35 Years: A Look Into the "Chucky" Franchise

Today is an epic anniversary in the horror genre: 35 years ago today, Child's Play was released in theaters. This film was basically released on a wing an a prayer; little did anyone involved know that a film centering on a doll possessed by a serial killer would become this big time phenomenon that spawned six sequels, a reboot film, and a TV series that is still running now. Absolutely legendary!

It was on November 9, 1988 that Child's Play hit the big screen. The iconic opening scene set the entire franchise in motion: Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray, the infamous Lakeshore Strangler, was pursued by detective Mike Norris, with the chase leading them to a closed toy store. After accomplice Eddie Caputo drives off, Chucky enters the toy store, a shootout occurs, and Chucky is shot. Knowing that he's dying, Chucky looks for "somebody," and finds it...in the form of a Good Guy doll. One Damballa chant later, the rest is horror history.

Chucky is received by six-year-old Andy Barclay as a birthday gift from his mother, Karen Barclay, but in his new form, Chucky wreaks all sorts of havoc--killing Andy's sitter (Karen's BFF), Maggie Peterson, and then talking Andy in to heading to Caputo's house, where Chucky kills Caputo in an act of vengeance. Andy's story about Chucky isn't believed by anyone, until Karen notices that the doll has been operating without batteries, leading to Chucky coming to live in Karen's arms. After getting shot by Norris again, Chucky learns from his former mentor, John, that his humanity was increasing, and that he could end up trapped in the doll permanently. Under Chucky's threat, John informed Chucky that he needed to transfer his soul into the very first person he revealed his true identity to: Andy.

Chucky's first attempt ended with him burned, bisected, and finally shot to death, but that was only the beginning. Child's Play 2 came out exactly two years later--November 9, 1990, and saw Chucky continue his pursuit of Andy, only for that film's climax to see his attempt fail due to the fact he had been in the vessel for two whole years. He would have actually end up in a newly formed doll in Child's Play 3, released in 1991, as the opening saw Chucky's blood get into the vat of plastic, and that's how he returned. The third film gave us Chucky's best demise in the entire franchise: being sent towards an operating fan.

I'll never forget that Wednesday night in 1998. The first time I saw the promo for Bride of Chucky, I thought I was seeing things. I had a lot of Vitamin C in my system at the time, and that can make a person drowsy. Plus, I was (and still am) a big time Chucky fan. Maybe my fandom caused me to imagine what Chucky would look like now. But I figured there was no way he'd be back. He's in a million pieces. Then the promo showed up again. It was all very real. Chucky was back! Not only that, he had a significant other?! Oh man!

So on October 16, 1998, seven years after the third film, Bride of Chucky hit theaters. The fourth installment of this series introduced us to Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly), Chucky's longtime girlfriend/accomplice, who obtains Chucky's remains, stitches him together, and revives him with the Damballa chant. Tiffany's hopeful that she and Chucky will tie the knot, but when Chucky simply laughs at her, Tiffany locks Chucky in a crib and taunts him. Big mistake.

Chucky escapes, kills Tiffany, and places her soul inside the Belle doll that she bought for Chucky. Now with both of them inside plastic vessels, Chucky and Tiffany con an unsuspecting couple into going on a drive to New Jersey, where the Heart of Damballa is buried along with Chucky's actual corpse, as they needed it to transfer their souls into the couple's bodies. I didn't watch Bride until the evening of October 30, 2000, and I remember how crazy it was. It was completely different from the previous three films; for one, Chucky had a lot of dialogue, and secondly, the tone was humorous.

The same aura was shown in the fifth film, Seed of Chucky, which came out in 2004, and introduced us to Chucky and Tiffany's offspring, Glen/Glenda. The film also featured Jennifer Tilly in a dual role as not only Tiffany, but a spoofed version of herself, with Tiffany wanting to become the actress. Seed was full of epic moments, but the best one in the film (and the entire series) was Chucky's climactic epiphany--finally deciding that becoming human was too much trouble and opting to enjoy his increasing notoriety as a possessed killer doll.

We would not see Chucky again until 2013, when the straight-to-DVD film, Curse of Chucky brought the series back to straight horror, while also commemorated the franchise's 25th anniversary. We were also treated to a new central protagonist in the form of Nica Pierce, played by Fiona Dourif--the daughter of the voice of Chucky himself, Brad Dourif. Curse was released on August 2, 2013, and four years later on October 3, 2017, the seventh film, Cult of Chucky, was released. Cult officially brought back Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay (following his post-credits cameo in Curse), and saw a post-credits cameo from Christine Elise, who reprised her role of Kyle for the first time in 27 years.

I remember about two years later, there was talk of an actual Chucky TV series, and I was elated for this. At that time, I felt that Chucky wasn't getting the proper respect; too many people put Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and even Jason Voorhees on a higher pedestal. Yawn. And then there are the people claiming that The Exorcist is the scariest movie ever. I watched that movie. It's good, it's a classic, and it has its moments. But scariest ever? Come on. You want scary? Watch a Game Seven during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, especially if your team is in it!

After a lot of hype and build, the Chucky TV series premiered on USA and SyFy on October 12, 2021. According to series/franchise creator Don Mancini, the TV show's timed setting is about a year after the events in Cult, though too many references to the current year have been made. The show's central protagonists are Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), Lexy Cross (Alyvia Alyn Lind), and Devon Evans (Bjorgvin Arnarson), though the series has seen appearances from Nica Pierce, and even Andy and Kyle, on a number of occasions. The series is currently in its third season.

The franchise has boasted many different and amazing casts over the years. The first film featured Catherine Hicks (7th Heaven), Chris Sarandon (who was three years removed from doing Fright Night), and Dinah Manoff (Empty Nest; played Maggie Peterson in the film). The second film featured An American Werewolf in London's leading lady, Jenny Agutter, as well as Grace Zabriskie and Greg Germann. Justin Whalin played a teenage Andy Barclay in the third film, Bride featured Katherine Heigl and the late, great John Ritter, and Seed featured rapper Redman and iconic filmmaker John Waters. The casts were amazing, but through it all, there was one great constant:

This man needs no introduction, but dammit, he's getting one! The man whose voice is too cool for many, many schools is Bradford Claude "Brad" Dourif. He's done so much on TV and in cinema; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fatal Beauty, Graveyard Shift, and so much more, but his biggest claim to fame is Chucky. The first film actually featured Dourif on screen as Charles Lee Ray; the opening scene where he ends up possessing the doll. From that point on, Dourif has voiced Chucky in all seven films and the TV series, though in Curse, Dourif appeared as human Chucky in flashback scenes. I've been watching the movies repeatedly since I was a kid, and one thing I always loved was that voice; as a kid, I often compared Dourif's voice to Jack Nicholson. Dourif has that calm and cool voice, so to hear him spout all sorts of venom and evil as Chucky is just a huge example of how iconic the actor is.

The last decade makes the franchise even more awesome, as Brad Dourif has been working alongside his daughter, Fiona Dourif, since Curse. The scene where Chucky reveals himself to Nica in the climax of Curse was absolutely amazing; to me, it was the beginning of the torch being passed from father to daughter, and it was cemented in Cult's climax when Chucky possessed Nica.

35 years. A lot of families have come and gone in that franchise; the Barclays, the Tillys, the Kincaids, the Pierces, and the Crosses. A lot of murder and mayhem in that franchise. I repeat, and I'll continue to repeat this: Chucky is the GOAT of movie slashers. There's no debate. Others came before him, and some have been featured since, but none of them can hold a candle to the iconic killer doll.