Cult of Chucky is the follow-up to 2013’s direct-to-DVD movie Curse of Chucky, which was a surprisingly great entry in the Chucky franchise. Curse of Chucky brought the series back to its horror roots and delivered a genuinely fun and sometimes scary horror movie. Cult of Chucky is a direct sequel to that, trying to build off the story that Curse of Chucky introduced. While I didn’t quite like Cult of Chucky as much as Curse, I still think it’s one of the better entries in the franchise as a whole, so I like this direction that the series has taken.

The movie picks up four years after Curse of Chucky. Nica, our protagonist from Curse, has been in a mental hospital ever since the last movie, as she was charged with committing the murders that Chucky carried out. She’s now starting to believe that Chucky was just a figment of her imagination, and that she actually was responsible for the murders. Meanwhile, Andy, the child from the very first Child’s Play movie, returns as a fully-grown adult (and yes, it’s actually the same actor) in this movie. Apparently he appeared in a post-credits scene in Curse of Chucky (which I never saw), where he ends up blowing Chucky’s head off with a shotgun. Since then, he’s been keeping Chucky’s head as a trophy of sorts, and communicating with the disembodied head of the killer doll. Anyway, as the movie begins to unfold, it seems as if Chucky has learned some new voodoo and is able to spread his soul into other Chucky dolls. So, Chucky is on the loose now in the mental hospital, and it’s up to both Nica and Andy to stop him.

I actually don’t feel like I need to go too in-depth about the tone of the movie, because it’s very similar to Curse of Chucky, and I definitely recommend that you watch that before you watch this anyway. Basically, I think that you’re likely going to feel pretty similar about Cult of Chucky as you did about Curse. I think that Cult of Chucky does a lot of the same things that Curse of Chucky did, just not quite as good. It still goes for the horror and brutal kills that Curse did, it’s just not quite on the same level. Still, it’s usually pretty effective.

I think that Cult of Chucky definitely at least has two big things going for it: its setting and premise. First off, it’s setting. The mental hospital may have been done in other horror movies, but it’s still an interesting setting to have, and one that works well here. Some may argue that the movie doesn’t utilize its setting as well as it could, and I understand that, but it’s still fun nonetheless. It’s really entertaining to see Chucky interact with the mental patients, if nothing else. I also think that the white walls of the asylum (which the movie blends with the snowy white weather outside of its walls) provides some great cinematography for the movie that gives it its own distinct feel.

And yeah, the other distinctive thing about Cult of Chucky is its premise. The movie certainly takes the mythos in a bit of a different direction, and so this might be divisive for some. I would otherwise consider this a spoiler to say, but I feel like the name kind of gives it away, so I’ll just come out and say that the movie features the idea of having multiple Chucky dolls. While this isn’t really fully utilized until the end, I found it to be an interesting idea. I don’t think it’s a game-changer or anything in the same way a bride for Chucky was, but it’s still a fun thing to have for this movie. I also really liked that they brought Andy back into the mix, since it was cool to see how his messed up childhood affected his adult life. However, I also found Nica to be a great protagonist in Curse of Chucky, so I’m glad they didn’t just abandon her character either. The movie definitely still focuses on Nica more than Andy, but it’s nice to have both here.

Ultimately, I feel like the only people that are going to care about this movie are fans of the Chucky franchise, so I don’t expect anyone that isn’t to watch this movie. However, for the Chucky fans out there, I do think that Cult of Chucky is one of the better entries in the series. I’d love to see more movies from this “sub-series” of Chucky movies, because I feel like it’s delivered some of the best material in the franchise. If you liked Curse of Chucky, check this one out too. It’s pretty interesting.

4/5