Curse of Chucky (2013)

Review

Sarah is looking after her wheel chair bound daughter Nica, or vice versa, Mom has a few problems. One day out of the blue Sarah receives a large package that was posted anonymously to her. Ripping into it she discovers she has received a Good Guy Doll. Thinking there has been some mistake Sarah tosses the doll into the garbage and continues with her over bearing attitude to Nica. Later that night Nica wakes to screams and discovers Mom has had a bit of an accident, Sarah has fallen to her death from the second floor.

Naturally since someone has died the vultures are soon descending, this time in the form of Nica's sister Barb who wants to sell the house and put Nica in care. Dragged along by Barb are her husband Ian, Nanny Jill, young daughter Alice, and the family priest Father Frank. Nica presents Alice with the Good Guy Doll, well she would have except the doll has vanished, but luckily Alice finds him in the bathroom while she is using the facilities. Alice seems to have named the rather large doll Chucky, and is becoming a tad too attached to the plastic mannequin. When the family members starting dropping dead Nica begins to wonder if Alice's playtime buddy is as benign as she originally thought. Naturally he's not, Chucky is back bitches and he wants to play ... for keeps!

Back in 2004 The Seed of Chucky looked like it might have killed the Child's Play franchise off as that movie bombed at the box office putting future releases into doubt. Flash forward nine years and Chucky's dad Don Mancini is back in the saddle, though admittedly this time taking the sixth movie in the series straight to DVD. Mancini promised a return to the all out horror of Child's Play with a lot less of the humour displayed in Bride and Seed, sounds good, the only problem being Brad Dourif's little girl Fiona was cast to play the lead role in Nica. Here we go again apparently, nepotism, trying to eke some additional bucks out of the decaying corpse of the franchise, STD raising its ugly head, there was a fair amount of condemnation of the movie before it even began shooting. Surprisingly when the dust settled and we got our hands on a copy of Curse it turned out to be a decent flick, though in some quarters they just can't seem to get beyond their initial bitching and whinging.

At the helm Don Mancini is kicking the tires like he is after an Oscar nomination, for a straight to DVD movie Curse sure is wonderful to look at. The movie opens with a van, out of focus, getting closer, with Mancini adding the ominous vibe immediately. Naturally things all go down in a trope infested dilapidated mansion, that place sure fitted the "fixer upper" that Real Estate Agents paste on an old house falling apart. We get to meet Sarah and Nica, discover Sarah is over possessive - loved the delivery guy hitting on Nica, and of course Chucky is immediately introduced. So far so good, anyone else rocking out at this stage? We then get the apparent accidental death of Sarah, and you just have to grab a copy of this movie, Mancini really let's things loose in the hoose. We get Nica's reflection in a growing pool of blood but don't get to see the results of Mom's late night plunge over the second floor balcony. Mancini eventually delivers on the visuals there late in the movie and holy heck, Chucky isn't taking prisoners.

One of the great STD (Straight To DVD) movies, don't let anyone tell you differently

Other highlights for mine included a dinner party where our favourite playtime Pal has added rat poison to one of the bowls of chilli Nica serves to her guests. We then have a cool scene where it's cat and mouse as to who ate the chilli, plenty of false starts there, with the eventual victim being ideally selected for the narrative. A number of people on line are claiming they knew who the victim was, guess they are also never scared by a horror flick, and rock it picking which shell the pea is under while touring Times Square. Yeap more internet bad asses big noting it big time anonymously! Okay back on track, we also get Chucky's reflection in a knife, which is a reference to another horror flick but darned if I can remember which one. Speaking of references to other horror properties, a zillion and one kids, Mancini goes buck naked crazy on the idea. So anyway you get the idea, a lot of fly shots, a lot of crazy angles, and a lot of referencing that will have horror fans high fiving their dead neighbourhood pet collection. Hey write in if you note both The Omen and The Changeling winks. Naturally there are plenty of references to earlier movies in the franchise as well with Mancini giving broad hints about one particular character who will appear post credits. Been missed those POVs from Chucky's level, well they are back baby! Before I forget Chucky looks pristine when he is first unwrapped, but we soon find out the face lift is only skin deep, scarred Chucky is waiting to see you, the doll looks awesome!

Okay if you are starting to think this is a return to Chucky circa Child's Play then you are absolutely right. Full marks to Mancini for deciding on animatronics rather than a full on CGI rampage, though there was certainly a few CGI bombs, including the ever changing Chucky face, loved the clunky movements Chucky has going down. Not sure but it looked like Mancini also used a few kid actors during the Chucky run past camera in the background scenes.

Gorehounds are going to be in their element with this movie as Mancini simply ladles it on. We're talking massive eye trauma throughout, axes, knifes, all manner of sharp objects coming into play, and believe it or not beheadings. Chucky gets inventive, and for that matter so does Nica as she gradually works out the fatalities are down to a certain good time guy. If a detached eyeball bouncing down a stairwell is your idea of a fun time then get out the party favours. Mancini isn't holding back on the gore, though to be honest it's a little cartoon and not overly serious in nature.

And before you ask, yes Mancini isn't forgetting the T&A element for us desperados. We get a lesbian scene, unfortunately cut short, and Maitland McConnell prancing around in her lingerie. Actually that second part might be a tad on the exploitative side if we were going to PC city, but since we're not, oh hell yeah highlight moment.

I should mention that everything is perfectly logical in the setup for the evening's fun and festivities. Mancini takes us back to Charles Lee Ray pre-voodoo incarnation and we discover how the cops came to be chasing him into the toy store where he transferred his soul into a good time doll. So some much needed fuller on the background of Chucky, which made me a more contented viewer. Oh and Chucky is after transferring his soul once again to any handy hapless kid, though Mancini does drop the ball somewhat on this aspect during Curse, which of course leaves room for another sequel that can go one of two ways.

Fiona Dourif (Nica) rather than being cast due to being Brad's daughter looks to have been cast because she delivers on the acting requirements. Completely believable performance with Fiona nailing the wheel bound Nica. The chick owned every scene she was in and so totally dominated the movie that every other thespian looked strictly amateur. You need a chick that can bring across tough girl when the chips are down, then give Fiona Dourif a call, besides which she is way past hot. Damn being all out sexist in this review, I'm blaming Chucky.

Way over the word limit here so wrapping up even though I could wax lyrical about this movie for a lot longer, darned there's a lot to talk about with Curse. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into with a return to Chucky town, but for sure I got a much better movie than an STD normally has any hope of being. Sure the scare factor simply isn't there, come on a pint size plastic doll is mirthful rather than boo-ful, but Mancini does ramp up the tension when we don't know where Chucky is and a character is clearly in imminent danger. I found myself rocking out to the movie and really getting down with Mancini's vibe, (helping out to a huge extent is Fiona Dourif who brings the needed gravitas to her role), which was something of a shock. End of day Kids I'm going to recommend this movie, you will be cursing loud and long if you don't catch a viewing. Anyone else get a 1980s vibe from Curse, wasn't sure, maybe it was just me, but I distinctly felt like I was watching an 80s slasher flick.