In 1988, a new horror icon was born in the form of Chucky, the cantankerous doll that was possessed by the spirit of murderer Charles Lee Ray. Created by Don Mancini, the original film was directed by Tom Holland and was one of those rare horror movies that received a rather positive response, taking the number one spot on the domestic box office opening weekend and overall earning nearly $45 million globally on a $9 million budget.
Two years later, John Lafia directed the sequel which furthered the “relationship” between Chucky and Andy Barclay, the young boy who Chucky needs as a vessel for his soul. And as far as sequels go, Child’s Play II is one of the rare extremely solid entries that gives everything we could want and more. There was a higher body count, more screen time for Chucky, and a wildly inventive and bombastic ending.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the return of Chucky and I wanted to take minute to write about how much fun the series is. After all, when you think of the big horror icons, Chucky definitely ranks up there and is, in my opinion, tied with Freddy for the amount of charisma and joy that’s invested into the character by their actors. Both Robert Englund and Brad Dourif fully embraced their roles and created something incredibly special with the characters that they each reprised multiple times. Both Jason and Michael each had someone different play them multiple times but Freddy and Chucky needed to be the same because envisioning anyone else take over the role is impossible to do.
We’ve gotten a total of six Chucky films, two of which are pretty polarizing in the horror community (Bride and Seed). However, the most recent entry, Curse of Chucky was met with a lot of respect and love as it felt like a throwback to the feel and atmosphere of the original films. A seventh film is in the works with Mancini apparently writing and directing. Considering how consistent he is with the screenplays for the Chucky films, I’m confident that a new entry will be something exciting and, at the very least, entertaining.
But, for now, let’s simply be thankful for Child’s Play 2 allowing Chucky to continue his legacy.
