Cult of Chucky is an entertaining little entry into the franchise and although I don’t think it’s some brilliant horror flick or anything, the blending of it with dark humor worked and so I did find myself engaged.
Cult of Chucky
(2017)
Genre(s): Horror, Comedy
Universal | R/Unrated – 90 min. – $22.98 | October 3, 2017
Date Published: 09/28/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 3.5/5 |
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The Chucky franchise has been going on now for nearly 30 years (next year will be its anniversary) and has spawned no less than 6 sequels of varying quality from the decent (Child’s Play 2 & 3) to utter trash (Seed of Chucky easily the worst). After some apparent success with 2013’s Curse of Chucky, which itself wasn’t at all bad, we get Cult of Chucky once again written and directed by Don Mancini, the mastermind behind the franchise.
Cult of Chucky takes place four years after the events of Curse. Nica (FIONA DOURIF) has been convicted of killing her family after proclaiming the Chucky doll had done it, and sent to the mental hospital for the criminally insane. After making headway and taking responsibility believing Chucky was a figure of her imagination, is sent to a medium security facility, a place where everything is white, all the better to show the color red I suppose. There, she meets a cast of quirky/crazy characters from Angela who thinks she’s dead, Michael with multiple personalities, Claire who has anger issues and Madeleine is dealing with a dark past and even becomes a mother to the Chucky doll. Then you can add in the hospital’s resident predatory psychiatrist and it’s quite the mad house. Oh there’s not one but three killer Chucky dolls! Mayhem and blood ensues.
Along with the return of Fiona Dourif as Nica, the film gives a larger role for Alex Vincent returning as Andy, the little boy from the first three Child’s Play movies, not to mention Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany has a small but integral role and even her demonic doll counterpart makes a cameo. I felt this addition to the series might be one of the better of the bunch. No, it’s not great but it does have, from my memory, more humor compared to Curse and it’s not quite over-the-top like Seed or Bride. Yes, it’s silly and probably not as dark as Child’s Play, but it’s still a lot of fun and I even manage to chuckle at some of the darker humor. And Fiona Dourif makes for a good female lead, though it is on the weird side having her pops voice Chucky and what happens later in the movie makes it creepier, but I won’t spoil it…
Helmed adequately enough by Don Mancini, Cult of Chucky isn’t some sort of masterpiece of horror or anything but it was still an entertaining film that blended horror and comedy. Ranking wise, I probably place this second to Child’s Play but only just (to note, I’m not some huge fan of the franchise). This is perhaps worthy of a rental. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
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This release comes with a lenticular slip cover. Inside is a DVD Copy and redemption code for the Digital HD copy. There is the R-rated and unrated version, the latter is a mere 53 seconds longer… Audio Commentary – Director/Writer/Executive Producer Don Mancini and Head Puppeteer/Associate Producer Tony Gardner give a fine track offering up how the project came about but still is light-hearted. Deleted Scenes (5:36; HD) – There are only three scenes but nothing of great value. Optional commentary is included. Inside the Insanity of Cult of Chucky (6:43; HD) is a behind-the-scenes featurette delving into why Chucky is a popular character. Good Guy Gone Bad: The Incarnations of Chucky (5:03; HD) is about the various looks of the doll and what goes into bringing Chucky to life via puppeteers. The Dollhouse (7:37; HD) – Are interviews with Tony Gardner (makeup effects designer/lead puppeteer), writer/director Don Mancini, producer David Kirschner, Brad Dourif and Fiona Dourif, and particularly about the family elements of them. |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Cult of Chucky cuts onto Blu-ray presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec). As horror movies go, this is actually rather bright, especially once we go inside the asylum which has white everywhere which does allow some colors to pop and skin tones do appear natural and detail also is sharp throughout. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The disc comes with your basic, for Blu-ray, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which sounds pretty good but really shows off its depth with the numerous deaths done by Chucky and dialogue levels comes through the center channel sounds crisp and clear. This isn’t some amazing lossless track yet is effective for the squishes and blood splatters. |
OVERALL – 3.25/5 |
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Overall, Cult of Chucky is an entertaining little entry into the franchise and although I don’t think it’s some brilliant horror flick or anything, the blending of it with dark humor worked and so I did find myself engaged and it is a slight uptick from Curse. The Blu-ray released by Universal offers good video and audio transfers and an okay set of features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.