Ranking the Chucky Movies – From a True Horror Fan

Have you ever watched all 7 Chucky movies, ranked them, and wrote an article with them ranked all within 24 hours? No? Good, because I already did that and I don’t know why you’d be here if you did. Either way, with the new Chucky movie coming out June 21st let me tell you which ones are the best. 

Now before we get into this let me just tell you that I am a huge horror movie fan and I will gladly watch Alien at 1 a.m. in the dark. So just know this ranking comes from someone who loves horror movies.

7. Seed of Chucky (2004) – Seed of Chucky is easily one of the most confusing movies in the Chucky franchise. Its plot is very sloppy and its humor is very nonexistent. The ideas that it brings to the table are interesting, but unfortunately one of the major ones is not realized fully, at least not to a satisfying conclusion for me. This movie also has a problem of it will show you how they drive a car, but that in turn makes all of Bride of Chucky unnecessary. The biggest problem with this one is that while it is OK for a horror franchise to go crazy, it still needs to stay grounded in the universe it made. When it starts breaking its own rules you start having problems.

6. Curse of Chucky (2013) – The curse of Chucky is the sixth movie in the Chucky franchise, and it’s at this point in time they decided to retcon everything…and yet nothing. This movie simply just doesn’t know what it wants to be. It doesn’t know if it wants to be a revitalized Chucky movie or something that continues the story we previously have seen. And it won’t directly answer these questions. It doesn’t even directly answer questions in its sequel the Cult of Chucky. It will make references to the old movies all while setting up the next one, and yet will replay plot points from other Chucky movies. This movie is simply a mess that should’ve been worked on a bit more to figure out what it was going to be. Also, this movie gives Chucky a re-design, which doesn’t look good to begin with. It looks all right towards the end of the movie, but at the beginning when he’s pristine and clean it just doesn’t look good.

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5. Cult of Chucky (2017) – Cult of Chucky is definitely not the scariest, but definitely has some great ideas…but unfortunately does not execute them to their fullest extent. I wish I could say this film in particular is entirely creative, but they do steal one of the death scenes from one of the earlier movies. When you have to reuse a scenario for your movie, you have a problem. The parallel between a schizophrenic and the multiple Chuckies is nice, but not nicely done. It could’ve been expanded upon it and it could’ve been better. That’s the biggest disappointment for any movie — when you just watch it and say it could’ve been better.

4. Child’s Play 2 (1990) – This movie for some reason is a sequel. Now obviously it’s a sequel, but why does it sound like it confuses me? That’s because most horror franchises that came out around the time Chucky did decided that the sequel is the time to go balls to the walls crazy with the killing and swearing. This movie decides to try to be an actual sequel. Now this wouldn’t be horrible, except for the fact that this movie’s first half is extremely forgettable. By the time I got halfway through I forgot what happened at the beginning of the movie. I legitimately forgot about the very first kill in this movie until I started writing, and even then I’m realizing I’m thinking of the second kill of the movie. This movie does decide to go a little more crazy, especially by the end, but it’s still not what you would expect from a B-Horror movie sequel. Now, of course the practical effects are still amazing: Chucky still looks as real as ever, and you wouldn’t doubt for a second that it’s a puppet. The movie does have its redeeming factors such as an older sister-like character, and the climax going to the factory, which makes the good guy dolls. These elements are very interesting to watch unfold. I can see the appeal of these movies in this one, and why the franchise somehow kept going to this day.

3. Bride of Chucky (1998) – This is the turning point of the Chucky franchise. This is where they decided to finally go balls to the wall crazy with its creative kills, insane violence, and gory scenes. With its meta humor and expected late 90’s Rob Zombie music, this is easily one of the best Chucky movies. The movie will gladly make fun of its self and other horror movies, and and it lets all of its craziness out in the final scene when you see both dolls having a shovel fight. This one is worth a watch for the insanity alone.

2. Child’s Play 3 (1991) – This is where the franchise starts to get interesting. This is where some of the creative kills start to come into play and it’s also when you start seeing some of those B- horror movie moments shine through. In this one we have some creative kills, along with some very anticlimactic kills. This movie definitely leans a bit more into the have fun portion of horror movie sequels, but not completely. It’s still did focus on a plot, which in some regards is nice, but with this franchise in the absurdity that goes with the idea of a possessed doll you expect it to be a bit more gruesome and a lot more fun than what we got. It’s still a great movie that is a fun time to watch, and definitely not forgettable…and out of the original trilogy will be the one that I say is the best.

1. Child’s Play (1988) – The first movie that started this all off is surprisingly only OK. It’s your basic horror flick that follows all the same beats you’d find in anything other horror movie. But every movie follows the same beats: it just depends on how it decides to change them up to make it stand out. Chucky makes it stand out by of course making the villain a killer doll. Now maybe I found this movie to be a slightly scary, all because when I was little I was petrified of raggedy Ann and Andy but that doesn’t mean it won’t affect you. The practical effects done in this movie are so good that it gets outright creepy to look at. But why is it the best? Simply because this is the one in which you’re introduced to this insane idea, insane character, and to some extent the insane deaths. This is the one that kicked it all off and is still worth watching. Watching Child’s Play makes it obvious as to why this franchise has kept going.

Some final thoughts.

If I were to honestly judge these movies hyper critically, as people have known me to do, all of these movies kinda suck. But today I’m here as a horror fan. And while I will say that the Chucky franchise has its problems from movie to movie — the absurdity of the idea, to the character of Chucky himself — keeps me wanting more. I want to know more about this serial killer turned doll. And that’s all I could ask for from a franchise like this. 

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Guest posted by Nicholas Collier, also known at #RunPeeNick. He loves genre films and hopes to write about every one of them.