Chucky: Child’s Play 3
The murder spree continues as Chucky uses a spell found on the internet to possess more hosts. He possesses Nica and kills Dr. Foley. He also possesses an old Good Guy doll that can walk and takes it to the asylum with him.
Wheelchair-using Nica Pierce is framed for the previous murders and is sent to a medium security mental institution. She meets Malcolm, a patient with dissociative identity disorder; Angela, who believes she is dead; and Madeleine, who smothered her child.
Child’s Play 3
In Child’s Play 3, it’s been eight years since the events of the second film, and Andy Barclay has become a teenager attending military school. But he isn’t the only one with his sights set high; so is Chucky, who has been transferred into the body of Ronald Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers), a new Good Guy doll shipped to the academy by its manufacturer.
Despite the transfer, he still hunts for his old owner and begins to slash his way through a gruesome string of murders. This entry into the franchise loses some of the wit of the previous films, but it does offer some grotesque kills and Brad Dourif’s maniacal voice is always a pleasure to hear.
Although it was made nine months after the release of Child’s Play 2, this installment in the slasher series doesn’t have the same sharpness or dark humor as the original. It’s a decent enough entry, but definitely the weakest of the three.
Child’s Play 4
In the crowded field of slasher franchises, Child’s Play is something of a one-of-a-kind. The first film, starring Catherine Hicks and Brad Dourif, remains as creepy and genuinely disturbing as ever, while the later films take things in more surreal and absurd directions.
The latest installment, Cult of Chucky, is a wildly entertaining entry in the series that reunites some of its key players. Alex Vincent, Jennifer Tilly, and Fiona Dourif all return to their roles as Andy Barclay, Tiffany Valentine, and Nica Pierce.
It also introduces a new character, Devon, a young gay man played by Bjorgvin Arnarson. It’s a nice touch to see this particular facet of the franchise embrace LGBTQ+ representation. This movie isn’t going to be for every die-hard fan of the franchise, but it is fun and frightfully silly. It often feels like it came straight from the minds of tweens, full of flat stock characters and plot non sequiturs, but that’s okay if what you’re looking for is a goofy movie about a maniacal piece of plastic killing people.
Child’s Play 5
Set two years after the events of Child’s Play 2, a company that manufactures Good Guy dolls unknowingly revives Chucky. He then begins to murder the children he possesses. Meanwhile, Andy tries to convince adults of the doll’s evil nature.
Child’s Play 3 recasts Nica as the mother and ages Andy to 13. The move detracts from the story’s horror-comedy roots, while a military school setting robs the movie of its sense of tension and vulnerability. Thankfully, the film’s final act provides the blood and laughs it needs to succeed.
Jennifer Tilly reprises her role as Tiffany, a former flame of serial killer Charles Lee Ray who steals the voodoo amulet that contains his soul and joins forces with him in doll form to become human again. Mark Hamill brings an added layer of menace to the homicidal doll, balancing out the film’s silly humor with real-world weight. The film was the last installment in the franchise to be released in theaters, with all subsequent films being direct-to-video releases.
Child’s Play 6
After a long hiatus, Child’s Play 6 brought the series back in a darker tone and introduced a new creepy doll with murderous intentions. Though it didn’t have the iconic Child’s Play cackle, it was still a dark and disturbing entry in the series.
In this installment, the talking red-haired doll arrives at the isolated home of paraplegic Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) and her mother, Sarah. While she’s a devoted aunt to her niece Alice, Sarah is obsessed with Nica and wants her for herself.
A storm lashes the house, causing on and off blackouts that disrupt cellphone signals. While watching old home movies with her daughter, Nica notices a human Charles Lee Ray in one of the films. She then discovers that the Good Guy doll she sent to her niece is missing. After a call to the police, officer Stanton is ambushed by Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) as he delivers the doll to a package facility and stabbed in the neck.