Welcome to the first in a new, regular series of blogs dealing with horror icons. These will be posts about actors, directors, and characters. The feature will appear every two or three blogs.
To start things of I decided to look at one of the most enduring characters in modern horror cinema.
CHUCKY:
A Legacy Of Horror
Charles Lee Ray first appeared on screen in 1988, in the form of Brad Dourif. He was being chased by cop, Chris Sarandon. When mortally wounded he transferred his soul, using voodoo, into the body of a friendly looking, red haired, good guy doll. This is how Don Mancini's iconic creation was born. With the release of ‘Child’s Play’, Chucky had arrived.
Between 1988 and 1991 the pint sized psychopath terrorised young Andy, the boy whose mother bought the possessed doll. Chucky needed to get back into a human body, and Andy was the choice. The first three movies in the series, despite the voodoo element, fit neatly in with that era's slasher genre. The films were tense, and exciting, and serious.
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In 1993 the third movie was linked to the tragic murder of James Bulger in Liverpool. There was some evidence that one of the boys fathers rented the film, and that was enough for media ( In particular The Daily Mail of course) to blame the film for the crime. This, along with a change of style in the horror genre could have spelt the end for the demon doll, but you can't keep a good villain down for long.
In 1998, after a seven year break Chucky returned in a new film with a very different tone. In the wake of the post modern, self referential, slasher fad created by Scream, and furthered by the like of I know what you did las summer, the tiny terror came back in the ‘Bride of Chucky’. The film was a very black comedy, with lots of satire of the earlier movies, and the genre as a whole. In this film Chucky gained a wife, a doll possessed by his ex girlfriend Tiffany.
Directed with skill by Ronny Yu, the film was a huge success and it seemed that once again Chucky was here to stay. Unfortunately the follow up to 'Bride' was the hit and miss 'Seed of Chucky'. The film followed in a similar vein to the previous film with its comedic tone and meta conceits, this time the actress who played the human Tiffany in the previous film, Jennifer Tilly, plays herself in a ridiculous plot about Tiffany wanting to posses her. Though the film had some great moments, I personally found it to be the weak link.
In the intervening years there has been much speculation that there was a planned remake, directed by Mancini himself. This split fans down the middle into for and against camps.
This year saw the arrival of ‘Curse of Chucky’, the film is both a direct sequel to the previous five movies in the series, but also a 'tonal reboot' squarely placing Chucky back firmly in the realm of horror. Though there is some humour in the movie, it is of a much blacker variety than ‘Bride’ and the campy ‘Seed’. Curse comes across as a gothic slasher movie. The influences of other movies are clear to see, there is the house in the film, that looks like a toned down version of a Tim Burton house. There are feuding sisters, one of whom is in a wheel chair, bringing to mind ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane’, and much more emphasis on set up, and tension then ever before in the series. That's not to say that they skimp on the gore, when it does occur it is suitably extreme. The implications of the films ending, which I won't give away here, leave it unclear, if, or even how the series will continue, but I for one seriously hope we see more of Chucky after this installment. If not the best entry in the series, Curse is certainly second only to the first ‘Child's Play’.
This all leads me to wonder how such a crazy idea can not only work, and sustain a series of six films, but also constantly reinvent it's tone to slip into current trends. Let's not forget that the gothic, and creepy tone of Curse clearly fits in with the current phase of supernatural horror like The Conjuring and Insidious. It would appear that films never seem to break new ground in terms of what sub genre they fit in, but adapt to suit whatever is popular. When other films have tried to do this it has often been an abject failure, but with this series it always seems to work. Credit must go to Mancini for that, he is evidently a horror fan with his finger firmly on the pulse of the genre, ready to fit Chucky into whatever style will work best.
What is it about Chucky that has such staying power? When other, in many ways better, horror icons have fallen by the wayside due to their constant repetition and rebooting, Chucky is still standing tall ( well as tall as a two feet doll can stand). For me the answer lies in several details, the series has had big gaps in between phases, this has left fans wanting more and feeling nostalgia for the character. I myself could only have been twelve the first time I saw the original, now at thirty-five I remember that movie so fondly. Secondly is Mancini's ability to shift the tone of the films, not letting them stagnate like so many other series ( I'm looking at you ‘Paranormal Activity’). Mostly though I think the idea of a killer doll is inherently frightening. Something so innocent, and so comforting as a child being turned evil is truly disturbing. Chucky was of course not the first killer doll to grace the silver screen, but with his wonderful, iconic design, and personality he just works.
