough work, but nothing stands out here, especially in the way of atmosphere, which was so well done last time out.  Fiona Dourif’s acting is commendable, and the resemblance to her father (Chucky’s voice, after all) helps.

Overall, this isn’t a terrible movie by any stretch, but it’s bland, it’s uninspired, and it feels like a worrying backward step for a franchise that looked to finally be refinding its footing.  It’s worth a watch, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise, but, if you’re not, it’s not worth going out of your way for.