Serial Killer Gunned Down . . .
Charles Lee Ray Dies In Chicago Toy Store
(Warning—this review contains spoilers. Proceed at your own risk)
Written By Shawn Francis
A
headline from a Chicago newspaper as seen on a computer screen in the
new movie, Curse Of Chucky. It was November of 1988 when Ray
(aka Lakeshore Strangler) was finally cornered in a toy store by a
detective, Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), and killed. Ever since then
Ray has discovered newfound “infamy” as Chucky, a doll he was
able to transfer his soul into before he died. For a great deal of
his life as Chucky Lee sought to find a more human receptacle
for his soul, which always happened to be children, but at some point
he finally came to terms with his doll body and actually enjoyed it,
but in his latest mission of murder his mindset has reverted back to
wanting to be surrounded in flesh and bone rather that one-hundred
percent plastic.
Lee
has himself delivered to a mother, Sarah (Chantel Quesnelle) and her
daughter, Nica (Fiona Dourif, daughter of Brad Dourif), who is a
paraplegic since birth. Neither of them can figure out why this 80s
Good Guys doll has been delivered to them. Sarah throws Chucky in the
garbage. That night Nica finds her mother dead with a pair of
scissors sticking out of her chest. Murder is never considered, since
Sarah was on medication. Suicide is the most plausible explanation.
The
following day Nica’s older sister, Barb (Danielle Bisutti), her
husband, Ian (Brennan Elliot), their daughter, Alice (Summer Howell)
and the live-in nanny, Jill (Maitland McConnell), show up to share in
the grieving process and to get Nica to think about selling the
house. The family priest, Father Frank (A Martinez) also puts in an
appearance.
Eventually,
and as expected, Chucky begins lurking through the house picking off
the family members one by one. It’s in the final act that Nica does
some legwork on the computer and learns some disturbingly unreal
things. Her time at the computer also shows us the connection this
movie has to the first three movies. Conversation between Chucky and
Nica in their final confrontation also solidifies its connection to
those first three. There is, however, a visual connection to Bride
Of Chucky in the scarring on his face has been retained, which
for most of this new film has been covered up, and a scene near the
end which is identical to a scene in Bride where a corrupt cop
brings a bagged chucky to his car and make a clandestine phone call.
Another cool little reference to the series is the appearance of
Jennifer Tilly as a pre-doll Tiffany at the very end, the person
responsible for sending Chucky to Sarah and Nica.
His
sudden appearance within that family was not random either. They had
a connection to Charles Lee Ray when Sara was in her final trimester
with Nica and those crucial events are linked up with Lee’s final
moments in the first Child’s Play bringing the entire
franchise full circle and capping it off very nicely.
Curse
Of Chucky is unlike any other movie in the series. It forgoes all
the black comedy and puts the pint-sized killer in a place it really
has never been before, not even with the first film. In full on
mobile kill mode Chucky is actually and truly menacing while in his
more serene moments his new redesign gives his harmless doll persona
an unsettling visual vibe.
The
entire movie is constructed more of a haunted house flick with a
house that is striking enough to augment Chucky’s new menace. Like
in the first film he is not the chatty killer he morphed into in
later films he talks but not until the final act.
It’s
no surprise that Chucky successfully managed to add himself to the
roster of iconic horror movie villains (i.e. Michael Myers. Jason
Voorhees, Leatherface, Fred Kruger and Ghostface), Tom Holland
directed and co-wrote it with Don Mancini and John Lafia and we all
know how Holland re-defined the vampire in ‘85’s Fright Night.
I
saw Child’s Play at the theater the Friday night it premiered. I
was nineteen then, a time when music and movies had more sway over me
than anyone or anything else and when a movie came along that grabbed
my interest I simply had to see it the very first night it came out.
I think I saw it with a friend and all I can remember was everyone
hollering and laughing when Chucky finally revealed himself and
started attacking and swearing like a truck driver.
Yeah, I liked the
movie a lot.
I
don’t have any memory of the second one, and only recall the third
as being the movie set in a military academy. I, however, have vivid
memories of Bride Of Chucky and some of Seed Of Chucky.
Enough to know Seed was not to my liking in the least. In fact
the best ones from the series are the first, Bride and now
Curse.
Video/Audio/Subtitles:
1080p 1.78:1 HD anamorphic transfer—English 5.1 DTS-Master Audio,
Spanish and French 5.1 DTS Digital Surround—English, French and
Spanish subtitles.
Universal
releases Curse Of Chucky in three forms: a standard DVD, a
Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy and in the Chucky: The Complete
Collection (blu-ray only) set that holds all the Chucky movies.
This review only covers the combo. There are extra features shared by
both the DVD and the blu-ray with some features exclusive to the
blu-ray only.
First
up we’ll delve into the shared extras: The commentary with Director
Don Mancini, Puppeteer Tony Gardner and star Fiona Dourif is as
informative and fun as I expected it to be with Mancini revealing the
exact scenes where CGI was used, which was extremely minimal. There
is however one full body CGI shot of the Chuckster as he
descends the stairs leading up to the attic, but for the most part
Gardner’s animatronic FX and a little person were used to bring
Chucky to life.
He
also revealed Curse is a remake/sequel with the remake part
coming in when this new film ties itself in to the first film.
Charles Lee Ray still runs into that toy store, gets shot by Sarandon
and shoves his soul into the doll before he dies but the
circumstances that got him there are different than the ones on hand
in Child’s Play.
He
also reveals at the very end that there will be another Chucky movie
either taking place on a train (he’s never done a train movie
before) or in the asylum with Nica, or, with the idea Gardner
interjects, both.
- ‘Deleted Scenes’ (6:17): Six scenes you can play separately or all at once. None of them really add all that much to the movie, except for one that explains how the cop got there at the end.
- ‘Gag Reel’ (1:27)—amusing.
- ‘Playing With Dolls: The Making Of Curse Of Chucky’ (15:34): Hits all the required marks, interviews with director, actors and how the FX and stunts were pulled off.
- Here are now three featurettes that you will only find on the blu-ray:
- ‘Living Doll: Bringing Chucky To Life’ (8:35): This was my favorite. It’s basically Tony Gardner explaining/showing how Chucky is constructed and puppeteered.
- ‘Voodoo Doll: The Chucky Legacy’ (7:08): This is a brief look at all the movies with interviews with some of the cast from Curse on their favorite scenes and so forth.
- ‘Storyboard Comparisons’ (25:18): I’m never a big fan of storyboard extras on DVDs. They just don’t do anything for me. Anyhow here are four of them set side-by-side with their corresponding scenes and Don Mancini introducing each. You can play them separately or all together.
Coming
out the same month as another direct-to-video entry (Fright Night
2: New Blood) in another cult classic franchise I had low
expectations for both of these frankly and was pleasantly surprised
that I liked the second Fright Night remake and this sixth entry in
the Child’s Play franchise. Looking forward to seeing more movies
from both.
One
more thing stick around after the credits for Curse Of Chucky,
there’s a very cool ‘Six Months Later’ scene that will blow you
away.
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