Ranking the Child's Play Series

So as I've documented on the blog over the last week or so, my daughter and I have been watching the Child's Play films. We were all over the map, not in any order, sort of going by whichever films she wanted to watch at any given time. 

Child's Play 2

Child's Play

Child's Play 3

Curse of Chucky

Bride of Chucky

Cult of Chucky

Seed of Chucky

1. Child's Play 2 (1990) : the doll warehouse ending, an entire film featuring Dourif-voiced Chucky terrorizing a family and those in contact with Andy, that famous poster, the best side character in Kyle as Andy's big help, the vibrant direction, and memorable quips. This is classic Chuck at his most entertaining without too much meta comedy. The finale is my choice for the best sequence in the entire franchise. 4/5
2. Child's Play (1988) : this was the biggest surprise of the series during the revisit. I was impressed with the use of the rugged urban Chicago locations, really effective Chucky work in the final chapter, a fantastic cast including Sarandon (who worked for Holland previously in Fright Night) and Catherine Hicks, that gut-wrenching moment where poor Andy is trapped in a cell as Chucky comes for him in a mental hospital, and Holland not letting us get full bore Chucky until the end allows for that big startling "come to life" when he goes right at Hicks. And Chuck in the car with Sarandon is a blast. 4/5
3. Child's Play 3 (1991) : Though not a fan of the military cadet school setting or recasting of Andy, Chucky picks up right where he left off from Part 2 (still remaining as vile and quippy as ever, loving to kill anyone in his path of making Andy's life a living hell) despite an outlandish means behind resurrecting him, Andrew Robinson has a memorable part as a creepy barber, there is a neat conclusion set at a carnival and funhouse, and the sacrifice of a bullied cadet who throws himself on a grenade thrown by Chuck is an unexpectedly haunting death. 3/5
4. Curse of Chucky (2013) : I did think the ending tying Fiona Dourif's mom to Charles Lee Ray in the very first film was clever, because, otherwise, this particular film in the franchise would be even more isolated than it already feels. Dourif is really a good actress; this isn't just nepotism, though I'm sure being Brad's daughter didn't hurt. A heroine in a wheelchair, living in this castle of a home, with Chucky having so much space to hide and kill; the film has quite a setting and gives us another adversary of Chuck constantly in peril, including a nasty throw from a stairwell. How the film convicts Fiona of the murders in the house, though, to me is ridiculous...she is a survivor, though. 3/5
5. Bride of Chucky (1998) : Chuck and Tiffany's murderous activities, framing their human motorist drivers, Jade and Jesse, wherever they go, I found really slick Mancini machinations, the meta comedy can be more than a bit on the nose, though I laughed out loud at the slasher series iconic references in the evidence locker. The Chuck and Tiff relationship drama just wasn't really for me. Bonus points for the inclusion of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), but that ending with the doll birth left me with too much residue of Seed blecch. 2.5/5
6. Cult of Chucky (2017) : Fiona Dourif really has her father's mannerisms, tone, and facial tics down pat, and the film does finally give Charles Lee Ray his body, but the different Chucky dolls in a mental hospital should have been scarier. I think that old Chucky doll look so iconic in those first three films just isn't the same in the sequels; I even felt that with some of the face and hair design of Chucky in Curse. The call back to Tiffany/Jennifer Tilly and Seed just brought back that ugh feeling. The Chucky doll hand rising from a grave outside the hospital was kinda dope, though. The subplot involving the sleazy doctor taking advantage of Fiona using hypnosis is especially gross. I wish the use of Andy's return (Alex Vincent) was better, too. Mancini brings back the broken glass murder from Bride to lop off a head. 2/5
7. Seed of Chucky (2004) : Bride was treading that meta ground Seed pulverizes. The gender machinations Mancini plays around with in this film and all the Hollywood insider content just didn't land with me. This reminded me that Mancini had developed a legit terror in that Chucky doll, as the killer possessing him knew few humans could ever believe a doll would be killing people, and this 2004 film is concerned with Billy Boyd's voiced Glen/Glenda spawn of two dolls. This seems to recall Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill with Glen/Glenda with Chucky proud his own child wasn't just a pee-pee pants but could kill some folks like his old dad. I didn't laugh hardly at all, but this might be a cult film due to how wildly different it is from other films in the franchise besides Bride. 1/5

Now I'm glad we started with Seed instead of going in order. That would have been a tough pill to swallow, ending the series on such a sour note. So getting it over with was ideal; I thank my daughter for this choice as her first pick. While I wasn't all that crazy about Cult, I didn't hate it. It was sort of meh to me. Thankfully I documented in a way with my SYFY edits -- for the exception of the first film, which we watched on DVD -- most of how I felt, so I'll tightened up this rank post without a lot of fat.