Cult of Chucky - Halloween Moviethon Day 3

Yesterday was day 3 of my month long Halloween moviethon. I watched a few things, but my thoughts on Cult of Chucky ran pretty long, so I thought it might as well get its own post. Plus I've gotta leave and I don't have time to write any more now.

Cult of Chucky - Child's Play the VIIth was released yesterday and it already seems to have a good share of negative reviews on several sites, but I've got to disagree with the negativity, I thought it was a blast. Certainly not perfect, but I thought it moved along at a nice pace, had some fairly inventive deaths, it was frequently funny without being too wink, wink (excluding that groaner of a Jennifer Tilly joke) and most importantly for a movie like this, it was fun. Chucky's dialog is usually a high point of these movies, and they've figured out a way to have multiple possessed Chuckys in this one so we have some Chucky on Chucky on Chucky banter which is pretty hilarious. I can see why some might not love Cult of Chucky, but I'm a bit baffled as to why many seem to outright hate it.

Cult unites lead characters from each era of the series. We get the return of Fiona Dourif from Curse, Alex Vincent from the original two and Bride and Seed's Jennifer Tilly, who, not trying to be mean here, is starting to look like a drag version of herself. Sure, Tilly and Vincent were in the last one, but only barely. Tilly's scene in Curse is about a minute long and Vincent's scene took place after the credits, so there's a good chance some people missed that entirely. Actually, come to think of it, I believe I stopped the movie right when the credits started and had to put the disc back in after I read about the post credit scene online. Both actors have more to do this time.

I watched the unrated version (why is there any other option on the disc?) and the gory highlights include a de-nogginizing, a champagne bottle evisceration, a couple of heads being obliterated by a pair of shoes and an de-tongueing. Of a person, not one of the shoes. It's the most gruesome of the entire series.

Dialog highlight: "You blood fucking morons!" I have no idea what this means. I thought I misheard it but I rewinded twice and turned on the subtitles and apparently she actually said this. See:

Like a Marvel movie this one has a fun little post credit scene, so be sure to stick around for that. While I'm mentioning that, this seems like as good a place as any for a rant. Anyone else sick of having to stay through the entire credits to see a brief scene in these Marvel movies? I always see them in the theater so there's 20 minutes of trailers, then Fathom events commercials and that Coke ad with the ice and the straw that goes on FOREVER - by the time the actual 2+ hour movie is over I've already been in the theater for 2 hours and 40 minutes. I don't live here, I've got shit to do, don't make me stay another 10 minutes watching names of people I don't know who did jobs on the movie that I don't understand (what in the fuck is a "Breakdown artist"?) to see another 10 seconds of footage.

Note: Screenshot is from the DVD, Blu-ray looks much better.
Second Note: This post holds the world record for the number of times the name Chucky appears in a paragraph.

Child's Play Complete Collection Coming This Fall

Universal has just announced that in addition to Curse of Chucky coming out in October they're just going to go right ahead and release an entire box set of all of the Child's Play films. Curse will be available in the set, but of course you can grab that one individually as well.

No art has been finalized yet, but Universal, please steal my DVD cover idea and put this thing in a Good Guys style case. It should look something like this, but you know, Blu-ray case sized and with Good Guy stuff written allover it. I planned to do that myself but never found any decent Good Guys art to work with.

 Here's the details about the release. Strap in, I'm about to hit you with a lot of words:

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced and detailed the Blu-ray releases of Chucky: The Complete Collection, a 6-disc box set that includes all six Child's Play franchise films, as well as the individual release of Curse of Chucky, the series' latest installment. Both titles arrive on Blu-ray on October 8th.

Official Synopsis, The Chucky Collection: Set a play date with Chucky as all six movies come together for the first time in the chilling Chucky: The Complete Collection. The killer doll torments his original victim, young Andy Barclay, in Child's Play, Child's Play 2 and Child's Play 3. Then the ruthless redhead teams up with his dream doll, Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly), in Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky. Chucky is back again in Curse of Chucky to terrorize a family with whom he shares a mysterious connection. Oozing with hours of bonus materials, Chucky: The Complete Collection is a thrilling, chilling, campy, must-own set. Wanna play?

The individual Blu-ray release of Curse of Chucky is identical to the version included as the sixth disc in the collection. However, the individual release includes both a DVD and UltraViolet digital copy of the film. The 6-disc set breaks down as follows:

Child's Play

Synopsis: Voodoo and terror meet within an innocent-looking doll inhabited by the soul of a serial killer (Brad Dourif) who isn't ready to die. After 6-year-old Andy Barclay's (Alex Vincent) babysitter is violently pushed out of a window to her death, nobody believes him when he says that "Chucky," his new birthday doll, did it until things start going terribly wrong. And when an ensuing rampage of gruesome murders lead a detective (Chris Sarandon) back to the same toy, he discovers that the real terror has just begun. The deranged doll has plans to transfer his evil spirit into a living human being: young Andy.

Child's Play was originally released on Blu-ray by MGM in 2010 with fewer extras. Here, the first film is presented in 1080p with English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and offers English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese and Korean subtitles. (No word yet as to whether the Universal version features a new video transfer.) Extras include:

• Feature Commentray by Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and "Chucky" Designer Kevin Yagher
• Feature Commentary by Producer David Kischner and Screenwriter Dan Mancini
• Select Scene Chucky Commentaries
• Evil Comes in Small Packages: The Birth of Chucky
• Evil Comes in Small Packages: Creating the Horror
• Evil Comes in Small Packages: Unleashed
• Chucky: Building a Nightmare
• A Monster Convention
• Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child's Play
• Theatrical Trailer

Child's Play 2

Synopsis: Chucky's back! The notorious killer doll with the satanic smile comes back to life in this new chapter depicting the terrifying struggle between young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) and the demonic doll attempting to possess his soul. Despite being roasted to a crisp in his last escapade, Chucky rises from the ashes after being reconstructed by a toy factory to dispel the negative publicity surrounding the doll. Back in one piece, Chucky tracks his prey to a foster home where the chase begins again in this sequel to the enormously popular original.

Child's Play 2 is presented in 1080p with English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and French European DTS 2.0 stereo, and offers English SDH and Spanish subtitles. No special features are included.

Child's Play 3

Synopsis: Eight years after seemingly destroying the killer doll, Andy Barclay (Justin Whalin) turns 16 and is placed in a military school. Meanwhile, the greedy president of Play Pals Toy Company decides to resurrect the popular Good Guys doll line, confident that all the bad publicity is forgotten. As the assembly line recreates the first doll from a mass of melted plastic, the spirit of Chucky returns to renew his quest and seek revenge on Andy. Once again it's up to Andy to stop the unrelenting killer in this fast-paced thriller.

Child's Play 3 is presented in 1080p with English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and French European DTS 2.0 Mono two-channel mixes, and offers English SDH and Spanish subtitles. No special features are included.

Bride of Chucky

Synopsis: Serial killer Charles Lee Ray turned murderous doll Chucky is back. This time his girlfriend Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) has revived him, once again in the form of the popular Chucky doll. Shortly after the happy couple's reunion, Chucky kills her and brings her back in the form of a girl's bridal doll. The two then embark on a killing spree en route to dig up Ray's corpse, which was buried with a Satanic voodoo charm capable of bringing back the dead.

Bride of Chucky is presented in 1080p with English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French Canadian DTS 5.1 surround, and offers English SDH and Spanish subtitles. Extras include:

• Bride of Chucky Spotlight on Location
• Feature Commentary with Director Ronny Yu
• Feature Commentary with Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and Don Mancini
• Theatrical Trailer

Seed of Chucky

Synopsis: Making his directorial debut is franchise creator and writer of all five films, Don Mancini. The film introduces Glen (Billy Boyd), the orphan doll offspring of Chucky (Dourif) and his equally twisted bride Tiffany (Tilly). When production starts on a movie detailing the urban legend of his parents' lethal exploits, Glen heads for Hollywood where he brings his bloodthirsty parents back from the dead. The family dynamics are far from perfect as Chucky and Tiffany go Hollywood and get rolling on a new spree of murderous mayhem, much to gentle Glen's horror. Chucky can't believe that his child doesn't want to walk in his murdering footsteps, and star-struck Tiffany can't believe that the movie will star her favorite actress, Jennifer Tilly (playing herself), who soon becomes an unwitting hostess to this new family in more ways than one.

Seed of Chucky is presented in 1080p with English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround, and offers English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. Extras include:

• Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Don Mancini and Puppet Master Tony Gardner
• Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Don Mancini and Actress Jennifer Tilly
• Heeeeere's Chucky
• Family Hell-iday Slide Show
• Conceiving The Seed of Chucky
• Tilly on The Tonight Show
• Slashed Scene
• FuZion Up Close with The Seed of Chucky Stars
• Storyboard to Final Feature Comparison
• Theatrical Trailer
• Teaser Trailer

Curse of Chucky

Synopsis: From the filmmakers that brought you Chucky comes the terrifying return of the pint-sized doll possessed by the spirit of a notorious serial killer. When a mysterious package arrives at the house of Nica (Fiona Dourif), she doesn't give it much thought. However, after her mother's mysterious death, Nica begins to suspect that the talking, red-haired doll her visiting niece has been playing with may be the key to the ensuing bloodshed and chaos. The return of America's favorite toy, voiced again by Brad Dourif, is unrated and full of more blood-splattered thrills and chills.

Curse of Chucky is presented in 1080p with English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French Canadian DTS 5.1 and Spanish DTS 5.1 surround, and offers English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. Extras include:

• Rated and Unrated Cuts of the Film
• Feature Commentary with Director Don Mancini, Puppeteer Tony Gardner, and Fiona Dourif (Both Cuts)
• Playing with Dolls: The Making of Curse of Chucky
• Living Doll: Bringing Chucky to Life
• Voodoo Doll: The Chucky Legacy
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Gag Reel

Curse of Chucky Gets Officially Trailered

The trailer for this October's direct to video Child's Play film Curse of Chucky has just hit the internet and here it goes:

Looks like they've realized just how ridiculous these movies were getting after Seed of Chucky, this one looks to be playing it pretty straight. We'll see come October 8th.

Curse of Chucky September 24th

Looks like Chucky, sounds like a Child's Play movie:

“Nica (Fiona Dourif) is grieving over the gruesome suicide of her mother when her domineering older sister Barb (Danielle Bisutti) arrives with her young family in tow to help settle their mother’s affairs. As the sisters butt heads over Nica’s plans for the future, Barb’s young daughter comforts herself with a grinning, red-haired talking doll named Chucky (voiced again by Brad Dourif) that recently arrived mysteriously in the mail. But as a string of brutal murders begins to terrorize the household, Nica suspects the doll may hold the key to the bloodshed. What she doesn’t know is that Chucky has a personal score to settle. He’s determined to finish a job he started more than 20 years earlier, and this time he’s going to see it through to the bloody and shocking end.”

This could be pretty interesting having Brad Dourif terrorize his daughter Fiona as Chucky. I'm not a huge Child's Play fan, but apart from Seed I've found all of them worth a watch. True story, Part 3 is actually one of my all-time most watched movies. My family went through a rough patch around 1992 and for a while we had no cable and the only movies I had were copies of Boyz in he Hood and Child's Play 3 that we didn't return to Erol's. I probably watched Child's Play 3 around 30 times in a 3-month period. That's a lot of viewings for a movie that kinda sucks. 

Back to Curse of Chucky, it's been confirmed for a September 24th Blu-ray/DVD release. Hopefully a poster and trailer hit soon.

Hilarious Movie Title Translation of the Day - According to the IMDB, in Portugal Child's Play is called Chucky, o Boneco Diabólico, which seems to translate to Chucky, The Evil Snowman.