October Horror Challenge 2019 #14: "Cult of Chucky"

I love the Child's Play movies. Yes, I know they're stupid and cheesy and ridiculous. That's part of why I love them! I'm old enough to remember the creepy little "My Buddy" and "Kid Sister" dolls that partly inspired these movies, and the trailer and posters for the original movie when it came out back in the day, with its creepy ass little killer doll. No way in hell would my mom let me see this movie, but me and all my friends wanted to see it, so I've got a big hit of nostalgia from all these movies, from the worst sequel (part 3 for me) to the best (sue me, I love "Seed of Chucky"). I actually liked the direction the movies took with "Curse of Chucky," trying to bring the movies back to the times when they were supposed to be scary and not just funny, so I was excited to finally check this movie out.

This movie picks up where "Curse of Chucky" left off. The murders in that movie were pinned on the main character, who is locked up in an asylum after supposedly committing the crimes. Unfortunately, Chucky is still alive and still all evil and stuff, and ready to commence with his murdery ways.

Something that I think got lost around the way was the practical effects and jerky movements that made Chucky look like, well, a doll. I've seen clips from the new remake, and they made Chucky look like a CGI little killer who sprints around stabbing people, which is stupid because I really think they missed the point. He's supposed to look like a doll, you nitwits. That's what made him scary, he looked like any old doll my friends and I could have, except this doll got up and killed people. The less he looks like a real doll, the less scary the movies are to me.

This movie has some CGI of course, but they still manage to make him look like a doll. I also like how Chucky is a mean-spirited little sarcastic snot in these movies. That harkens back to the original movie and its wisecracking killer who's pissed he's stuck in the body of a toy and he's not invincible (which he discovers when he gets shot: "It hurt like hell! It even bled!") It's cool seeing the character of Andy return in this movie, and watching him torture a severed doll head is a fucked up treat. There's some good gore too, and I like the new characters. I'm not sure how long these movies can continue being good, or if everything will be all fucked up because of the remake, but I can say I dug this movie.