A big crash!
What happens next?!?
At least one Chucky survives, managing to get our Heroes back together to target them.

A big gambit.
An explosion.

They all survive, but now end up in a Catholic Reform Academy- that or Juvie!
Chucky is sneaking around the campus and takes out a Priest.

Meanwhile, they make a new friend, who just happens to be a bit off.
Is she the best thing for them right now though?

Meanwhile, we get a whole Side Episode about how Tiffany is in Jennifer Tilly's body with some big Guest Stars.
Our Heroes are fighting against a system at the School- led by the Head Priest- that doesn't believe them.

Oh, and said Priest is Devon Saw in his third Role in the Show (after playing our Hero's Dad and Uncle).

Speaking of multiple Roles, how many different Chucky types are there?!?
Notably, one of the Chucky doll is super jacked and somehow super strong.

Back in 1998, Chucky called out Rick Steiner for attacking his brother Scott before Halloween Havoc, saying that Scott would be the Star in his next Project.
Scott was super jacked as Big Poppa Pump.

Are we finally getting payoff to this after 24 years?
FYI he also met Rick's Son (as promotion for this Season) and he was less than impressed.

The whole Season builds to a climax in the Church.

Can they finally be free of Chucky?
Well, there's a Season 3...
Regardless, this is a Season that Chucky fans are...bound to love.

Thank you!
Try the fish.
A Season full of Drama, murder, intrigue, more murder and misdirection.

As I stated last time, I didn't love *every* choice made in the last Season.
That does carry over to this one, of course, as the Characters deal with said choices/actions.

The change in Setting here works nicely.  The new Environment brings new Characters, freshens things up and allows for plenty of mayhem.

Is this Season a little sacrilegious?
Is the Pope Catholic?!?

The new Characters are mostly great, with some being more one-note than others.

As I also stated in the last Review, I wasn't 100% up to date on some of the Chucky lore, but the Show helpfully fills *most* of that in.

My only major critique is that I'm wondering how many times you can pull the 'Chucky is dead for good' card and it keep working.  
We'll see, Season 3.

Speaking of which, I'm going to take a short break from the Show.  Otherwise, watching said Season will feel like this...

Another good Season that really rewards fans of the deeper Child's Play lore.  If that's not you, just enjoy the mayhem!

He's openly gay and is into making Art out of dolls.

He finds a 'vintage' Good Guy doll to use for his sculpture, but it won't come apart.

With his drunk Dad at home, he can't keep it there, so...
He soon learns that Chucky is alive and has been in hiding since the events of Cult of Chucky (I guess I need to see that one, eh).

He tries to get Jake to kill for him, 'earning' that by killing his Dad with a loose wire.
Jake is antagonized by his classmate Lexy, who is also dating his Cousin.

He tries to resist Chucky's push to kill, while also trying to get anyone to believe him.

Somehow Chucky has killed people since 1988 and nobody believes it.
The Season is 8 Episodes long and I won't recap it all.

I'll give you a brief summary to end this though...

A fiery dance party.  

Death in the Hospital.  

Old(er) faces from the past Films.

To see it how it plays out stream it now.
A Show that is a must-see for fans of the Franchise.

I've never hated the Films (like, say, Hostel), but I've also never been a huge fan of it.

Did it win me over?

Kind of.  I liked the Show's Story, connecting with Jake and his friends.  I wanted to see them win.

Dourif, as always, is great as Chucky.  I was less of a fan of watching him dub over someone who looks like Tommy Wiseau that was supposed to be him from 1988.

The returning Characters was a nice thing.  As someone who didn't watch Cult of Chucky, I was definitely missing some details.

The new additions to Chucky lore were good, but a bit weird.  Things don't get explained super well.  When they resort to the 'it is magic, we don't have to explain it' thing, you know something is a bit off.

The Show is also pretty gory at times, so be warned.

With all that said, I'm curious to see how it all plays out in the next 2 Seasons, regardless of how USA treated it...

A Show that has renewed my interest in the Chucky Franchise.  Let's see where it goes from here.

This one is modern and syncs up to your 'Smart' Devices.
A young Mother (Aubrey Plaza) gets a defective version of the doll that was programmed without safety features by a disgruntled Employee in Asia.

It befriends her partially-deaf son and all seems well.
The programming that would keep Buddi- who decides to name himself Chucky for no clear reason- from going all Single White Female aren't there, so he gets a bit...possessive.
When Chucky starts killing people, our Hero gets rid of him.

Hey look- a Chucky Film that realizes that he's just a doll and you can smash him!

Of course, he won't stay down...
Will Chucky 2.0 get his revenge?  Will he unleash more than just his own terror on the people around him?  Will he make Uuber seem even less safe?

To find out, stream the Film on Amazon Prime (or somewhere else).
It has to get points for creativity, at least.  Many Remakes are just 'here's the same Film, but with new effects and younger Actors.'  That works...for Studios but about nobody else.  In this case, the Film takes the core premise- Chucky is an evil doll who terrorizes a family- and chucks everything else.  No Voodoo.  No Brad Dourif.  It is the kind of change that is guaranteed to offend some and please others.  I do feel the need to diagram the argument for hardcore fans being against this.  If it was a blatant Remake like mentioned before, would they have been happy?  No.  They would have said that it was, well, a blatant cash grab remake.  So why is there such outrage against this one, when it changes so much to become a fresh update?  Oh right- it's different, so it must be evil.  I'm just saying that the logic doesn't hold much weight to me.  As far as this Film goes, it worked pretty well for me.  It isn't great per se, but it does work.  The Acting is fine, especially Plaza playing to her strengths here.  The new Chucky looks good when it needs to and the Film makes sure to lean into how much the face goes into the 'uncanny valley.'  I like Hamill here as the Doll too- it just worked.  If you liked the original Films and didn't see this, give it a chance.  I mean, it won't kill you to try something a little different, no?

A pretty by-the-numbers Films that at least tries to be new.  It also leans into the new gimmicks, so they were trying here.

You just had to do it, didn't you?  We have already have FIVE of these movies, but you just had to make another one.  Today's film is Curse of Chucky, the latest film in the Child's Play series.  You know a series is great when they change the title just to confuse you.  Yes, I know that there is a tangential excuse for the change- since it focused on Chucky and not on him chasing the same kid-, but it is still annoying.  So after 9 years, why the rush to make a Sequel?  Well, plans were laid out for a Remake and a Sequel...since that makes sense to someone.  That brings us to the only one of those that has actually come out: Curse of Chucky.  The film follows the rest of the films, except in the parts where it seems to blatantly-contradict them.  I won't go over all of those moments though, since I like to avoid SPOILERS on films that are this new.  The story, so to speak, is one of those ones that they don't bother to start explaining until the Climax.  Good- I hate knowing what's going on!  Sufficed to say, Chucky starts killing people, all of whom are involved in a bunch of personal drama to distract them.  Sure helps pad the run-time out to 90 minutes too!  To get a hint of what you're getting into, read on...
The film begins with a doll being delivered to a big house in the Woods.  It's natural that they own this random place.

The mother is found dead by the paralyzed daughter while Chucky watches nearby (see Title Card).  Oh nos!
Who wouldn't trust this face?  I mean, it's so...feminine.

Is Chucky going metro-sexual on us?
It's not long before the body count reaches 1.  It's alot longer until it reaches 2, but I digress.

I won't SPOIL the pay-off to this moment, but it is suitably-over-the-top.
I also won't SPOIL the secret being kept by these two ladies.

Oh and people just kind of hang around the house, because...um, they're sad about grandma dying.  Sure- that's a reason to hang around the place where a death just happened!
Quick- make a stupid face if you are possibly the dumbest person in the movie(which is saying alot!)!  Perfect.
Chucky finally reveals himself about halfway through the film.  It would be like if you didn't see the Shark for an hour in Jaws 6.

Seriously, is their suspense at this point about whether Chucky is the killer?  Nope.
There's an odd bit before the Climax involving a hidden camera planted on Chucky (which he apparently ignores).  It should be a major plot point (especially given how the film wraps up), but apparently they just ignore it/forget about it.
Here's something new: random flashback scenes show why Chucky is targeting the family.  It's a nice and silly Retcon that...is completely-unnecessary.

Bonus points for making Charles Lee Ray look like Tommy Wiseau!
I won't SPOIL the Ending here.  However, I will tell you that the Endings (plural) go on forever.

Seriously, if you just added fades to black, this would be worse than Return of the King.  Oh and prepare for some major plot contradictions (and repetition).  The End.
I really hope the Remake isn't coming next.  To be honest with you, I've never been a big Chucky fan.  Jason Voorhees was intimidating.  Micheal Meyers was a scary, killing machine.  Freddy Kreuger was a creative and fun-loving killer.  Chucky was...that doll that somehow racked up a giant body count.  He's all of the humor of Freddy and none of the threat.  Even so, he's had six films now- tied with the Leprechaun (until his Remake comes out).  So what's new here?  Freddy in a confined space and working on a much-shorter time-frame.  The theoretical build-up and suspense over whether the doll could kill or not is rushed.  Isn't that the whole gimmick?  On top of that, they really draw out actually showing you Chucky in 'action.'  Seriously, why wait?  This film is in the awkward position of acting as a Sequel to the original films, while also setting up everything again for new viewers.  Why you think someone will come in on the SIXTH film is anyone's guess.  It could have something to do with there being a 9-year gap between films.  Never mind that that last one wasn't exactly a cultural milestone to begin with!  There has been some positive buzz online about this film, but I wasn't a huge fan.  It wants to be a Sequel, but much of the plot hinges on contradictions to the previous films.  Even their own footage seems to contradict themselves, whether it is the video log bit with Chucky or the alternate Ending contrasting with the 'official' one.  The biggest problem: this is what is called an Idiot Story.  It only works when everyone acts like idiots.  That is just bad writing.  Fans of the series may be more (or less) forgiving.  Take us away, pointless scene of the young starlet in her underwear.
Next up, I delve back into Project Terrible.  Will I cover a Creep, a Knight or some Zombies?  Stay tuned...

Slasher films and the like are often full of random killings.  This one from Child's Play 2 stands out to me, however, because this guy has nothing to do with the plot.

He's a worker in the factory that makes the Good Guy dolls when the main characters sneak in and break a device.
He goes to fix the machine, but runs afoul of Chucky.  Considering that they never met and he doesn't want to put his soul into the guy, what is Chucky's beef with him?
He stuns the guy and his head falls in place with the machine.  I wonder what that machine does...
Ow!  It presses the eyes into dolls, but puts them into his own eyes instead.  That's gotta sting!
So what was the point of this guy's death?  He just exists for a jump scare when the main characters find him. That was worthy of him being killed during his shift!

Up next, a look back at how Poor Bastards of Cinema began.  On the plus side, I'm rehashing myself...with pictures.  Stay tuned...

Chucky is back to make a sub-par horror film!  After the original Child's Play became a hit, the Director moved on to other things- shitty Stephen King movies- and a new person was brought in.  That man- John Lafia.  If the name is not familiar, then you have obviously not seen such films as Man's Best Friend and the classic Sega CD game Corpsekiller.  The guy has not got the best resume, unless you love Made-for-TV Disaster Movies.  So what's the plot of this movie?  The company behind the Good Guy dolls is trying to cover up the alleged murders of Chucky and, to that end, rebuild the doll.  How does the soul go back in?  They kind of skip over that point, honestly, and also don't make use of the idea that Chucky could switch between Good Guy dolls.  We get one major returning actor- the kid who played Andy- aside from Brad Dourif, but, otherwise, it's a brand new ballgame.  Will this movie show the creativity that made the original a hit or just set the bar low enough to make Child's Play 3 look good?
The folks behind the Good Guy Doll try to fight back against the negative publicity related to the Chucky murder claims.  They aren't going to...
...make the doll again.  Yeah, they do.  When the eyes get put in, the killer's soul returns (where did it go before?) and it electrocutes a worker.  Want to explain how that works, movie?  No?  Alright then.
Through some plot holes, Chucky finds Andy and 'moves in' to the house.  He finds the Orphanage and, without a scene, finds Andy's new home.  Did you cut a scene explaining how he get the new address?  Could you at least address it?  I should just move on, huh?
Andy moves in with 'Mr. and Mrs. Michelle Bachman,' who currently have a teenage girl staying with them.  Holy hipster clothing, Batman!
After taking out a lot of random people- including an Executive, the parents and the world's dumbest teacher- Chucky really pushes for his goal- to put his soul into Andy's body.  Yeah, he's still on that kick.
Through some serious contrivances, he gets into the Good Guy Doll Factory and prepares the ceremony.  Clouds appear in the sky as he makes the incantation and...
...he's too late.  Chucky has failed at his goal, so he's just going to kill the pair.  They trick him into a machine that melts parts together, killing Chucky for good.
...no, he's actually still 'alive.'  He gets doused in some serious hot wax and is killed for real this time.
..okay, he's still not dead.  They finally blow the shit out of the doll and he's dead- for real...until Part 3.  The End.
It's a doll eat doll world!  The plot of this movie has potential, but falls apart upon any inspection.  How does Chucky just come back?  How does he find Andy without getting the records?  Why does the Executive think that Chucky has a real gun when he only has toys in his car?  Why does Chucky kill the teacher?  Why does the lady think that Andy is in the closet when she has the only key, the door is locked and he would have had to re-lock himself in the room?  Why do the Police never get shown investigating the deaths of the Executive or the Teacher?  How come Andy is never confronted about the death?  Do the Police wonder why there are no finger prints at the crime scenes?  Why does Chucky kill the mother again?  Aside from those questions, it's not that bad.  It's mostly a rehash of the first film, which a lot of people will like.  As for me, I just don't 'get' guys like Chucky and Freddy Krueger.  I'm supposed to laugh while you murder people for no good reason?  Weird, right?  Take us away, 'eye-full'...
Next up, I take on the first of two Howling sequels from one DVD.  What's a werewolf film without an actual transformation though?  Stay tuned...

Chucky has never become the horror icon that he was clearly meant to be.  Don't get me wrong- he's been popular.  With five films under his tiny belt, the little guy does outrank The Wishmaster and Candyman.  Plus, he got into a wrestling feud with Rick Steiner.  No, really.  However, his 'career' has been intermittent at best. In the 1980s, he had a trilogy of films that did well enough.  After a seven year gap, the character finally got another film...and it was weird.  This led to the fifth and final (so far) film...six years later.  Not the best luck for everyone's favorite killer doll.  Suck it, Leech Woman!  So, out of all the films, why would I choose Part 3 to talk about?  Well, you see, this film was the turning point.  It was the character's last chance to make it big and hang with Jason, Michael Meyers and Freddy.  The result?  Well, there was a seven year gap between sequels, so you figure it out.  The tale jumps ahead several years, now with the child protagonist being a teenager in a military school.  At the same time, the Good Guys Factory is re-opened and the dolls are put back into production.  This brings back Chucky and his great voice for one last shot at getting a human body.  Will it work?  Get out your clippers for my review of...
The film begins with the mostly-melted body of Chucky being thrown into the vat that makes the dolls.  After the credits, we are treated to a meeting of the executive board of the company that makes the Good Guy Dolls.  They explain the plot of the last two films to the audience.  You know, it's only been three years since the first movie- we know the gist of it.  The group agrees to re-release the dolls on the market- ruh roh.  That night, the CEO hangs out at his office- I guess the Coke Party was cancelled- and gets killed by Chucky.  This part highlights the main problem of the film- Chucky is a doll!  The thing is tiny and needs to spend about five minutes setting up minor injuries to allow him to take the full-grown man down.  After this, the doll hacks into the company's computer and finds out where the child was sent.  Really?  That's in the computer systems of the company?!?  Military school is not fun for our hero as the barber there is 'The Scorpio Killer' aka the man that invented the Trancers in the future/past.  By the way, way to cast a notable character actor is a stupid, pointless part, movie!  To make a long scene short, our hero learns that the Good Guy Doll is back on the market and, therefore, Chucky is free again.
At the school, our young hero befriends a butch girl, a nerdy kid and a young, black kid.  Despite how much he looks like him, he is not the kid from Role Models!  This kid actually has about three credits (counting this), so don't expect much here.  By the way, if it turns out the kid died or something, I totally feel like a dick in advance.  Life is not easy for our hero though, since most of the people appear to be out to get him.  To make things even worse, Chucky sends himself to the school...somehow...to do the ritual to put his soul into the teen's body.  The package gets discovered by the younger kid, however, and he decides to play with it himself.  Thinking on his feet, the villainous piece of plastic decides to take this kid as a vessel instead.  His plan gets interrupted by the school's headmaster, however, making the doll bide his time.  In the B-Plot, our hero is getting the hots for the butch girl, but still has problems fitting in with military protocol.  When he sees the headmaster taking the doll to the dumpster, he freaks out a bit and gets in trouble.  Speaking of trouble. Chucky tricks the garbage collector and kills him, somehow escaping before the people arrive.  You're fast for a doll.
Things devolve quickly as Chucky kills the headmaster, all the while befriending the kid as part of his scheme. It only gets worse, however, as the doll gets discovered by the nerdy kid while killing Cobra's hard-ass lieutenant.  In spite of that, the 'war games' go on as the students split up into two teams.  Chucky tries to use this as a chance to get the boy, but the kid finally figures out the truth.  Note to children: dolls that sound like Brad Dourif are always evil!  The doll plays the teams against each other and, just for fun, switches their paintball ammo out with real bullets.  Hm, I don't think guns that fire paintballs can also fire bullets, but, whatever.  After the nerdy kid sacrifices himself, Chucky chases the kid to a nearby fair.  They put on fairs within walking distance of military academies, huh?  They end up in a haunted house- after Chucky kills a guy off-camera- and our remaining heroes have a shoot-out with the doll.  Yes, they have a shoot-out with a doll that contains the soul of a serial killer- why not?!?  After all is said and done, our hero kills Chucky by shooting him and making him fall into a giant fan.  Good- stay dead...for seven years.
This movie is really not that good.  Don't get me wrong- it has some good moments.  The story is a bit forced, having to write-out the mother character and explain how the kid ended up where he is.  Apparently, Don Mancini was forced to work on this script before Child's Play 2  was even released.  That actually explains a lot, doesn't it?  The acting is alright, although the kid actor has the range of a shattered yard stick.  Seriously, I hope that kid just retired or something.  The real actors in the film- i.e. Andrew Robinson- do a good job, but never get enough to do.  On top of that, the movie has some plot-holes.  For one, the discovery of the barber's body would bring an end to the 'war games' scenario.  Secondly, the students are trained to check their ammo, making the 'surprise- they're bullets' reveal impossible.  Never mind trying to picture Chucky loading up their guns for them.  So much of this movie is just filler, the sign of a series trying to fish for any ideas.  This thing feels like some guy trying to scrape the remaining bits of Mayo out of a jar with a knife!  There are some good moments here and Brad Dourif makes the most of it.  As a whole though, it's a weak way to end the trilogy.  On the plus side, he doesn't have sex with Jennifer Tilly here.
Next up, Delayed Reviews brings the second Phillippe Mora film of the month.  This one involves Christopher Walken and aliens- no, that's not redundant!  Stay tuned...