new member - 20 yr long Chucky fan - has a lot of thoughts!
Sept 29, 2013 13:00:55 GMT -12
TrilogyofTerror, chuckyshmucky, and 2 more like this
Post by clownyprincess on Sept 29, 2013 13:00:55 GMT -12
So what better way to introduce myself to this forum than post an epically long review/musing I wrote for my blog? hahaha! Thanks for reading, in advance! 
I have let Curse of Chucky play on a loop basically since I downloaded it the other day – I work from home and I like to have a bit of background noise on, usually a familiar movie. I’ve focused on it a few times and just let it seep in subconsciously the rest.
watching the film for the first time on Friday
I’ve been a Chucky fan since 1992, when I first saw the first movie. Pre-internet and not yet 15, there wasn’t much I could do in being a fan except watch and rewatch the movies. I would record Chucky's scenes onto a cassette tape so I could listen to them on my Walkman. I obtained giant promotional posters from video stores and had them plastered everywhere. I wrote Chucky fanfic before there was an internet. I moved onto JokerxHarley fandom as my main interest (though of course never stopped loving Chucky!) in 1997. Then, of course, Bride of Chucky came out – Chucky getting a bride was all my projectionist fangirl dreams come true! By then the internet was a household fixture and I was an amateur website creator; I ran the site The Killer Doll Factory, dedicated to Chucky and Tiff, for a while before again the fervour of my fannishness settled down. I enjoyed Seed of Chucky, though didn’t rate it highly for a while… now I think it’s utterly brilliant and I’m disappointed a lot of fans don’t agree.
When I heard a new Chucky film was being made but that it was going straight to DVD, I was cautious… when I heard it was a reboot, I was dismayed. Chucky and Tiffany are one of my OTPs, and I think the two of them together are sheer brilliance and I wanted to see their story continued, not the Chucky story restarted. When I heard it was another sequel, I felt happier… but then I heard the rumour Bride & Seed were no longer considered part of the canon and felt pretty heartbroken. But after seeing the trailer, I couldn’t help but feel the thrill of anticipation. After all… it was a new Chucky movie!!
I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Curse of Chucky, largely positive, and I feel like sharing them.
I did a lot of research after being confused about a few things and it turned out the claim that Bride & Seed are no longer part of the canon is just a bullshit rumour: this movies takes place AFTER the events of Seed. I can’t tell you how happy and relieved I am they didn’t ditch those two!
SPOILER HEAVY so only read if you’ve seen the movie already or you don’t mind.
Watching it as I did under the impression Bride & Seed had been ditched heavily affected my first viewing… I wasn’t as receptive as I would’ve been otherwise cos my feelings are that Chucky isn’t complete without Tiffany anymore. So I was a bit closed-minded, had a few defensive barriers up.
Also there is no getting around that some of the early FX in terms of Chucky’s facial movements look cheap and Chucky’s oneliners… are not his best. I’m really not sure what’s going on there as Mancini had plenty of time to work on the script, but his dialogue really picked up towards the end of the film. The nasty little speech he makes to Nica is great.
I was always completely happy with the camp horror-comedy tone, but I did really like the timbre of this one and the cinematography. On first viewing it seemed a pretty slow start, though I did appreciate the suspense building and the introduction to the other characters. I got frustrated waiting for Chucky, as my twitter reveals. But subsequent viewings moved a lot quicker… I think getting used to a new format where Chucky’s appearance is treated as a reveal is why it felt slow to begin with.
It did actually build suspense really well, I thought… I even felt tension… which for me being the Chucky fan I am… is saying something. I loved the locked box scenario, the fact the bulk of the film happens over one night and the gothic mansion setting.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when Tiffany appeared at the end. I was ECSTATIC but I was also confused, as I couldn’t figure out how she fit into it anymore, especially given the confusing nature of the flashback.
I rewatched it immediately and discovered that I’d missed an end credits scene in which Andy Barclay reappears… and it was fantastic. Tiffany’s appearance, even if I was confused about the continuity, and Andy… just made my heart sing. Thinking about more of the cues and hashing it out on twitter I began to feel like it was set after Seed and that led me to do the research that confirmed it. After that I opened up to the film a whole lot more as how beautifully it does tie together the entire franchise fell into place for me. I thought there was a lot of care given to the set up and tying references together.
They really put some effort into making the kills as fabulously OTT as they could… the sorts of kills that make me laugh even though the gore is a bit much for me because they’re just so audacious. They had kills similar in Bride & Seed (Seed particularly) but the tonally very different nature gave them another edge.
The theme of disenfranchised children present in all of the films was continued too, which I really appreciate. I always thought it was an element that added depth to the series – that kids who were lost, isolated, marginalised and pushed to the fringes play large parts in the films.
Plus surprise *censored*ism is always good in my book. I have seen a bunch of fans *censored*ing about this, saying it was pointless. Um… I bet none of those *censored*ers ever say that about all the heterosexual relationships that are in movies as a matter of course! As a queer woman, I appreciated it. Plus I can spot immediately two reasons for it: 1) it subverted viewer expectations of the husband being involved with the nanny and 2) it pays homage to the gratuitous sexual scenes thrown into classic 80s horror films to titillate viewers. Since Curse indicated a return to classic horror roots, this was Mancini having a bit of fun with it.
Even with the darker, more serious straight-up horror tone - more like the first, though contemporary stylised - Mancini hasn’t lost his sense of fun and campiness. The camp is just more subtle… excepting the last five minutes where it amps right up… which I love! But I didn’t feel that the film was trying too hard to be a SERIOUS HORROR MOVIE, which is good, and it certainly didn’t attempt to be gritty, thank *censored*. It was very, very stylised which I think really suits the franchise & whilst all the films have had very different looks, I really love Bride, Seed & Curse for theirs. I’ve always been a fan of extreme stylisation. The scene of Chucky stalking down the stairs after Nica is brilliant, I thought. I mean there were lots of visually arresting moments, but that one in particular was awesome.
I thought the soundtrack was great too, atmospheric and stylish, along with the rest of the film and really enhanced the mood of it.
Some people have complained about the acting. I really can’t figure why. I thought it was consistently great. It was sincere from the characters it needed to be and hammy from those it should be. Remembering always this movie is a return to classic horror roots and Mancini is a film buff who carefully considers every detail… a bit of campy acting from characters like Jill & Father Frank fit right in. But Nica and Sarah are perfectly genuine performances and most importantly, as always, Dourif doesn’t condescend to the character. He is absolutely authentic.
I’ve seen a lot of people getting their panties in a bunch over continuity errors… well listen guys… it’s a Chucky movie… I got used to continuity inconsistencies a looooong time ago. They’re not being intentionally lazy, it’s about convenience to the script. Yeah it’s annoying, but it’s basically a fixture of horror franchises like this. It is interesting that Chucky’s doll body no longer bleeds or otherwise indicates any real human elements… as they were such crucial factors of the other film. And given the way they actually emphasised that… in the scene where his head is knocked off and the very gratuitous shot of his very plastic head and neck joint… and when Nica stabs him (amazing scene with his stuffing drifting down around her like snow)… and that he suffers no ill consequences from any ‘injuries’ unlike in its predecessors… I think it was a very conscious choice that will be explained to us in another film.
Relatedly, the scene where Nica mocks him, asking if he is male and indicating to his crotch – well, Chucky has never dealt well with his masculinity being threatened, but he is particularly enraged here. It makes me wonder if this new, completely stuffed & plastic body is missing a few parts his humanising bodies developed... and why. Perhaps a new voodoo spell placed to make him more indestructible? That unfortunately comes with a price…
(personally, I hope not as I really want his and human Tiffany’s relationship to be fully functional – what can I say, I love my psycho love affairs sick and twisted. I hope Mancini goes there)
Something else that really stood out to me was the lack of Chucky getting mutilated towards the end. That has always been a fixture of the other films: Chucky getting his comeuppance through greater and greater physical torture… Except in Bride where Tiffany was substituted. I wonder if that was a budgetary thing or is reflective of the darker tone.
Like everyone else, I didn’t really get the scene at the end where he seemed to be transferring his soul into Alice… given the development in Seed where he declared his desire to be the killer doll for ever more, a really significant moment of character development I’ve been waiting for Chucky to have since I first became a fan. I thought that growth of his in Seed was so strong not just because it indicated his acceptance and embracing of who he really is now, but also how he himself sees his family as being integral to it. One reason I love and will defend to death Bride & Seed is the character growth Chucky has and how watching his relationships with people (well… dolls) he actually loves broadens him as a character and adds depth and interest to him. It is basically unheard of in the genre for human slashers, nevermind supernatural ones, and I love nutting out all the little moments in those films for the insight they give into him and Tiffany. So… what’s up with that soul transference thing? I’m wondering if it was to get a visit to Nica in the institution and finish the job… then transfer his soul back into the doll. After CP3, they seemed to ditch a time limit on soul transference and well, pretty much any rules regarding it, so why not?
The Andy Barclay scene at the end was just the cherry on top… and Alex Vincent can’t act worth a damn… but it was still great to have him back as Andy. I’m really glad he did. Chucky exclaiming “Andy!” in shock makes me laugh every time. And when you consider the dual meaning of the title… the Curse of Chucky is not just the little shit coming back from the dead all the time but the lifelong impact his *censored*ry has… shown in the first two sequels on Andy and in this one on Nica and Sarah… that final scene was also Andy breaking the curse. Chucky bragged to Nica about how he killed Andy’s childhood, destroyed his family, ruined Andy’s life. But here we see he graduated from Kent in the end, remembers Kyle fondly despite the traumatic way they met, maintained his relationship with his mother though he was taken from her, and that his mother has been released from the institution she was committed to (I always found that so sad) and has a relationship with Mike, the cop from the first. Ultimately, Chucky failed. And that explains his sneering look when he first sees those items after cutting his way out of the box. And the curse being broken is just slammed home when Andy is waiting with that shotgun.
I guess to fit in with the new timbre of the films Chucky was generally a bit more subdued. He was still himself but not quite as boisterous, and I missed that. I always have loved that he’s this little chauvinist, red-blooded, substance abusing & meatballs eating, lecherous kind of total *censored*, who has this mad anarchist spirit but kinda traditional values, who basically sees himself as an average joe who just really enjoys killing people & flips the bird at everyone and complains about women drivers and feels emasculated by having lipstick smeared on his face. I mean, they did call that up when Nica mocks him… hahaha… but I feel like they were also trying to give Chucky back his mystique. For me, though, I love seeing Chucky more humanised, the ways he’s an average sort of guy inbetween killings, seeing things from his perspective. Like, I love those moments like in 3 where he’s spying on Andy and DeSilva kissing and is all ‘damn I REALLY gotta get out of this body’ & in Bride where he says Damien’s photo is sick, when he and Tiff look appalled at Jennifer Tilly kissing the decapitated head, when he’s watching Tiff artificially inseminating Jennifer and the way he says ‘I’ll leave you to it’… I know some fans really hate all that, but I think it’s wonderful. It makes him complete as a character rather than just a bogeyman.
I would really love to know how he got back together with Tiff & they resolved their differences (although they seem to just get on with things as a matter of course really) as that’s clearly what’s happened. What I really love about Chucky and Tiffany is theirs really is a forever-love; they are compelled to return to each other over and over as they really cannot be satisfied by anyone else. They are soul mates. Sick, twisted, broken soul mates but soul mates nonetheless. And yes, we are given AMPLE indication that Chucky truly loves her (I was letting Seed play today and when he thinks she’s just killed Joan – the sound of his voice as he tries to comfort her says it all really). I don't think it makes him "softer" at all... it rounds him out and that's a good thing, given he is the star.
They have a very passionate relationship and when they clash it’s always over differing ideas about where that relationship should go. And then, once they sort it out, they just move forward. The ways they’ve hurt each other (and being murderous psychos, they REALLY hurt each other – to death) have no real consequence. Another moment I love is in Bride, where Chucky apologises to her outside the chapel. It’s obviously a really genuine apology and there’s something so twistedly beautiful about it all. So when Tiffany leaves Chucky at the end of Seed because what they want out of life is now so dramatically different… it was never going to be permanent. They just had to sort it out. It was expected. But I was nonetheless unbelievably thrilled to see that expectation fulfilled. Tiffany is a killer, just like Chucky. Part of what binds them together is that shared love of murder and mayhem. As we saw in Seed, she never truly ‘recovered’ – who knows how many dead bodies there were in those years.
But given Tiffany’s return to her glamour-goth-tramp look, it would seem that being celebrity Jennifer Tilly has lost its lustre (as an aside: design wise, I love the consideration they give to human Tiffany… now she has Tilly’s riches, her goth garb is fancier and more expensive looking wheras old white trash Tiff had to make do with cheaper stuff) and maybe she’s even “retired” from show biz. She is definitely fully involved in Chucky’s schemes however… I imagine her helping him to apply the makeup and wig, having access to such tools as a movie star. And Chucky clearly needs her assistance to mail him around (for those confused by the ‘evidence depository’ mailing address… I think that’s Tiff’s sense of humour at work). So, how were they reunited? There’s a killer story there and I hope we get to see it in future instalments. It seems though that they have figured out a way to live together as doll and wife, and that makes me glad. Doll Chucky with human Tiffany always appealed to my perverse tastes. And after all, he is the father of her children… Where are the kids? There was no need for them to be in this film, though a little ref would’ve been nice… but I love imagining the kind of warped family unit they must be enjoying when Chucky isn’t being mailed around ruining lives. And perhaps his little trips to get his vengeance complete help him deal with domestication that bit easier.
Something I always really loved about it was how even though it was so horribly dysfunctional it was still loving and still something all of them cherished. Chucky was always unwilling to settle down and have kids but once he was confronted with the fact that he had them… he was really invested in them, and I can’t imagine that changing. Especially since Glenda is so much her father’s daughter… and how does Glen handle it all? Do they conceal it from him? So many questions! I’m sure there’s a way to answer them whilst sustaining the new darker tone of the franchise so all you haters can handle it.
I want to see the family unit in action. Not to mention enjoy a little Chucky & Tiffany loving. As much as I love Seed, I’d like to see them return to the passion that’s fuelled by what they share, rather than as much petty sniping and conflict. I mean, they will always clash cos of their tempers, but dial it back to Bride.
Now, for my biggest gripe with the film…
I don’t understand the choice they made in depicting him in that way as a human… that hunching, mouthbreathing, socially awkward way…
Chucky is COCKY. That is one of the key elements of his nature. He is an arrogant, obnoxious, swaggering little *censored*.
There is no compelling reason he would be otherwise as a human.
In fact, all indication points to him having been. How else did he attract Tiffany? I mean, as much as his assholishness annoys her, she still loves it. She even says in Bride that he hasn’t changed and will never change.
Like, Chucky is a nut but he’s a lucid nut, even when enraged. And he’s not “anti-social” or socially awkward… he’s sort of an All-American psycho killer.
Don’t tell me “he’s a psychopath” as the answer: yeah, he is, but 1) psychopaths are still individuals with individual personalities & plenty of killers throughout time were perfectly charming & seemingly well-adjusted and 2) it’s fantasy. so even if IRL all psychos were the same, the rules can be changed for a movie. You know. Like how a doll comes to life and kills people… and 3) it doesn’t match his depicted personality as a doll. SO.
Seriously, this is my biggest gripe with the film. I pretty much love everything else but the human depiction of him - along with the apparent Sarah fixation - just doesn’t add up to me.
Especially as he was living with Tiffany at the time, they’d already been in a relationship for years. Yeah he had commitment issues in terms of settling down, but they were still a devoted couple. Again, no one else can meet each other’s needs. Tiff is nuts too, but it is well-established in Bride, she disdains weak men. And you know, Chucky being the chauvinist he is, well I can understand he would have a bit of a roving eye, even go so far as to fool around a bit on the side (both are indicated in Seed), but he wouldn’t get all love-sick psycho stalker puppy about it.
Especially as he was so adamant about not wanting to be tied down. Much of his character progression in Bride revolves around him realising fully how perfect Tiff is for him and how he had taken her for granted for a long time in his fear of making a formal commitment. He has emphasised over and over how much he hates kids. So… why would he want this family? I was also discomfited by the apparent pedophile subtext. That’s… just so not Chucky. Again, well established he loves his full figured adult women. I hope I was reading too much into that.
A bunch of people say that he was just messing with Sarah, that he just likes killing families. That just doesn’t fit in with the sunflowers and his reaction to the cops showing up, to Sarah “destroying” the family.
As great as Dourif is, as he always is, the chosen depiction was so confusing it felt like a bit of a waste as showing Chucky as a human.
Maybe it was very intentional and is intended to be explained in another film…
… but as it stands it is the biggest disappointment of the film to me.
Given we were never told that much about Chucky as a human, even his killing patterns, I wondered if it was possibly setting up a pathology. Okay… let’s not give Chucky some hackneyed, cliché “traumatic past”. He’s never struck me as the kind of killer who has some dark formative event that created him. He and Tiff kill cos they like it, period. It’s something they enjoy and take immense pleasure from, not that they are processing some past abuse. Again I think it’s something that makes Chucky quite unique… he’s just the average American *censored* who loves football, porn… and killing people. It helps him to relax. He’s proud of it. Etc. Giving him some contrived way he was “created” I think would rob him of his particular quirky appeal. That he is what he is just because he is – is so profoundly weird that it works.
All in all, I’m a believer. I been a Chucky fan for twenty years, this little guy has played a massive role in my life and I feel this movie is a fantastic addition to the series. I truly hope Mancini is able to make more.
I have let Curse of Chucky play on a loop basically since I downloaded it the other day – I work from home and I like to have a bit of background noise on, usually a familiar movie. I’ve focused on it a few times and just let it seep in subconsciously the rest.
watching the film for the first time on Friday
I’ve been a Chucky fan since 1992, when I first saw the first movie. Pre-internet and not yet 15, there wasn’t much I could do in being a fan except watch and rewatch the movies. I would record Chucky's scenes onto a cassette tape so I could listen to them on my Walkman. I obtained giant promotional posters from video stores and had them plastered everywhere. I wrote Chucky fanfic before there was an internet. I moved onto JokerxHarley fandom as my main interest (though of course never stopped loving Chucky!) in 1997. Then, of course, Bride of Chucky came out – Chucky getting a bride was all my projectionist fangirl dreams come true! By then the internet was a household fixture and I was an amateur website creator; I ran the site The Killer Doll Factory, dedicated to Chucky and Tiff, for a while before again the fervour of my fannishness settled down. I enjoyed Seed of Chucky, though didn’t rate it highly for a while… now I think it’s utterly brilliant and I’m disappointed a lot of fans don’t agree.
When I heard a new Chucky film was being made but that it was going straight to DVD, I was cautious… when I heard it was a reboot, I was dismayed. Chucky and Tiffany are one of my OTPs, and I think the two of them together are sheer brilliance and I wanted to see their story continued, not the Chucky story restarted. When I heard it was another sequel, I felt happier… but then I heard the rumour Bride & Seed were no longer considered part of the canon and felt pretty heartbroken. But after seeing the trailer, I couldn’t help but feel the thrill of anticipation. After all… it was a new Chucky movie!!
I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Curse of Chucky, largely positive, and I feel like sharing them.
I did a lot of research after being confused about a few things and it turned out the claim that Bride & Seed are no longer part of the canon is just a bullshit rumour: this movies takes place AFTER the events of Seed. I can’t tell you how happy and relieved I am they didn’t ditch those two!
SPOILER HEAVY so only read if you’ve seen the movie already or you don’t mind.
Watching it as I did under the impression Bride & Seed had been ditched heavily affected my first viewing… I wasn’t as receptive as I would’ve been otherwise cos my feelings are that Chucky isn’t complete without Tiffany anymore. So I was a bit closed-minded, had a few defensive barriers up.
Also there is no getting around that some of the early FX in terms of Chucky’s facial movements look cheap and Chucky’s oneliners… are not his best. I’m really not sure what’s going on there as Mancini had plenty of time to work on the script, but his dialogue really picked up towards the end of the film. The nasty little speech he makes to Nica is great.
I was always completely happy with the camp horror-comedy tone, but I did really like the timbre of this one and the cinematography. On first viewing it seemed a pretty slow start, though I did appreciate the suspense building and the introduction to the other characters. I got frustrated waiting for Chucky, as my twitter reveals. But subsequent viewings moved a lot quicker… I think getting used to a new format where Chucky’s appearance is treated as a reveal is why it felt slow to begin with.
It did actually build suspense really well, I thought… I even felt tension… which for me being the Chucky fan I am… is saying something. I loved the locked box scenario, the fact the bulk of the film happens over one night and the gothic mansion setting.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when Tiffany appeared at the end. I was ECSTATIC but I was also confused, as I couldn’t figure out how she fit into it anymore, especially given the confusing nature of the flashback.
I rewatched it immediately and discovered that I’d missed an end credits scene in which Andy Barclay reappears… and it was fantastic. Tiffany’s appearance, even if I was confused about the continuity, and Andy… just made my heart sing. Thinking about more of the cues and hashing it out on twitter I began to feel like it was set after Seed and that led me to do the research that confirmed it. After that I opened up to the film a whole lot more as how beautifully it does tie together the entire franchise fell into place for me. I thought there was a lot of care given to the set up and tying references together.
They really put some effort into making the kills as fabulously OTT as they could… the sorts of kills that make me laugh even though the gore is a bit much for me because they’re just so audacious. They had kills similar in Bride & Seed (Seed particularly) but the tonally very different nature gave them another edge.
The theme of disenfranchised children present in all of the films was continued too, which I really appreciate. I always thought it was an element that added depth to the series – that kids who were lost, isolated, marginalised and pushed to the fringes play large parts in the films.
Plus surprise *censored*ism is always good in my book. I have seen a bunch of fans *censored*ing about this, saying it was pointless. Um… I bet none of those *censored*ers ever say that about all the heterosexual relationships that are in movies as a matter of course! As a queer woman, I appreciated it. Plus I can spot immediately two reasons for it: 1) it subverted viewer expectations of the husband being involved with the nanny and 2) it pays homage to the gratuitous sexual scenes thrown into classic 80s horror films to titillate viewers. Since Curse indicated a return to classic horror roots, this was Mancini having a bit of fun with it.
Even with the darker, more serious straight-up horror tone - more like the first, though contemporary stylised - Mancini hasn’t lost his sense of fun and campiness. The camp is just more subtle… excepting the last five minutes where it amps right up… which I love! But I didn’t feel that the film was trying too hard to be a SERIOUS HORROR MOVIE, which is good, and it certainly didn’t attempt to be gritty, thank *censored*. It was very, very stylised which I think really suits the franchise & whilst all the films have had very different looks, I really love Bride, Seed & Curse for theirs. I’ve always been a fan of extreme stylisation. The scene of Chucky stalking down the stairs after Nica is brilliant, I thought. I mean there were lots of visually arresting moments, but that one in particular was awesome.
I thought the soundtrack was great too, atmospheric and stylish, along with the rest of the film and really enhanced the mood of it.
Some people have complained about the acting. I really can’t figure why. I thought it was consistently great. It was sincere from the characters it needed to be and hammy from those it should be. Remembering always this movie is a return to classic horror roots and Mancini is a film buff who carefully considers every detail… a bit of campy acting from characters like Jill & Father Frank fit right in. But Nica and Sarah are perfectly genuine performances and most importantly, as always, Dourif doesn’t condescend to the character. He is absolutely authentic.
I’ve seen a lot of people getting their panties in a bunch over continuity errors… well listen guys… it’s a Chucky movie… I got used to continuity inconsistencies a looooong time ago. They’re not being intentionally lazy, it’s about convenience to the script. Yeah it’s annoying, but it’s basically a fixture of horror franchises like this. It is interesting that Chucky’s doll body no longer bleeds or otherwise indicates any real human elements… as they were such crucial factors of the other film. And given the way they actually emphasised that… in the scene where his head is knocked off and the very gratuitous shot of his very plastic head and neck joint… and when Nica stabs him (amazing scene with his stuffing drifting down around her like snow)… and that he suffers no ill consequences from any ‘injuries’ unlike in its predecessors… I think it was a very conscious choice that will be explained to us in another film.
Relatedly, the scene where Nica mocks him, asking if he is male and indicating to his crotch – well, Chucky has never dealt well with his masculinity being threatened, but he is particularly enraged here. It makes me wonder if this new, completely stuffed & plastic body is missing a few parts his humanising bodies developed... and why. Perhaps a new voodoo spell placed to make him more indestructible? That unfortunately comes with a price…
(personally, I hope not as I really want his and human Tiffany’s relationship to be fully functional – what can I say, I love my psycho love affairs sick and twisted. I hope Mancini goes there)
Something else that really stood out to me was the lack of Chucky getting mutilated towards the end. That has always been a fixture of the other films: Chucky getting his comeuppance through greater and greater physical torture… Except in Bride where Tiffany was substituted. I wonder if that was a budgetary thing or is reflective of the darker tone.
Like everyone else, I didn’t really get the scene at the end where he seemed to be transferring his soul into Alice… given the development in Seed where he declared his desire to be the killer doll for ever more, a really significant moment of character development I’ve been waiting for Chucky to have since I first became a fan. I thought that growth of his in Seed was so strong not just because it indicated his acceptance and embracing of who he really is now, but also how he himself sees his family as being integral to it. One reason I love and will defend to death Bride & Seed is the character growth Chucky has and how watching his relationships with people (well… dolls) he actually loves broadens him as a character and adds depth and interest to him. It is basically unheard of in the genre for human slashers, nevermind supernatural ones, and I love nutting out all the little moments in those films for the insight they give into him and Tiffany. So… what’s up with that soul transference thing? I’m wondering if it was to get a visit to Nica in the institution and finish the job… then transfer his soul back into the doll. After CP3, they seemed to ditch a time limit on soul transference and well, pretty much any rules regarding it, so why not?
The Andy Barclay scene at the end was just the cherry on top… and Alex Vincent can’t act worth a damn… but it was still great to have him back as Andy. I’m really glad he did. Chucky exclaiming “Andy!” in shock makes me laugh every time. And when you consider the dual meaning of the title… the Curse of Chucky is not just the little shit coming back from the dead all the time but the lifelong impact his *censored*ry has… shown in the first two sequels on Andy and in this one on Nica and Sarah… that final scene was also Andy breaking the curse. Chucky bragged to Nica about how he killed Andy’s childhood, destroyed his family, ruined Andy’s life. But here we see he graduated from Kent in the end, remembers Kyle fondly despite the traumatic way they met, maintained his relationship with his mother though he was taken from her, and that his mother has been released from the institution she was committed to (I always found that so sad) and has a relationship with Mike, the cop from the first. Ultimately, Chucky failed. And that explains his sneering look when he first sees those items after cutting his way out of the box. And the curse being broken is just slammed home when Andy is waiting with that shotgun.
I guess to fit in with the new timbre of the films Chucky was generally a bit more subdued. He was still himself but not quite as boisterous, and I missed that. I always have loved that he’s this little chauvinist, red-blooded, substance abusing & meatballs eating, lecherous kind of total *censored*, who has this mad anarchist spirit but kinda traditional values, who basically sees himself as an average joe who just really enjoys killing people & flips the bird at everyone and complains about women drivers and feels emasculated by having lipstick smeared on his face. I mean, they did call that up when Nica mocks him… hahaha… but I feel like they were also trying to give Chucky back his mystique. For me, though, I love seeing Chucky more humanised, the ways he’s an average sort of guy inbetween killings, seeing things from his perspective. Like, I love those moments like in 3 where he’s spying on Andy and DeSilva kissing and is all ‘damn I REALLY gotta get out of this body’ & in Bride where he says Damien’s photo is sick, when he and Tiff look appalled at Jennifer Tilly kissing the decapitated head, when he’s watching Tiff artificially inseminating Jennifer and the way he says ‘I’ll leave you to it’… I know some fans really hate all that, but I think it’s wonderful. It makes him complete as a character rather than just a bogeyman.
I would really love to know how he got back together with Tiff & they resolved their differences (although they seem to just get on with things as a matter of course really) as that’s clearly what’s happened. What I really love about Chucky and Tiffany is theirs really is a forever-love; they are compelled to return to each other over and over as they really cannot be satisfied by anyone else. They are soul mates. Sick, twisted, broken soul mates but soul mates nonetheless. And yes, we are given AMPLE indication that Chucky truly loves her (I was letting Seed play today and when he thinks she’s just killed Joan – the sound of his voice as he tries to comfort her says it all really). I don't think it makes him "softer" at all... it rounds him out and that's a good thing, given he is the star.
They have a very passionate relationship and when they clash it’s always over differing ideas about where that relationship should go. And then, once they sort it out, they just move forward. The ways they’ve hurt each other (and being murderous psychos, they REALLY hurt each other – to death) have no real consequence. Another moment I love is in Bride, where Chucky apologises to her outside the chapel. It’s obviously a really genuine apology and there’s something so twistedly beautiful about it all. So when Tiffany leaves Chucky at the end of Seed because what they want out of life is now so dramatically different… it was never going to be permanent. They just had to sort it out. It was expected. But I was nonetheless unbelievably thrilled to see that expectation fulfilled. Tiffany is a killer, just like Chucky. Part of what binds them together is that shared love of murder and mayhem. As we saw in Seed, she never truly ‘recovered’ – who knows how many dead bodies there were in those years.
But given Tiffany’s return to her glamour-goth-tramp look, it would seem that being celebrity Jennifer Tilly has lost its lustre (as an aside: design wise, I love the consideration they give to human Tiffany… now she has Tilly’s riches, her goth garb is fancier and more expensive looking wheras old white trash Tiff had to make do with cheaper stuff) and maybe she’s even “retired” from show biz. She is definitely fully involved in Chucky’s schemes however… I imagine her helping him to apply the makeup and wig, having access to such tools as a movie star. And Chucky clearly needs her assistance to mail him around (for those confused by the ‘evidence depository’ mailing address… I think that’s Tiff’s sense of humour at work). So, how were they reunited? There’s a killer story there and I hope we get to see it in future instalments. It seems though that they have figured out a way to live together as doll and wife, and that makes me glad. Doll Chucky with human Tiffany always appealed to my perverse tastes. And after all, he is the father of her children… Where are the kids? There was no need for them to be in this film, though a little ref would’ve been nice… but I love imagining the kind of warped family unit they must be enjoying when Chucky isn’t being mailed around ruining lives. And perhaps his little trips to get his vengeance complete help him deal with domestication that bit easier.
Something I always really loved about it was how even though it was so horribly dysfunctional it was still loving and still something all of them cherished. Chucky was always unwilling to settle down and have kids but once he was confronted with the fact that he had them… he was really invested in them, and I can’t imagine that changing. Especially since Glenda is so much her father’s daughter… and how does Glen handle it all? Do they conceal it from him? So many questions! I’m sure there’s a way to answer them whilst sustaining the new darker tone of the franchise so all you haters can handle it.
I want to see the family unit in action. Not to mention enjoy a little Chucky & Tiffany loving. As much as I love Seed, I’d like to see them return to the passion that’s fuelled by what they share, rather than as much petty sniping and conflict. I mean, they will always clash cos of their tempers, but dial it back to Bride.
Now, for my biggest gripe with the film…
I don’t understand the choice they made in depicting him in that way as a human… that hunching, mouthbreathing, socially awkward way…
Chucky is COCKY. That is one of the key elements of his nature. He is an arrogant, obnoxious, swaggering little *censored*.
There is no compelling reason he would be otherwise as a human.
In fact, all indication points to him having been. How else did he attract Tiffany? I mean, as much as his assholishness annoys her, she still loves it. She even says in Bride that he hasn’t changed and will never change.
Like, Chucky is a nut but he’s a lucid nut, even when enraged. And he’s not “anti-social” or socially awkward… he’s sort of an All-American psycho killer.
Don’t tell me “he’s a psychopath” as the answer: yeah, he is, but 1) psychopaths are still individuals with individual personalities & plenty of killers throughout time were perfectly charming & seemingly well-adjusted and 2) it’s fantasy. so even if IRL all psychos were the same, the rules can be changed for a movie. You know. Like how a doll comes to life and kills people… and 3) it doesn’t match his depicted personality as a doll. SO.
Seriously, this is my biggest gripe with the film. I pretty much love everything else but the human depiction of him - along with the apparent Sarah fixation - just doesn’t add up to me.
Especially as he was living with Tiffany at the time, they’d already been in a relationship for years. Yeah he had commitment issues in terms of settling down, but they were still a devoted couple. Again, no one else can meet each other’s needs. Tiff is nuts too, but it is well-established in Bride, she disdains weak men. And you know, Chucky being the chauvinist he is, well I can understand he would have a bit of a roving eye, even go so far as to fool around a bit on the side (both are indicated in Seed), but he wouldn’t get all love-sick psycho stalker puppy about it.
Especially as he was so adamant about not wanting to be tied down. Much of his character progression in Bride revolves around him realising fully how perfect Tiff is for him and how he had taken her for granted for a long time in his fear of making a formal commitment. He has emphasised over and over how much he hates kids. So… why would he want this family? I was also discomfited by the apparent pedophile subtext. That’s… just so not Chucky. Again, well established he loves his full figured adult women. I hope I was reading too much into that.
A bunch of people say that he was just messing with Sarah, that he just likes killing families. That just doesn’t fit in with the sunflowers and his reaction to the cops showing up, to Sarah “destroying” the family.
As great as Dourif is, as he always is, the chosen depiction was so confusing it felt like a bit of a waste as showing Chucky as a human.
Maybe it was very intentional and is intended to be explained in another film…
… but as it stands it is the biggest disappointment of the film to me.
Given we were never told that much about Chucky as a human, even his killing patterns, I wondered if it was possibly setting up a pathology. Okay… let’s not give Chucky some hackneyed, cliché “traumatic past”. He’s never struck me as the kind of killer who has some dark formative event that created him. He and Tiff kill cos they like it, period. It’s something they enjoy and take immense pleasure from, not that they are processing some past abuse. Again I think it’s something that makes Chucky quite unique… he’s just the average American *censored* who loves football, porn… and killing people. It helps him to relax. He’s proud of it. Etc. Giving him some contrived way he was “created” I think would rob him of his particular quirky appeal. That he is what he is just because he is – is so profoundly weird that it works.
All in all, I’m a believer. I been a Chucky fan for twenty years, this little guy has played a massive role in my life and I feel this movie is a fantastic addition to the series. I truly hope Mancini is able to make more.
