Blu-Ray Review: Cult of Chucky is a Mixed Bag

Cult of Chucky, the latest direct-to-video installment in the Child’s Play series finds Nica (Fiona Dourif) taking up residence in a home for the criminally insane. Nica has come to believe that she was responsible for the murders of her loved ones and that Chucky was merely a manifestation of schizophrenia. But when a Good Guy doll appears in one of her therapy sessions, Nica begins to question all of the ‘progress’ she’s made. And with the body count rising, she must quickly determine what’s real. Her life depends on it.

I know I might be in the minority, here, but I found Cult of Chucky to be a mixed bag. I saw it as a step down from Curse of Chucky. Cult is at times dark and atmospheric but it often devolves into something much more comedic and silly. The scares are few and far between and the attempts at humor just weren’t that funny. There are several meta jokes that feel out of place and also come off as a little dated. Moreover, listening to Chucky argue with himself gets pretty old, pretty quickly.

For me, the most exciting aspect going into Cult of Chucky was that we would get to see Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay. Unfortunately, the character felt shoehorned in and underutilized. The outcome of the film would have been mostly unchanged with or without him. Had Andy and Nica been introduced to one another earlier in the film, it could have led to a much more captivating ride. I was also disappointed that we didn’t see more of Tiffany. For this to be something of a reunion, bridging the various installments, I sure would have liked to have seen more of some of these fan favorite characters.