Review by Stephen Tronicek
CULT OF CHUCKY is fine, and that’s a real achievement on its part. It seems to be scraping the bottom of the barrel of continued horror franchises, with this new entry going straight to DVD, but to no greater relief than me, it lacks a level of offensiveness found usually in content such as this. It is exploitative, that’s to be expected for a horror sequel coming out now after a myriad of sequels and a seminal effort originating in 1988, the filmmakers do in fact have to keep getting more creative and creative with your kills after all, but it never leans over into the point of offensiveness. It never turns the stomach the wrong way like some gory piece of trash like My Bloody Valentine 3D. In fact, the film is actually pretty entertaining at times, standing as a testament to the creativity that a whole bunch of people have put into what is effectively just an insane asylum movie with a killer doll. Cult of Chucky is fine and that’s almost enough.
This installment picks up after the last one with Nica (Fiona Dourif) being confined to an insane asylum after an attack on her family by Chucky. Of course, she can’t avoid the little doll very long and soon he returns to torment the asylum.
There’s a great level of tiredness that lives within that description. An insane asylum, a killer doll, after other asylum horror films and shows it’s hard to imagine what this film has to offer. If CULT OF CHUCKY was just that then it would probably be pretty bad, but there’s a key ingredient that seems to have quite intelligently sneaked its way into the mix. Irony. CULT OF CHUCKY is pretty aware of its stupidity. The titular character himself, multiple times, calls some attention to the fact that even he can’t believe some of this stuff, which in some other circumstance might take the gusto out of the story, but here gives the audience a pretty potent drug. He asks us to laugh at him and in doing so draws us in a little bit more. This allows the viewer to luxuriate a bit in the fun that the movie is having and also brings to pretty clear attention the amount of work that is going into the making of the film.
Particularly impressive is the doll himself. If anything can be said about the Chucky movies, the best is that they seem to have stayed practical and it’s actually quite fascinating. To see how much life the animatronics and puppeteer crew can get out of Chucky himself is to see some of the best practical special effects we have. Also impressive is the fact that there is some directorial flourish lent to the film, with director Don Mancini lending an impressive God’s eye view shot and some really cool uses of the dolly zoom to make it look like the character is moving in place, when in fact she is pushing forward across a hallway. The actors are also pretty good, with everyone providing performances that service the story and aren’t obnoxious. That last one really matters because seeing one of these movies where the performances aren’t immediately grating is a blessing.
CULT OF CHUCKY won’t change your life, but it does surprise with the amount of confidence it lends its otherwise ridiculous events. This is certainly a stupid movie, but it is also an entertaining one and it should entertain, and not offend, anyone in the mood for Chucky.
