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‘Living with Chucky’ and the ‘Child’s Play’ Franchise’s Recurring Themes of Family

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Child's Play franchise Seed of Chucky

Filmmaker Kyra Elise Gardner’s examination of the Child’s Play franchise comes from a personal place in Living with Chucky, debuting on SCREAMBOX and Digital on April 4, 2023.

Kyra Elise Gardner is the daughter of Tony Gardner, one of the most prominent and integral special effects artists in the “Chucky” franchise. For the Gardners, Chucky is family.

And the Chucky films, well, they’re often about family as well.

The filmmaker’s familial relationship with the killer Good Guy doll, voiced by Brad Dourif, fittingly coincided with the horror icon unexpectedly finding himself a family in Bride of ChuckyBride, penned by Don Mancini and directed by Ronny Yu, gave series protagonist Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) a much-needed rest and instead introduced franchise mainstay Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly), opening up new layers to Chucky in the process.

The very human but unhinged Tiffany revives Chucky through voodoo, hoping to rekindle their former relationship based on the discovery of what she perceived to be an engagement ring. Hell hath no fury like lovers scorned, though, and the fourth entry centers its slasher madness around the dysfunctional will they/won’t they couple. The whiplash between passionate lovers and lethal, bitter exes drives the raucously entertaining 1998 sequel, culminating in a moment of horror-comedy passion that ends with Chucky becoming a family man proper.

Child's Play franchise entry Bride of Chucky

Naturally, Seed of Chucky picks up that thread of family, forcing Chucky to reckon with life as a new dad. Writer/Director Don Mancini dials up the camp for his humorous depiction of one of horror’s most dysfunctional families.

What happens when two volatile serial killers procreate while trapped in tiny plastic bodies? You end up with offspring deeply confused about their identity. The eponymous character, Glen (voiced by Billy Boyd), struggles with their mom and dad’s insatiable lust for blood. Glen feels an aversion to their penchant for violence, while Glen’s feminine identity, Glenda, shares their parent’s vicious streak. Those warring personalities make it all the trickier for dad Chucky to navigate when trying to mirror his child in his image.

The twisted dynamics at play would present enough meaty drama and conflict to play around with for many movies to come, and that’s what happened; Mancini’s “Chucky” TV series gives his killer doll another crack at fatherhood, to some extent. It also evolves the relationship between Tiffany, Chucky, and GG, who are now entirely comfortable and confident in their skin.

But in the space between Seed of Chucky and “Chucky,” Mancini figuratively splintered Chucky’s family tree again. In 2013’s Curse of Chucky, Don Mancini used a deceptive soft reboot setup with the introduction of Nica Pierce, played by Brad “Chucky” Dourif’s real-life daughter Fiona Dourif. There’s that all-in-the-family theme again. Nica is a paraplegic with a frail heart, living alone with her mother, Sarah (Chantal Quesnel). At the start of Curse, Sarah mysteriously dies, ruled as a suicide. The same day, a strange Good Guy doll arrives in the mail.

Child's Play entry Cult of Chucky

Cult of Chucky

Why Chucky showed up at this house to take out the Pierce family one by one doesn’t get revealed until the third act: Charles Lee Ray has a past with Nica’s mother, resulting in the death of Nica’s biological father and getting paralyzed in the womb. Charles Lee Ray holds Sarah responsible for his capture and enacts revenge in Curse of Chucky. The film’s events position Nica as one of the franchise’s most prominent protagonists and a frequent target of Chucky’s devious machinations – behind the scenes, it’s essentially a father vs. daughter tale. 

And then there’s Curse of Chucky, which marks Nica Pierce’s indoctrination into the twisted family. Her family history with Charles Lee Ray makes her a metaphorical child of Chucky’s violence and provides her with a found family in allies like Andy Barclay and Kyle (Christine Elise). That grows even more complex in “Chucky,” where Nica finds herself a captive pawn and unwilling romantic suitor for Tiffany in the TV series.

It’s family that’s become a driving throughline connecting the Child’s Play franchise entries and providing complicated themes for its central characters. Don Mancini gave Chucky blood relatives to slay with, but the franchise’s explorations of found family resonate just as much… if not more.

It’s fitting that Living with Chucky reflects that through a personal journey with the franchise. In this franchise, after all, the family that slays together, stays together.

Child's Play franchise doc Living with Chucky

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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