Chucky review: Child’s Play TV show lives up to the movies’ violent weirdness

It’s easy to forget how good Child’s Play movies are. Don Mancini’s film franchise about Chucky, a murderous red-haired doll possessed by the spirit of a dead murderer, crosses the line between cheesy comedy and gory murderer, and has often been handled perfectly since its debut in 1988. For people with a significant fondness for silliness and gore in equal measure, few series are as adept at offering both as Child’s play and its six sequels. After years of movie fun, Chucky is casting his latest murderous misadventure as the star of a TV show for Syfy and the USA Network, and he hasn’t lost any of his kills or comedy en route to the small screen. .

The new series, just called Chucky, is a direct sequel to the seven previous films. Mancini is also returning to the franchise as the series creator, writer, and showrunner, and thank goodness for the disastrous 2019 reboot. Child’s play it was a crucial reminder that nothing in Chucky works without Mancini.

Unlike some of the more recent movies, which followed the doll and sometimes his girlfriend Tiffany as main characters, Chucky follows the strange high school student Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), who lives in the small town of Hackensack in New Jersey. That is the birthplace of Charles Lee Ray, the serial killer whose soul dwells in the Good Guys doll known as Chucky.

The change from a child protagonist to a young teenager in the title role is a big reason why the show works so well. In its center, Chucky is a teen comedy drama about school struggles, bullies, first crushes, and even accepting sexuality – something that Mancini, an openly gay man, handles with far more dexterity than many recent teen shows.

The first few episodes are mostly about introducing the cast, including Jake’s classmates and the adults from Hackensack. There’s Jake’s new friend and first crush, Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), a true crimes podcaster with a paranoid police mother; his cousin Junior (Teo Briones), overworked but good at everything; and Junior’s girlfriend Lexi, played by Alyvia Alyn Lind, who stands out for being almost as gleefully cruel as Chucky in the early episodes. On their own, the show’s characters would be compelling enough to entertain fans in a 10-episode Netflix show, but the twist comes when Jake buys Chucky at a yard sale and the doll reveals her thirst for blood.

The addition of a sentient killer doll, particularly one as foul-mouthed and perky as Chucky, allows Mancini to turn emotions into pure melodrama, making all the usual teenage angst problems a little more fun. The bully on the show is crueller than most. (Instead of insulting Jake, she dresses up as her dead father for Halloween.) Jake is weirder than the average teen movie outcast – he makes sculptures out of dismembered doll parts, which seems to be his only hobby. And the adults of Hackensack are comically incompetent. On top of that, in a fantastic part that seems straight out of a 1990s sitcom, Chucky gets a ridiculously exaggerated murder per episode, though at the end of episode 4 (the last one available to critics in advance), it seems that his devious antics are about to take center stage in history.

One of the secret ingredients that helped make Chucky so famous and his films so enjoyable for the past five decades is the voice behind him: Brad Dourif, who returns for this series. Dourif (Grimnir Wormtongue in the Peter Jackson films Lord of the Rings) has provided the doll’s voice since the first film, and is exceptional at capturing the perfect combination of venom and comic timing. The idea of ​​an evil doll may not be a hard sell, but the lighthearted evil that Dourif delivers in each line made Chucky an icon, and it works perfectly in the series format.

In addition to making the show ridiculously fun to watch, the teen drama setting also allows it to fit perfectly into the Child’s Play series as a perfect entry point for new fans and a breath of fresh air for veterans of the series. . The Chucky movies haven’t had a young lead since the first three movies, which makes this almost feel like a return to form, but the show also provides enough backstory that the other movies don’t seem necessary. In fact, the show even weaves a backstory about Charles Lee Ray, through a sitcom B plot that feels like a Young sheldon remake starring Hannibal Lecter.

Throughout the first four episodes, Mancini’s most impressive feat is balancing Chucky between the serious issues and the ridiculous, while still being fun to watch. The show comfortably switches between complicated teenage romances, questions about how trauma affects young adults, and the hilariously bloody murders of Chucky. Chucky himself also handles difficult subjects. He’s already proven to be a vocal ally to Jake’s weirdness, echoing the son he and Tiffany had in The Seed of Chucky – a boy with a masculine and feminine side, whom Chucky chooses to describe as “gender fluid”. Chucky is even willing to back his ally with action, although it is a typically murderous action.

Of course, it’s funny that Chucky declares himself “not a monster” for supporting weirdness when he’s a monster for so many other reasons. But the doll uses Jake’s weirdness to make him feel isolated, even from the highly supportive people around him. It’s a fascinating avenue for the show to explore in its early episodes, and an unusual one for teen drama or slasher movies about killer dolls. It’s all attractively silly, and for longtime fans of the franchise, this show is sure to kill.

ChuckyThe eight-episode first season premieres on Syfy and USA Network on October 12 at 10 p.m. ET.