By Melissa Antoinette Garza
First, my apologies for the delay in reviews. Unplanned emergencies and a death in the family
When it comes to the CHILD’S PLAY (1987) franchise. I’m an easy sell. I loved the first six films, and I was pumped for the seventh. Don Mancini, the same writer who created and kept the iconic character relevant for 30 years was still aboard. The amazing Brad Dourif and Jennifer Tilly were back as well.
That said, I was thoroughly disappointed. The film follows the protagonist of the last entry. Nica (Fiona Dourif) is transferred to a mental institution where her psychiatrist has convinced her that Chucky was a figment of her imagination. Nica is told that she was responsible for the murders, and she begins to believe it.
Meanwhile, Andy (Alex Vincent) is holding Chucky hostage and torturing him. He’s attempting to eliminate any other casualties. Here is where the entire story derails.
Chucky is no longer a singular being. Instead, he can be at several places at once, in several dolls at once and can possess multiple people at the same time. So as the Chucky doll is talking to Andy, he’s also at the institution causing problems.
It isn’t clear whether the sudden shift in character ability is closer to swarm intelligence or simply clones, but the same spell used to originally put Charles in the doll initially is consistently used to make the rest of the dolls sentient.
I don’t mind when characters evolve, and it makes sense that Mancini would like to expand the depth of his creation, but this was the wrong way to do it. There were just too many holes that were never filled.
Had Chucky and Tiffany found another spell that would allow Chucky to put the souls of those he murdered into dolls and control them, I’d buy it – but this was just too much going on.
Not to mention, for as many dolls as there were, Chucky wasn’t prominent enough. There was a side-story with the psychiatrist hypnotizing Nica so that he could sexually assault her. It’s obvious he’s going to get his comeuppance, but the time spent on his criminal creepiness is unnecessary.
Also, as cool as it was to have Andy back, there was too much going on. His storyline went nowhere. He eventually goes off to rescue Nica, but it doesn’t amount to anything but an opening for a sequel.
This was sadly the worst entry in the franchise. Mancini attempted to be more artistic in this one, but it came across more pretentious than anything significant.
I’d love to be able to recommend this for Halloween, but I’m going to have to advise to skip it. It’s on NETFLIX for free, but it’s not worth the time – even for die-hard Dourif fans like myself.
Scared Stiff Rating: 3/10
