A new show surrounding Chucky, the infamous killer Good Guy doll, is arriving soon on SYFY. Produced by the original Child’s Play writer and creator Don Mancini, it’s already looking more hopeful for success than other horror reboots in the past. Mancini is also writing all ten episodes of the first season, and is set to direct the first episode, “Death by Misadventure”. With the trailer just released, a sneak peak into what the show will be like was teased to fans.
The new show has the original creator, original producer David Kirschner, and many original cast members all on board. This can all makes for a successful reboot, but there are some elements that still will need to happen with Chucky in order to be an effective reboot that make both fans and critics happy.
Chucky will be a continuation of the original franchise, being a direct sequel to the last film in the series, Cult of Chucky (2017). The first Child’s Play film was released in 1988 and told the story of Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), a notorious killer who, on the verge of death, uses voodoo to put his soul into a Good Guy doll's body. He soon learns that if he wants to get out of the body, he needs to get into the body of the first person he told his secret to: 6-year-old Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent). The film was extremely successful and the franchise continued with six more films. While the first three are straight-up horror films, later installments like Bride of Chucky (1998) and Seed of Chucky (2004) were more like campy, self-referential dark comedies.
What made the original Child’s Play such an influential and significant film in horror film history is its use of animatronics. In 2021, it seems as many films and shows prefer to use CGI, including horror films such as It (2017) and The Conjuring films. CGI is useful for many reasons, being both time and cost-efficient, but through overuse, some modern horror films seem to lose the simplicity that made horror films of the past so scary. Low-budget horror films such as The Blair Witch Project (1999), and Paranormal Activity (2007) used minimal effects but still got the extremely terrifying feeling across. These films didn’t rely heavily on CGI or crazy technology to make a successful film, because they relied more on character-driven storylines.
The craft and skill that is shown in Child’s Play were pioneering, making the horror movie an important film in the history of film technology. Animatronics gave life to Chucky, with his facial expressions and realistic body movements. The newer installments, including Curse of Chucky (2013) and Cult of Chucky (2017) used minimal CGI, but the new show will be returning to the use of animatronics, without any use of CGI. This gives hope that the show will have some of the original magic that it was beginning to lose with the last few films in the series.
Another element of the TV show that needs to be present in order for it to be successful is the return of original characters, which Chucky will be doing. The original Andy Barclay, portrayed by Alex Vincent, will be making his return. Vincent was only in the first two films until he was replaced by an older actor (Justin Whalin) in Child’s Play 3. After this, Vincent did not return to any of the remaining films in the franchise until 2013, when he reprised his role as Andy in Cult of Chucky.
Also making a return is his foster sibling Kyle (Christine Elise McCarthy), who was last seen in a post-credits scene of Cult Of Chucky. Jennifer Tilly will be returning to her role as Chucky's wife Tiffany Valentine, and of course, Chucky would not be Chucky without Brad Dourif providing his iconic voice.
Chucky will also be paying homage to the original franchise in more ways than one, which is something that is always loved among fans, especially with nostalgia being such a big marketing point right now. The show is modeling the doll after the looks of the Child’s Play 2 version, as Don Mancini confirmed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “Over the years, I’ve heard that the consensus fan favorite among all the movies is Child’s Play 2. I think one of the reasons for that is how Chucky looked in that movie and how the late director John Lafia, who passed away last year, shot Chucky. Our goal with the series was to bring Chucky’s look precisely back to that.” Indeed, many complaints surrounding the later films in the franchise had to do with how different Chucky looked compared to the original films, so the fact that the show will be returning to its roots in more ways than one is very exciting.
Chucky is set to make its way to the small screen on October 12th. It's easy for fans to not get their hopes up, as the last film to feature the infamous Chucky was a remake with no relation to the original. If the show keeps elements of the original but still has a fresh and new take, as it appears it will, it seems as though it will be a successful reboot.