Well, we’re here. It is officially Halloween week, and as much as I’d like to spend all of my free time just binging horror films I feel like given how much horror I talk on this blog it would be pretty shameful of me to not put something up on the crescendo week of Spooky Season. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, then you might know that I’ve done a couple of these horror franchise rankings before with the ‘Friday the 13th’ series and the ‘Halloween’ series during previous spooky seasons and with the ‘Scream’ film franchise after 7 was released. Given that I recently rewatched some of my lesser-seen or hadn’t-seen-in-a-while Chucky films during this Spooky Season film list I figured this could be a good year to talk over the franchise as it is the freshest. Although, if I’m being honest I could probably re-rank both Friday the 13th and Halloween, as well as even Scream since it’s been a while and opinions tend to slightly shift or change upon each new viewing of these franchises. That’s just how these rankings list go though, your top few films and bottom few films of the franchise don’t tend to shift too much, but the middle ground is where some things can jump or fall depending. So, this is my definitive ranking of the Chucky/Child’s Play film series as it sits for now at least. Remember, my list is just that, mine. Share yours as well!
#8: Child’s Play (2019)
I didn’t even necessarily think this was a “bad” remake persay, it was actually pretty fun and had some good kills, and I distinctively remember going to see it in theaters with a couple friends, but it was also just a HIGHLY unnecessary remake considering Chucky was still running with its continued storyline from the original films under Don Mancini and the television show in that timeline released just like a year or less after this film, which this one has nothing to do with those other films. This movie made everything confusing for a minute. It’s a completely different Chucky and family and story, and I think originally they maybe intended to make more in this timeline but thought against it after it wasn’t received well. This movie was already the odd man out immediately upon its release, and the longer time passes with it being the only one in the midst of the rest of this ongoing Chucky universe the more it just feels kind of dumb and unnecessary. Still love you though Aubrey Plaza.
#7: Cult of Chucky
Cult of Chucky is the most recent film in the Don Mancini universe and to me, the one that just feels the most like it went off the rails. You can tell this was just a creator having ALL the fun with the lore that he’s pre-established and bringing back a bunch of previous characters and then creating a whole band of ‘Chuckys’. Oh no! I am one of those people that kind of prefers Chucky as an evil, murderous entity, to the sillier and more ridiculous versions. I am going to contradict myself with that statement a bit down the road because I actually enjoy both ‘Bride’ and ‘Seed’ quite a bit and I get that, but those movies had a vibe and style about them and the era in which they were shot in as well, I don’t know they just did it right with those and it feels like when they try to lean into the more schlocky and ridiculous in recent history they go way too far with it in this universe. The same can be said for the TV show, it was great in the first season because it took itself pretty seriously and was more of a murder-mystery with a core group of characters and Chucky, and as seasons went and more characters and lore kept getting piled on the more absurd and off the rails it became. Fiona Dourif did kill it in this movie though so kudos to her for holding it up some.
#6: Child’s Play 3
Child’s Play 3 to me just feels like one of the weakest or at least most uninspired films of the franchise. Admittedly the creators have said previously that they had ideas for 2 movies and that’s all they planned on doing at the time, but the 2 movies were really successful and the studio wanted more so they sort of forced out 3 quickly and you can kind of tell it. It is the thinnest and shottiest script and story of the franchise in a lot of ways. It’s held up some for me by the fact that it still has the vibe of the original ‘Child’s Play’ series and some of that classic slasher energy definitely helps to lift it up and at least create a sort of vibe. It also is one of the horror films I saw as a kid, so it has some nostalgia for me. It’s not necessarily one of the better ones of the series though I wouldn’t say. The setup in this one is a bit silly and ridiculous in itself, but it tries to take itself as seriously as the other 2 because that was the vibe of Chucky at that point and it just ends up feeling tonally off and weak in story. Still an easy watch slasher film though.
#5: Seed of Chucky
This is what I was talking about with the middle of the list. I am pretty set in stone of at least what the top 3 and bottom 3 of this series are for me, but these middle 2 I both enjoyed quite a bit and kind of pitter-pattered them around before settling on the placements I have. Seed of Chucky is really the love it or hate it film of the series I feel like, and I like it more and more every time I see it I think. The first time I watched this one when watching through the series, before ‘Curse’ or ‘Cult’ even came out, I really didn’t like this one and thought it was so ridiculous and stupid, and it is, but that’s what I’ve grown to appreciate about it more as time has passed. This is the most straight up comedic film of the franchise I’d say but it wasn’t ‘off the rails’. It’s still tightly focused on Tiffany and Chucky and the new addition, Glen/Glenda. We establish them and their relationship as the pure focus of the film from the jump basically and then take this silly and ridiculous ride with them. This film, like Bride, really leans on Jennifer Tilly and her ability to pull this off and she does like the Queen, or Scream Queen if you will, that she is. She’s so funny and self-deprecating in this one and the movie itself is very, very meta and aware of its schlockiness which I can appreciate. I mean it takes place in Hollywood for goodness sake, need I say more?
#4: Curse of Chucky
I actually appreciated this one so much more upon the rewatch of it. When ‘Curse’ and ‘Cult’ came out originally and I watched them I wasn’t the biggest fan of them honestly. They felt so different and were released much later than the other slate of films in the franchise ahead of them and I just felt like they weren’t necessarily up to par with the others. I changed my tune some upon rewatch of them this time around, especially this one. Curse of Chucky is a “requel” done right. Stealing the term from ‘Scream’ but you get it. This movie was a reboot of the franchise, taking Chucky back to his roots and making him more of a menacing and stalking presence and less of a silly one like he was in later films, while also being a sequel because it takes all of the films ahead of it and the lore established in those into account, while still feeling like a fresh retelling of a classic character. This movie felt more like a ‘Child’s Play’ movie and less like a ‘Chucky’ movie and I dug that about it. Also turning this into partially like a home invasion/haunted mansion feeling vibe that honed in on a new tight-knit set of core characters was something completely new for the series and perfect for the ‘requel’ vibe they were shooting for. Yeah, I dug this one.
#3: Child’s Play (1988)
The OG that started it all. Some may say it’s sacrilege to not put the original film at the top of any series ranking, but I’m not really one of those people. I actually don’t have the first/original movie at the top for a lot of my personal franchise rankings for most horror franchises. This one is still near the top as it deserves to be, it was the birth of the character that led to the franchise and Chucky was probably the most fearsome and drop-dead ruthless and mean in this film of the whole series. He wasn’t really quippy yet though, he was just the murderous and bloodthirsty Charles Lee Ray. Andy Barclay, the most famous final kid of the series, was SUCH a little child in this movie too. He was cute as hell and you definitely felt bad for him because he was so young, but he was like legitly pre-school age so it’s not like you were getting the most compelling acting out of a 6-year-old. It’s still pretty great though and carries some of that 80s slasher vibe with it, it also features a young Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray at the beginning of the film, so it has the distinction for being the one in the series to do that. I like it a lot, but I just like a couple a little more.
#2: Child’s Play 2
As I mentioned earlier with ‘Curse of Chucky’ being like a requel done right, Child’s Play 2 is a sequel done right. It did everything it really needed to. It continued and picked up the story from the first film, Alex Vincent who played Andy Barclay was a few years older at this point, so he was still a small child, but he was able to pull off the concept of acting and portraying emotion a little better certainly. Chucky was also more of a fleshed-out character. He had more screen time in the 2nd film, was more talkative and a lot more of a smart ass when he did speak, and I feel like the kills were a little bit more intense or at least more flavored to the twistedness of Chucky and what the character would be moving forward. It built perfectly off the first film while adding basically only good things to the story that then became part of the lore moving forward. I also thought Kyle was one of the more likeable characters of the franchise and a welcome added addition to this film. Not a lot of bad to say about that one really, I considered putting it first and sort of tossed between this and what ended up being 1, but that leads us to.
#1: Bride of Chucky
This movie really is just a chef’s kiss. Bride of Chucky to me is like the perfect mix of what this series could be. It was smart and funny, while still being a gruesome slasher flick, and it managed to do it all without going off the rails as I mentioned earlier. This was also the introduction of Tiffany’s character, and I really enjoy her and Jennifer Tilly’s portrayal of her, but this is easily my favorite thing that her character is involved in. It feels like most the time Tiffany’s character is brought into the storyline is when things are starting to get out of control in the franchise, aside from this one and I’d argue ‘Seed’ as well and that’s a shame because Jennifer Tilly is fantastic as Tiffany and really brings a lot to the character, but she was always meant to be a little bit sillier and add fun to the franchise. This movie felt just as much her film as it did Chucky’s, if not more, and it was just a lot of fun. The twisted Bonnie & Clyde love story, the innovative kills, the callbacks and similarities to ‘Bride of Frankenstein’, the funny one-liners and banter, even the era this one was released in I really dug. It just had a lot going for it for me and was the best thing in the series featuring both of its great characters, Chucky & Tiffany.
That’ll do it for this one though folks! Thanks for taking some time out to read and Happy Halloween! Make sure to like to page on social media or come back to the website often to keep up with all my latest posts over horror movies, NFL, WWE, and more! Thanks again and until next time, be good to one another!
