The seventh installment in the Child’s Play franchise, Cult of Chucky serves as something of a re-invigoration for the horror movie series. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) returns as a main character, having been largely absent since Child’s Play 3, and the cult of Chucky, having been set up in previous film Curse of Chucky, is seen in full swing with multiple demonic dolls on the loose. It’s a new dawn for the iconic sociopathic toy come to life and that means bad news for anyone who gets in his way.
The ending of Cult is anything but hopeful. Andy is locked up and a possessed Nica (Fiona Dourif), Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) and a living Tiffany doll all drive off together laughing maniacally, with at least one Chucky doll out in public, waiting to be discovered and kill again. Chucky is back with a blood-soaked vengeance and all seemed lost for our heroes. That is until the post-credits scene revealed another returning familiar face from Child’s Play movies of yore who’s ready to even the score.
Kyle, Andy’s foster sister from Child’s Play 2, unexpectedly pops up at Andy’s house. Christine Elise reprising the role; she’s there to continue torturing the original Chucky’s head, still alive, that Andy’s been slowly burning, slicing and dissecting since the end of Curse. She tells the bodiless head that Andy gave her a call before her name pops up on-screen to jog everyone’s memory. The strong suggestion Elise will be the lead of whatever form the next, eighth Chucky movie takes. Given that she says Andy called her, it seems like she’ll be the one who finds a way to free Andy so the two can continue the battle against the army that the demonic play-thing is amassing.
Alternatively, it could be nothing more than masochistic fan-service. She could just be tasked with babysitting the shotgun-blasted head with the added bonus of having her own little bit of fun while she’s at it. Since we haven’t seen her in so long, it’s about time Kyle got to deal some comeuppance on the nightmare doll. It’s hardly unbelievable she wants nothing to do with any of this unless it’s in a completely safe environment, and so only responded to this call because it was an invite she couldn’t refuse to finally treat Chucky how she felt treated all those years ago – he’s got a growing line in that regard.
It’ll be interesting to see where this series goes from here. Unlike most of his peers, Chucky is actually in a relatively respectable position with his last two movies proving popular with his fanbase. The Netflix/digital distribution route over theaters has no doubt helped Don Mancini, who’s written all of Chucky’s films to date and directed the last three, considerably with securing funding and keeping the darkly comedic and schlocky tone the series is known for in place, not to mention it’s downright refreshing to have a regular sequel rather than a reboot or prequel. So many recurring actors is great for allowing fans get even more invested too, as we now have almost all the major protagonists and antagonists together for number eight, creating bigger, wilder stakes than ever before. Chucky’s our friend ’til the end, and if the movies keep being this fun, the end can take its time getting to us.
