Cult of Chucky
2017
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93% Avg. Tomatometer 60 Reviews 86% Avg. Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings Before Annabelle of the "Conjuring" movie series, there was another terrifying doll. After a vintage Chucky doll turns up...
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Oct 11, 2021 · 'Chucky' Review. Home. TV Reviews. Syfy and USA’s ‘Chucky’: TV Review. The doll inhabited by a serial killer and voiced by Brad Dourif makes the leap to television in a series adaptation...
Dec 4, 2021 Full Review John Doyle Globe and Mail Chucky is a delight; a warped, wise, funny and very droll series with bits of gore thrown in, but nothing gory enough to hurt your head. It's a...
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By Tom Jorgensen
Updated: Dec 4, 2021 11:35 pm
Posted: Dec 4, 2021 11:28 pm
Spoilers follow for Season 1 of Chucky, which is now available to stream on Peacock.
Chucky may stand in the shadow of other horror giants like Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger -- give him a break, he’s three feet tall -- but his movies have arguably been the most consistent in quality. What started as a clever take on the slasher in Child’s Play has morphed over the years in line with creator Don Mancini’s evolving tastes and sense of self. After two increasingly tongue-in-cheek sequels, the series moved into more slapstick territory in the ‘90s before Curse and Cult of Chucky brought the series more in line tonally with the first few movies. While always experimenting with new ways to delight horror fans, the movies always felt true to what Mancini wanted to say as a filmmaker at the time. After over 30 years, it feels like the Child’s Play franchise has found its equilibrium: Syfy and USA’s Chucky works both as a celebration of the many-faceted doll’s history and a fresh take on what he can represent going forward.
This newest chapter in Mancini’s long-running continuity picks up with the residents of Hackensack, N.J., as they become the latest victims of Chucky’s bloodthirst. The doll resurfaces at a yard sale and gets purchased by artistic loner Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), who’s working on a piece made of doll parts, thereby meeting the criteria of being a strange enough boy for this series to follow. Snarky and emotional, Jake may be intense, but he’s also very endearing.
The kid’s clearly terrified of reaching out for the connection he wants, a fact complicated by his struggle to accept his sexuality. Arthur handles the teenage angst nicely, but romantic scenes with crush Devon (Björgvin Arnarson) are where he really shines, with both Arthur and Arnarson making their pair of weirdos vulnerable as they navigate first love. It’s the only port in the storm for Jake, with queen bee Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) making his life hell at school on top of his already life-changing circumstances at home. Lexy’s “mean popular girl who learns humility” arc has been done a thousand times, but Lind seriously plays up the obliviously cruel elements of the character early on, making both her eventual redemption feel significant and giving her lots of latitude to deliver some hilariously tone-deaf moments throughout the season.
Brad Dourif doesn’t miss a step as Chucky, at various times called upon to be funny, menacing, comforting, and dangerous -- sometimes in a single scene. Dourif handles these aspects of Chucky capably as ever, and his performance is aided by the delightful mix of puppetry and practical effects that brings the Good Guy’s savagery to life. And it’s not just one-liners over throat slashes: as Chucky pushes Jake towards violence, he also connects with Jake based on his own child’s queer identity (yes, Glen/Glenda is referenced multiple times). These scenes call on Dourif to give Chucky a measure of gentleness, which he gets across in a way that still feels natural to the slasher, maybe down to the early flashbacks convincingly setting up a mentor mindset for him in youth. These are the standout interactions between Jake and Chucky, as they probe and challenge each other’s philosophies. That it’s all manipulation on Chucky’s part just helps to add dimension to a screen slasher whose depths apparently know no limits, with Chucky consistently effective when using the evil little bastard as a metaphor for the darker impulses of those he comes into contact with.
From the macabre electrocution of a lead character's parent to the gleeful campiness of a detective's death by a thousand needle jabs, Chucky knows that, new or old, fans want to see this doll mess some people up real good. And boy does he. Some of the death sequences suffer from not having the same buildup time as a movie may allow for -- the hous...
Chucky's first season cements Child's Play as one of the most venerable horror franchises of all time. Though it suffers from structural issues that become more prevalent as the season continues, Chucky overcomes any growing pains with engaged and engaging performances, creative and gruesome kills, and an earnest desire to raise queer visilibity in...
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great
Chucky's first season overcomes some structural issues in its second half to cement Child's Play as one of the most venerable horror franchises of all time.
Tom Jorgensen
Oct 12, 2021 · Chucky review: The Child’s Play TV show lives up to the films’ violent weirdness - Polygon. The Chucky TV series is a red-blooded return to the films’ violent weirdness. It’s an angsty queer...
Chucky: Created by Don Mancini. With Zackary Arthur, Bjorgvin Arnarson, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Brad Dourif. After a vintage Chucky doll turns up at a suburban yard sale, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders begin to expose the town's hypocrisies and secrets.
Dec 1, 2021 · Chucky Season 1 Finale Review - "An Affair to Dismember" - IGN. The brutal, bloody heart of what makes Chucky tick. By Tom Jorgensen. Posted: Dec 1, 2021 7:00 am. Full spoilers for Chucky’s...
