The Evolution of Chucky
Let’s start at the beginning. Chucky is the nickname for the infamous serial killer/strangler Charles Lee Ray. We only see him in his human form very briefly. C.L.R is running from the police and chased into a toy store. It is here, that his body is shot and killed. However, in his last moments of life, he begins to chant. That fucking spell has been forever burned into our brains. Not that I am complaining. It is a spell to pass his soul into another being in during his last breaths; the only thing in front of him, the Good Guy doll. Now the journey truly begins.
What I like about the first movie is that Chucky spends a decent amount of time as a doll, giving the movie that extreme creepiness factor. Even though he is doll, there is something evil behind those blue eyes.
As we know, his main focus is to get out of the doll. Once he comes fully alive, he becomes more and more human. His skin becomes more flesh-toned and he even gets the receding hairline. Don Mancini even said in an interview that they toyed with the idea of giving Chucky five o’clock shadow, but they obviously decided against it. That’s what I love about the original; the more time he spends as a doll, the more human he became. When we get to the sequels, the rules keep changing. Which brings us to Child’s Play 2.
Now in this movie, the corporate big wigs obtain the doll, completely burned to a crisp, and he gets rebuilt and brought back by electricity. Very Frankenstein, but it’s made by Universal, so they can do that. The original was made by MGM. Anyway, with a different team, Chucky’s skin is more flesh rubber than plastic. And Chucky goes back and forth into the doll state with no repercussions on how he looks. See? Rules change. His focus is still the same; to get out of the doll. He actually finishes the chant while at the Good Guy doll factory, but he’s been inside the doll too long. But Chucky never looks like a doll turning human in this one. Ultimately his head is blown to shit, and we’re left thinking, “He can’t come back from this!” Which leads us into Child’s Play 3.
In my opinion, this is the worst one, but has one of Chucky’s best lines: “Don’t fuck with the Chuck!” It begins where Part 2 ended and we see a claw lifting his body over a vat of melted plastic. His blood mixes into it, and there you go. Now this installment changes the rules yet again. Chucky no longer needs Andy Barclay, the first human he revealed his true self to, because he has a new body and he is now able to find someone new in which to perform the spell. Chucky is pretty much the same in this one as he was in Part 2, just a bit wittier. It ends at a carnival, where he loses half of his face and is shot off a mountain of skulls into an industrial fan. The last thing we see is his little shoe flailing through the air. How the fuck can he come back from this? Well, flash forward seven years. Its 1998 and Chucky is now 10 years old. Thus, we get, Bride of Chucky.
Now since we’ve seen Chucky solo for the first three movies, it’s only fitting to give him a love interest and have the rules change once again. Instead of a horror, this one is definitely in the realm of a romantic-comedy. Of course, with a sadistic twist. It’s good for a couple to have a hobby. So it’s this movie in which we are introduced to an old girlfriend named Tiffany, played by Jennifer Tilly. She bribes a cop to steal his remains from an evidence locker, and obviously she kills him.
Tiffany stitches his face and reassembles him from a box of old doll parts. Anyone else read or see Frankenstein?
After she’s done, we get a hero shot of Franken-Chucky. He does look pretty badass if I say so myself. Tiffany brings him back to life with a book, Voodoo for Dummies. Big rule change, now you can perform voodoo without ever needing to practice it. And on top of that, the two now need an amulet, the Heart of Damballa, to perform the chant to get their souls out of the dolls.
This movie is fun not only because of the whole romantic-comedy shtick, but because we get to see another side of the psycho-killer doll. Come on, Chucky has been trapped as a doll for ten years at this point, and he needs to get laid! And of course they fuck right next to a couple that Tiffany kills. And to be fair, the couple did have it coming. Chucky as a “husband,” who would have thought? Well, it gets more fun with Chucky as a father in the next installment. Remember kids, always practice safe sex! At the end of Bride of Chucky, we see Tiffany’s baby being born thus leading us into Seed of Chucky.
Chucky as a family man? Now I’ve seen everything. Well, since Bride of Chucky was a riff on romantic-comedies, this one is a riff on domestic dramas. Now we are introduced to Glen/Glenda, played by Billy Boyd (Pippin, from Lord of the Rings, for those who aren’t good with actors’ names). This movie is kind of a Twilight Zone episode. A movie within a movie. Glen/Glenda finds his parents as actual puppets on a Hollywood set and awakens them with the Heart of Damballa. Chucky is back, and this time, it’s a family outing!
When they meet Glen/Glenda, Chucky has the reaction many unexpected fathers probably have. He faints. Trying to set an example, Tiffany makes the choice for them to stop killing. HA! Like that would ever happen. Chucky wants no part. He’s a killer doll, and it’s this movie that he finally he fully embraces it. After 14 years now, he now takes that fact with pride. “I’m Chucky the killer doll! And I dig it!” are his exact words. And of course, he is killed once again.
Skip ahead nine more years and we get the film that goes back to its original roots, Curse of Chucky!
Starring Brad Dourif’s (Chucky) own daughter, Fiona Dourif. Now they don’t explain how Chucky gets brought back, but it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is Chucky is back, and Don Mancini found a way to give us the best of both Chuckys. Cute Chucky, and Franken-Chucky. In this film, we discover a whole backstory of Charles Lee Ray, and a little bit of “why” he does what he does. Now, I guess you could say Chucky is tying up loose ends. Chucky has gone back to his roots, to be scary and a bit witty, with a sadistic attitude. And the true Curse of Chucky is that nobody will believe what has happened no matter how hard you try to tell. So he can just keep on killing.
The ending courtroom scene was actually intended to be the beginning of the second movie with Andy’s mother, with Chucky being used as a piece of evidence.
I love Chucky. I first saw Child’s Play when I was six years old and I thought it was the most fun 88 minutes of my life. Even at 29, the first movie still holds a special place in my heart. Chucky has come such a long way from that one-track minded killer from the first one. He’s experienced hatred for his doll form, new body, and wanting to be a “bro,” husband, and father. It’s so fun to see where Don Mancini will take him. Seed of Chucky is a bit ridiculous, but in a very fun way. They knew it was absurd, but that’s what they were going for. I think that’s why Curse of Chucky needed to be made, to make Chucky scary and bring back the creepiness factor to the franchise. Animatronics have definitely come a long way since 1988, but Chucky is still that robotic little puppet that many of us have come to love. Even though his face is deformed, he is still a fun horror slasher.
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