Ranking the Child's Play Movies

This is an updated version of a post I wrote for my other blog, where I ranked the Child's Play franchise. I honestly thought this would be a good place to start, as I do need to update this particular ranking. 

#8: Child's Play 3: Starting off with some of the things I liked, I'll probably always enjoy Brad Dourif as Chucky, and I think the military setting is actually pretty interesting. The reason I have this in last place is because I honestly think this movie plays things a little too safe. In my last ranking, I actually had this a spot higher, but the more I've thought about it, the more I realized, this is a movie that really just stuck to a formula, and didn't feel the need to deviate. 

#7: Seed of Chucky: I should start by saying, yes, Seed is a terrible movie. The only reason I couldn't place it dead last this time is the fact that it's weird. This movie is a big swing and a miss. But, I honestly appreciate that it takes more risks, and is willing to go balls to the wall. I also want to highlight the performances by Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, and Billy Boyd. For whatever reason, even though they are dolls, these three really work off each other pretty damn well. 

#6: Cult of Chucky: Please know that from here on up are movies I actually enjoy. The main reason I have Cult near the bottom of the list is because I still have mixed feelings about the ending to this day. I also feel like they could have done a better job incorporating Andy Barclay back into the story. That said, I actually like everything else about this movie, especially the performance by Fiona Dourif as Nica, who is probably one of my favorite final girls.

#5: Child's Play (2019): First of all, I am so glad this movie did something different. Namely, I like the obsessed stalker/best friend angle they take Chucky in for this movie. I do think some of the supporting characters could have been fleshed out better, and I think the design of Chucky could have been stronger too. But, this is where I feel that we are getting into the big guns now. 

#4: Curse of Chucky: With Curse, Don Mancini wanted to take Chucky back to his roots, which I actually kind of liked. I really dug the atmosphere in this flick. As I have already said, I really like the character of Nica. The main thing that holds this movie back from the top 3 is the fact that I don't really think a lot of the retcons are worked into the story all that well. 

#3: Bride of Chucky: In case you don't know. Bride of Chucky is one of my all-time guilty pleasures. I can acknowledge Curse is probably a better made movie, but, I have way too much fun with Bride. It's one of the few movies where I don't mind Katherine Heigl. I absolutely love John Ritter in this movie as a slimy police chief. And, of course, I have to give props to the chemistry between Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly. 

#2: Child's Play 2: I think this is my favorite of the Child's Play sequels because it is Chucky unleashed. He's out in the open pretty much from the beginning. I love the relationship between Andy and Kyle. This movie has one of my favorite kills in the entire Child's Play franchise. This is a movie I have very little negative to say about. 

#1: Child's Play (1988): To this day, I absolutely adore the original. I think this is the one that has the best overall atmosphere, as for the first half of the movie you have more of a mystery element where you don't entirely know if the killer is Chucky or Andy. That gives this first movie a sense of foreboding that the rest of the franchise doesn't really have.


Comments

  1. BeckyJanuary 13, 2021 at 6:54 AM

    I agree with you that I don't think the ret-cons worked in curse, which was one of my main "take me out of the story" problems. I do think that in the 2019 version they deliberately made Chucky look all weird on purpose. Like uncanny valley unintentionally makes people uncomfortable, I think they wanted to make people (or at least the characters in the film), uncomfortable. It worked.

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