Old (2021)
2.20 out of 4stars
"A thriller about a family on a tropical holiday who discover that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly reducing their entire lives into a single day."
You know, I can see this working better as a book, which it is based off of. Even accepting a few major plot holes, I think it tries to do too much or stuff the wrong way and Shyamalan is the wrong director for this movie. I applaud the attempt though and the storyline and events are interesting, albeit they don't hit nearly as they should on paper because of numerous poor decisions and dialogue. Even the underwhelming twist should have been manipulated into something much more sinister to give the audience a better payoff to the manic panic chaos it unevenly put them through. Never boring, but mediocrely satisfying and could have been something great.
So I binged the Child's Play/Chucky movie franchise, all 8 of them with a couple friends over the last week. I won't give them all ratings like I usually do, it's easier to just rate them on a chart from most enjoyed to least enjoyed and give the good and the bad on each. And surprisingly or not, their ongoing storyline has more changes and "angles/goals" than one would think from a horror franchise.
So, Most enjoyable to least enjoyable list as follows:
Child's Play (1988)
Child's Play 2 (1990)
Bride of Chucky (1998)
Curse of Chucky (2013)
Cult of Chucky (2017)
Child's Play Remake (2019)
Seed of Chucky (2004)
Child's Play 3 (1991)
Child's Play (1988)
"A single mother gives her son a much sought-after doll for his birthday, only to discover that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer."
Definitely the freshest and best, not just because it's origin story depth. Great horror comedy. It's definitely got a lot of laughs, the most scares, most shock value, best lines, best attempts of killing Chucky, and best use of Chucky.
Child's Play 2 (1990)
"While Andy's mother is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, the young boy is placed in foster care, and Chucky, determined to claim Andy's soul, is not far behind."
Near spot on evolution of the story and plays it's comedy angle more so in the first sequel. Everything feels so perfectly touched upon and executed that if there was never any more movies in the franchise, this would have been a perfect ending. Lucky for me, there was more.
Child's Play 3 (1991)
"Chucky returns for revenge against Andy, the young boy who defeated him, and now a teenager living in a military academy."
Easily the worst chucky film. Has maybe a handful of the worst murders in the entire franchise, a forced Andy romantic side story, and cardboard cut out side characters.
Bride of Chucky (1998)
"Chucky, the doll possessed by a serial killer, discovers the perfect mate to kill and revive into the body of another doll."
Probably the most purely comedic and satiric movie in the whole franchise, and it works. Mancini's idea of giving chucky a girlfriend backstory/wife future and tying it to and alongside a forbidden "Endless Love" story was genius. Tilly is a welcome addition and brings a nice complimenting evil doll element to Chucky himself. And it includes my favorite wedding chapel motel murder in the entire franchise.
Seed of Chucky (2004)
"Chucky and Tiffany are resurrected by their innocent gender-confused daughter, Glenda, and hit Hollywood, where a movie depicting the killer dolls' murder spree is underway."
Feels like the most oddest entry in the franchise. A bit out of place, the 3rd wheel feels literally like a 3rd wheel at times. It works here and there, but altogether a failure. And WAYYYYY too much Tilly playing Tilly sidestory going on.
Curse of Chucky (2014)
"After her mother's mysterious death, Nica begins to suspect that the talking, red-haired doll her visiting niece has been playing with may be the key to recent bloodshed and chaos."
Almost feels like a changing up of the origin/Andy storyline, but not because it's in the same universe. Going back to it's roots of turning Chucky into a haunted house murdering nightmare with dabbles of humor, a powerful solid lead character "to replace Andy finally", and family character drama issues aplenty. It works very well and is a nice middle ground for what the franchise tries to do for it's audience.
Cult of Chucky (2017)
"Chucky returns to terrorize his human victim, Nica. Meanwhile, the killer doll has some scores to settle with his old enemies, with the help of his former wife."
Tries to do too much while bringing closure to the saga. Some great choices and angles, but the over the top graphicness, "cult choice", underwhelming Andy closure, amongst other things don't make it as satisfying as it's previous franchise film's quality make it's expectations to be. But applause for trying and it wasn't too far off.
Child's Play Remake (2019)
"A mother gives her 13-year-old son a toy doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature."
Chucky for the modern age with Wifi, no Charles Lee Ray background, and less funny one liners. Some nice touches, some underwhelming choices, and doesn't really mesh with the soul of the rest of the franchise. But solid.
Altogether it was certainly a more fun than troublesome journey through the child's play franchise. The horror comedy angle paid off and Dourif is money if you're into the shock/over the top/crude humor it brings alongside some more fun horror events.