A paraplegic woman, Nica, takes delivery of a parcel addressed to her mother, Sarah.
The parcel is found to contain a 'good guy' doll; a talking doll of a little boy "Chucky", popular in the 80's. Neither of them knows who could have sent it, or why.
The next day, Sarah is found dead, having apparently killed herself.
When Nica's sister and family come to stay for the funeral, it isn't long before more people start dying, because (as fans of the franchise already know), Chucky isn't like other dolls...
It was well publicised that this instalment intended to be darker than the last two, restoring the franchise to its horror routes, and I have to confess that worried me slightly; I love the Child's Play movies, including the last two, and I was a little worried that removing the comedy may mean going the Halloween H20 / Texas Chainsaw 3D path of retconning at least 2 of the previous films out of cannon.
The other thing that gave me pause was the director, Don Mancini (writer of all 6 instalments, including this one) whose only previous directing credit is Seed of Chucky - was the man who directed the most comedic of all instalments really the right man to helm a darker, grittier Chucky?
I have to say, my worries were blown clean out of the water.
The script is astounding, containing enough references to the previous movies to assure us that this is a true sequel, while keeping them low profile enough that newcomers won't feel that they walked in half way through the story. Chucky's origin is re-told for said newcomers, in a way that prevents existing fans from getting bored , by introducing an element we weren't previously aware of, but without changing the origional mythology.
In jettisoning the comedy, Mancini has had to lose Tiffany and Glenn/Glenda (Chucky's Wife and Child from the previous movies) and the sequel hook left hanging from part 5; even this is deftly handled, by simply setting the movie 4 years after Seed, and giving us enough information to believe that big things had happened to Chucky between movies, but without telling us exactly what, so as not to get bogged down in its own continuity.
In short, any reservations you have about these things will be dealt with, or at least hinted at, by the end of the movie.
As far as my concern about the direction goes... Holy crap!
I scribbled something in my notes (I don't take many notes during a film; usually about 20-50 words tops) that seemed so outlandish that I had to go google it to see I anyone else had noticed (I've been a avoiding reviews of this movie). Thankfully, it seems I am not going mad; many other people have indeed said the same thing: this is Chucky by way of Hitchcock.
I never thought (especially after Bride and Seed) that I would call a Child's Play movie Hitchcockian, but there really is no other word for it. And it doesn't come a cross as a Hitchcock parody, or a wannabe, it really is, genuinely, directed in the style and competency of the master.
The pacing is spot on, the acting all good to superb, the script is great... This is not only the best Child's play move of the bunch, but also one of the best made horror movies of recent years... Something I did not expect to find myself saying about it, as much as I love the franchise.
Notable moments include passive aggressive barbs between Nica and her (well meaning but truly horrible) mother, and her (not so well meaning, and no less horrible sister), and a brilliant scene I can only describe as "rat poison roulette" in which we know that Chucky has poisoned one plate of food at a dinner table (this was the scene at such I scribbled "Hitchcock?" having already pondered it several times).
It isn't perfect, but the gripes are minor, the biggest one being a post credit sequence which is a lot of fun, but somewhat negates the movies "holy fuck" ending.
If you've never seen a Child's Play movie before, don't let the fact that this is a part 6 put you off; it's tailor made for the new viewer; it even started life as a reboot, before being re-worked to function as a continuation, and lack of previous knowledge would probably add to, rather than detract from, the experience.
It is a crime that this movie didn't get a theatrical release, and I'll be a surprised (but happy) man if I see another film this good all month.
Interesting indeed. Will deffo watch this one.
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