How Cult of Chucky Keeps the Child’s Play Franchise Fresh

You may have a preconceived notion of the Child’s Play series, and if it is a dismissive one, that’s fine—it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I get that. That being said, it is one of the few (if not the only) long standing film series that has found ways to adapt and change itself into something new, while not losing out on its core principles. If you’re new to the series and have a history with other pop-culture phenomena, you can liken it to The Fast and the Furious franchise moving from being about cops infiltrating underground car racing thieves, to full on ridiculous A-Team action territory.

The first Child’s Play is a horror masterpiece. Yes, you know it is all about a killer doll, but it is so well put together it ranks up there with any of the genre classics of the era. The 2nd film wasn’t as innovative as the original, but it still played well with the characters and after the 3rd film, things took a weird and delightfully wicked turn. With the new installments, things have veered a bit back to traditional horror standards, while keeping with that deranged Chucky humor.

So how does a series with seven films under its belt stay so interesting? Well, maybe it is because the man who created the story, Don Mancini, has written every single film—he is the man pulling the strings. He not only has a clear vision of what he wants, but has somehow kept Child’s Play as a family affair. He has written every film (directed two in Seed of Chucky and the new Cult of Chucky), but he also has his star, Brad Dourif return as the titular killer menace. Then, he brings in Brad’s daughter to star as the new protagonist in the series, he brings back Jennifer Tilly to each film after her introduction in Bride of Chucky, and now Alex Vincent, the child star of the first two films is back as Andy Barclay! Of course, there are more surprises when you sit down to enjoy Cult of Chucky.

We recently sat down with Don, Brad, and the crew to discuss the intricacies of keeping Chucky such an original property and what it is like to live with the character on and off the screen; and of course, what possible plans there are for his next murder spree. Enjoy.

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