Curse Of Chucky

The Child’s Play franchise is now 25 years old, an age at which it seems reasonable to put away childish things, particularly if they are always trying to kill you. And yet—even as today’s child has moved on from playing with dolls to playing with iPads and managing his subreddit forums—Child’s Play endures, because it’s easy and you've heard of it.

Illustrating that point, this sixth film in the series just completely ignores the self-aware spoofing of the most recent installments, instead returning to the back-to-basics horrors of a possessed doll who’s out to murder a family—one that could just kick it in the face at any time, because it’s a doll. You could also hit it with a moderately hefty book—say, a nice James Michener—and cave in its plastic doll skull, because it’s a doll. It weighs maybe two pounds.

Just for argument’s sake, let’s say Chucky also has the proportionate strength of Brad Dourif. Unless you are a particularly weak individual—perhaps you’ve recently been bed-ridden with the flu, or you suffer from crippling arthritis—your chances of fending off an attack from a miniature Brad Dourif are still pretty good. Hell, even as a small child, the height differential alone should give you an advantage. Yes, Chucky has an intimidating demeanor, but so much of a killer doll’s sense of menace is pure bluster. Falling prey to it is really just falling prey to your own lack of self-confidence.

Anyway, here’s a sixth Child’s Play movie, which also features Dourif’s daughter Fiona Dourif in a starring role, as another reason for why it exists. It’s headed straight to DVD.