FRIGHT FEST: CULT OF CHUCKY

I'm done playing, so this will be a spoiler review.

In Cult of Chucky, Nica (Fiona Dourif) has been admitted to a medium security mental hospital after the events of Curse of Chucky. The murders in that film have been pinned on her, and she's begun to believe that she may really be crazy after all. When her therapist, Dr. Foley (Michael Therriault), brings in multiple Good Guy Dolls in an attempt to help her, murders begin to occur at the asylum. Has Chucky found a way to possess multiple dolls, or has Nica really lost her mind?

This film had only one requirement for me: It had to be better than Curse of Chucky. It's not. I was actually enjoying the proceedings for a decent amount of the run time, but by the time the last act rolls around I had given up on this franchise altogether. If this were a perfect world, the Chucky franchise would have ended a long time ago. I love the character of Chucky, but the recent Chucky films since Seed have failed to justify their existence.Seeing as this latest installment is directed and written Don Mancini (who has written every Chucky film, and directed Seed and Curse), the lack of quality shouldn't really be that surprising, but even compared to Curse this is still a large step down.

Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif, and Alex Vincent are easily the best actors here (Jennifer Tilly is barely in the film, and does a pretty bad acting job). They aren't given much to work with, and they don't seem to be having fun here. Alex Vincent (Andy from Child Play's 1 and 2) does return with a decent amount of screen time but he acts more as fan service as he doesn't really do anything of importance here (He's set up like he's going to be the crazed Van Helsing of this film, but nothing is done with him). Fiona Dourif is a gorgeous actress who deserves better roles than this. Brad Dourif returns to voice Chucky once more, but there is a noticeable amount of time where he doesn't sound anything like Chucky. I don't know if it's old age, or if he's just tired of playing the role (the ending would seem to point to the latter option, as it sets up for a possessed Nica to be the killer in the next installment). Chucky can still be entertaining at times here, but it's not enough to save this bad movie.

As this is a spoiler review, I can reveal that Chucky does have the power to possess multiple dolls in this film (and that there isn't really a cult in the film, after all, it takes more than one or two people to make a cult). It's as stupid as it sounds. It's lazily explained (He gains this power by finding a new voodoo spell on the internet) and directly contradicts the already established rules of the character from the previous six films. Going this route feels like an insult to long time fans (as does the ending).

The animatronics/puppets this time around are fairly weak (Though I do commend Mancini and crew for sticking with practical effects) and the acting is poor all around. Cult definitely does have potential and promise (in better hands the multiple Chucky's could actually lead to a good twist, not here though), but it really does feel like they are making Chucky films just because they can now. This latest installment feels very much like a quick, cheap, poorly thought out and poorly executed cash grab.  Chucky has been out of his box for around 29 years now, but I say it's high time we stuff him back in and bury the damn thing six feet under. Maybe new blood could breathe life into this suffering franchise, but as long as Mancini has the helm I predict a bleak future for Chucky and his cult of fans.

1 STAR