Movies
‘Cult of Chucky’: The Next ‘Child’s Play’ Begins Filming on Monday! (Trailer)
Sorry jack, Chucky’s back…again.
I’ve been keeping very close tabs on the next installment in the Child’s Play franchise, which has been in pre-production for over a month under the moniker of Chucky 7. We’ve reported on a lot of the returning players – including writer-director Don Mancini – but nothing has been deemed “official”…until today!
Chucky, for the younger readers, is a serial killer (Charles Lee Ray, played by Brad Dourif) who transferred his soul into the body of a Good Guys Doll back in 1988’s Child’s Play.
The Child’s Play films have miraculously remained canon for nearly 30 years, with sequels including Child’s Play 2, Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, and the 2013 Curse of Chucky.
Next up…CULT OF CHUCKY.
Yes, the seventh Child’s Play, officially titled Cult of Chucky, will begin filming this coming Monday in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada!
Brad Dourif is confirmed to once again provide Chucky’s voice, while his daughter, Fiona, will be reprising her Curse role. Also returning are Summer H. Howell (Curse of Chucky), Jennifer Tilly (who became the popular female doll, Tiffany, in Bride of Chucky before transferred her soul into the body of actress Jennifer Tilly in Seed of Chucky) and Alex Vincent, star of the first two Child’s Play films who returned in a shocking post credits sequence in Curse. The film ended as if Mancini planned to tie the previous three films – Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky and Curse of Chucky – together in this seventh film.
Here’s the official synopsis that came attached to the below announcement trailer.
“Confined to an asylum for the criminally insane for the past four years, Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) is erroneously convinced that she, not Chucky, murdered her entire family. But when her psychiatrist introduces a new therapeutic “tool” to facilitate his patients’ group sessions — an all-too-familiar “Good Guy” doll with an innocently smiling face — a string of grisly deaths begins to plague the asylum, and Nica starts to wonder if maybe she isn’t crazy after all. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), Chucky’s now-grown-up nemesis from the original Child’s Play, races to Nica’s aid. But to save her he’ll have to get past Tiffany (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Tilly), Chucky’s long-ago bride, who will do anything, no matter how deadly or depraved, to help her beloved devil doll.”
Cult of Chucky, which takes place in an asylum, will be released in an unrated version on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD this fall, in time for Halloween.
Don Mancini, writer of the Child’s Play franchise, is the executive producer of the new film, which he also directs from his original script. Longtime franchise producer David Kirschner (The Pagemaster, Frailty) is joined this time by Ogden Gavanski (Warm Bodies, Immortals). The production team includes special-effects guru and associate producer Tony Gardner (Zombieland, Curse of Chucky), director of photography Michael Marshall (“Killjoys”), production designer Craig Sandells (Mother’s Day) and costume designer Patricia J. Henderson (ATM).
[Related] Seven Hours of Chucky Burning is the Perfect Holiday Horror Yule Log
The Child’s Play franchise is my personal favorite and one that I find myself revisiting more than any other. I love that it has remained canon, and that Mancini, who created the franchise, is still involved at full capacity. Even more astounding is that its timeline syncs up and completely makes sense, as Squires alluded to earlier this week.
As I explained earlier, Curse of Chucky opened the door to bringing all the films together, which makes me sort of want to see this wrap it all up (who am I kidding, give me seven more).
In the end, let’s take a moment to revel in the fact that we’re getting anther Child’s Play sequel and not a remake…
No matter, he’ll be your friend ’til the end.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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