Out of all of the big slasher franchises out there, Child’s Play/Chucky might be one of the most fascinating to me. When you look at something like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street or Hellraiser, all of those franchises have fairly steep fall offs due to the original team behind it not being involved. However, when it comes to Chucky, writer-turned-director Don Mancini has been part of every single film (barring the reboot) and due to this, there’s a consistency across the films that’s hard to come by in other long-running series.
Arrow Video have compiled all seven films together in a gorgeous boxset, unleashing (almost) all of the films on UHD for the first time in the UK and I’ve been lucky enough to check this set out and revisit everybody’s favourite killer doll. Follow me as I check out each instalment as well as the countless hours of supplemental content included…
Child’s Play
Director: Tom Holland
Screenplay: Don Mancini, John Lafia and Tom Holland
Starring: Catherine Hicks, Brad Dourif, Chris Sarandon and Alex Vincent
Country: United States
Running Time: 87 min
Year: 1988
To start, I want to apologise to anybody who knew me around 2019. I know, it wasn’t very long ago but still, I need to apologise. I’d never seen a Child’s Play movie before and went to check out the new reboot/remake which I thought was pretty good. After this, I went home to watch the original and thought it was the most mediocre film out there and couldn’t understand the love that it’s garnered over the years.
Thankfully, after revisiting the film numerous times since then, I’ve grown to really admire what Tom Holland and Don Mancini were about to craft with the film and while it’s by no means my favourite instalment in the franchise, it’s an excellent foundation for what was to come.
For those of you who don’t know, Child’s Play tells the story of Andy Barclay and his mother Karen, who’s struggling to get Andy the present he wants for his birthday: A Good Guy doll. These things are all the rage, with advertisements on television that are inescapable and after finding a homeless man selling a doll named Chucky for a low price, she decides to get it. Little does she know, this specific Good Guy doll is haunted by the soul of notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray (played by Brad Dourif).
When Andy receives Chucky, the doll begins speaking to him in private and telling him that he’s Charles Lee Ray and he’s going to murder people. Nobody believes him, of course, he’s a child and they believe it’s his imagination. What ensues over the next 90 minutes is a solid little thriller with black comedy that keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, initially wondering “Is the doll actually going to come to life?” or is that all in the head of little Andy Barclay?
I absolutely love Alex Vincent’s performance in this film and it’s the heart of the entire thing. He feels so believable as Andy and when he looks terrified or upset, you believe every scene he’s in. The rest of the supporting cast are solid, with Brad Dourif’s voice performance as Chucky being one of my favourite villain performances out there. He’s so delightfully evil, and while you want Andy to survive, there’s a level of satisfaction you get from seeing Chucky succeed at his evil deeds.
Overall, the first film in the Child’s Play franchise is a solid start to the franchise and it’s a shame that it’s only included on Blu-ray in Arrow’s set, as I would have loved to see this in 4K UHD.
Film: 
Child’s Play 2
Director: John Lafia
Screenplay: Don Mancini
Starring: Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif, Jenny Agutter and Grace Zabriskie
Country: United States
Running Time: 84 min
Year: 1990
Child’s Play director Tom Holland and writer Don Mancini had their issues during production of the first film and when it came time for a sequel, Mancini would remain onboard while John Lafia was brought in to direct the film. This time, Universal would distribute the film (United Artists, later MGM would retain rights to the first film) and there’d be more of a focus on Don Mancini’s screenplay, due to the issues on the first film with director Tom Holland and Mancini.
After the events of the first film, we follow Andy two years later as he’s being thrown around the foster care system, going from family to family until he ends up with the Simpsons, a family dedicated to helping foster children. Even though Chucky met his demise at the end of the first film, due to the company who released the Good Guy dolls meddling with his remains, he’s effectively brought back to life and only has one goal in mind: to possess Andy once and for all so he becomes human once again.
For people who are into the Chucky/Child’s Play franchise, this is most commonly referred to as the fan favourite and it makes sense why. There’s a meaner edge to this film that makes it feel far more consistent than the tone of the original, but it never feels sadistic in any way. Mancini’s satirical edge is still here and Dourif is delightful as Chucky, with a series of fun side characters like Kyle, another child that the Simpsons are fostering who becomes friends with Andy.
It’s well paced, has arguably the best Chucky design out there (although I’m partial to the Bride/Seed design) and easily has the best third act in the entire franchise. As soon as Andy and Kyle reach the Play Pals factory, it’s near perfect from that point onwards. While I do think that there’s still a little missing from the film that places it in the all-timer slasher ranks for me, it’s still a hell of a time that I couldn’t recommend enough to fans of the genre. Arrow’s 4K presentation is stellar here too, so it’s easily the best the film has (and maybe ever will) look.
Film:
Child’s Play 3
Director: Jack Bender
Screenplay: Don Mancini
Starring: Justin Whalin, Perrey Reeves, Jeremy Sylvers and Brad Dourif
Country: United States
Running Time: 90 min
Year: 1991
After the box office success of Child’s Play 2, another sequel was pushed into production, scheduled to be released only nine months later. In terms of horror franchises, this is nothing new as franchises like Friday the 13th and the Nightmare on Elm Street films were already 8 and 6 films deep respectively, but with Universal pressuring Mancini to get the screenplay finished for 3 before the second film was even out in theatres, it led to a film that’s widely considered as the worst in the franchise.
Now, am I going to say this film is a masterpiece? Absolutely not. It’s messy, shoddy in places and feels almost at odds with what came before in many places but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a pretty good time.
This film takes a huge eight year jump into the future where Andy’s sent to military school after going from foster family to foster family, time and time again. This time, he’s not played by Alex Vincent but instead by Justin Whalin, much to the content of fans of the franchise. I don’t think Whalin is bad in the film and he’s actually pretty serviceable overall, but the charm of Vincent is sorely missed from this film. While at military school, Andy becomes friends with Tyler, an 8 year old forced into military school and Kristin, a girl who’s stern and Andy develops a crush on.
While it’s apparent that this film was rushed into production so quickly after the first, it still mostly comes out as a decent horror film. As a Child’s Play film, it does feel like it’s missing Mancini’s satirical edge, despite him writing the film, and does end up feeling more generic than the prior instalments because of that. Dourif is great as always, but even he’s stated that it’s his least favourite instalment in the franchise.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the film and on my first viewing of the franchise, where I wasn’t too hot on the first two instalments, I actually preferred this one to them! Nowadays, it’s easily the weakest for me but I still have a good time with the carnage that ensues in the final act. It’s bombastic, ridiculous and has a great final set-piece. Again, Arrow’s 4K presentation is solid here and is in line with how Child’s Play 2 looked, so it’s a must-own for fans.
Now, it’d be impossible to talk about Child’s Play 3 if I didn’t bring up the controversy that occurred two years after the film was released. A big reason why we didn’t see a sequel for over seven years was due to the tragic murder of James Bulger, where two boys murdered two-year old Bulger and the media blamed the horrific crime on Child’s Play 3. There’s no evidence to suggest that the film was ever responsible for their actions and it left a large stain on the franchise as a whole. This wasn’t the end for the franchise though.
Film:
Bride of Chucky
Director: Ronny Yu
Screenplay: Don Mancini
Starring: Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Katherine Heigl and Nick Stabile
Country: United States
Running Time: 89 min
Year: 1998
Universal let the franchise rest in the midst of the James Bulger controversy and in 1996, they started working on Child’s Play 4: The Return of Chucky, which would later become Bride of Chucky. Ronny Yu was chosen to direct, who got his start making Hong Kong action films such as The Postman Strikes Back (which David covered the 88 Films Blu-ray for recently, check out his review here) but nowadays, he’s mostly known for Bride of Chucky and the Elm Street/Friday the 13th crossover Freddy vs. Jason.
After the hectic turnaround from Child’s Play 2 to 3, Mancini wanted to try something different with Bride of Chucky and while the first three films all had their elements of dark humour, Mancini wanted to dive into the comedic aspects more while being an ode to the classic Universal Monster movies, with the title being an obvious reference to The Bride of Frankenstein.
From its opening moments, Bride of Chucky sets itself apart from the prior films with a metal soundtrack featuring White Zombie, Judas Priest, Slayer and Motörhead, giving the film a completely new feel that’s both dated and charming at the same time. Films from this era are something I like to refer to as “nu-metal cinema” and it’s my absolute guilty pleasure, so it should be no surprise that this is my favourite film in the entire Chucky franchise. Nu-metal cinema is more of a feeling than anything else, a grungy, edgy and late 90s/early 00s kind of vibe that Bride of Chucky has in spades.
Bride also introduces one of the best aspects of the entire franchise, and that’s Tiffany Valentine, played by Jennifer Tilly. Tilly absolutely steals every moment in Bride of Chucky, and the same can be said for the later films in the franchise. She’s so charismatic, hilarious and pairing her with Dourif leads to one of my favourite “couples” in horror cinema. They’re an absolute blast together, and while the film focuses on their romance in many hilarious ways, strangely, they’re the most compelling characters in the film. We have our typical scenario where Chucky wants to use voodoo to put his soul into a human body, but the lead protagonists this time are bland, forgettable vessels with not much to offer, so I’m not going to touch on them much.
Yu’s direction offers that blend of nu-metal cinema that I love and while I’m not a huge fan of Freddy vs. Jason, I can fully get behind the madness of two dolls killing people while bickering like a couple who loves to hate each other. It’s glorious stuff and if I’m ever in the mood to stick a film in the Chucky franchise on, it’s usually this or its sequel (we’ll get to that soon) because they work incredibly well as standalone features, which is always a plus for horror sequels in my book.
Overall, Bride of Chucky is a great time and its 4K presentation in this collection is great too, offering a huge upgrade over the dated Blu-ray that’s been available for years. The only thing it’s missing is an Atmos upgrade, as I can’t think of something better than an Atmos configured version of Rob Zombie’s Living Dead Girl playing over those opening credits. It’s a great time that I’d recommend to anybody, even those who haven’t seen the first three films. Like I said, it works great as a standalone experience and it’s the highlight of the collection for me.
Film:
Seed of Chucky
Director: Don Mancini
Screenplay: Don Mancini
Starring: Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Redman, John Waters and Billy Boyd
Country: United States, Romania, United Kingdom
Running Time: 87 min
Year: 2004
Bride of Chucky was a box office success, despite mixed reviews from critics and rejuvenated life back into the franchise, but there was still a wait of six years until a follow-up film was released. In 2004, the most divisive entry in the entire Chucky franchise was unleashed on the world, that being Seed of Chucky.
For the first time, writer Don Mancini takes a seat in the director’s chair to deliver a film that’s so unlike every other entry in the series, that its existence still shocks me to this day. While Bride flirted with the ideas of meta-humour, this film follows Jennifer Tilly as… Jennifer Tilly, the star of Chucky Goes Psycho, an in-universe Chucky film that she’s starring in due to her career declining. I love Tilly as Tiffany, but she’s even more hilarious playing a washed-up version of herself here and there’s constant jokes about how she’ll sleep with people to further her career, she has an addiction to eating chocolate and how she’s not a particularly versatile actor. It’s a ballsy move to self-deprecate as hard as Tilly does in this movie, but she nails it completely.
While looking for a way to advance her career, she tries to plead with rapper-turned-director Redman (also playing himself here) to star in his latest film as the Virgin Mary. Unbeknownst to her, the Chucky and Tiffany dolls being used for Chucky Goes Psycho are brought back to life after a ventriloquist doll referred to ‘Shitface’ travels to Hollywood after discovering an engraving on their hand stating they were “Made in China” is identical to the ones on Chucky and Tiffany in a behind-the-scenes TV interview. This is insane, isn’t it?
After Shitface makes it to Hollywood, they resurrect the pair and explain that they’re the child of Chucky and Tiffany. Chuck and Tiff decide that Shitface is no name for their child, and Chucky decides to name them Glen, while Tiffany decides to refer to them as Glenda. It’s a genuinely fascinating and remarkably well-aged character and I’m so glad to see a genderfluid character like Glen/Glenda find such a cult audience as time goes on. Billy Boyd’s voice performance as the character is excellent, and is up there with Dourif and Tilly in the film, even surpassing them at times.
If the whole meta aspects and family dynamic of the film wasn’t enough, John Waters even has a brief role as Pete Peters, a sleazy journalist who’s trying to profit off of Tilly’s downfall and although he’s only in the film briefly, he’s a highlight.
I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of the madness that’s on display in Seed of Chucky and in some ways, I understand why it’s so divisive amongst Chucky fans. It’s a total departure from the horror roots, fully embracing the satirical comedy aspects and having a legitimately well-defined character that tackles gender in a way that few studio films were doing at the time. The 4K transfer looks solid, being the last film in this collection that was shot on film and while I’d say 2, 3 and Bride look better overall, it’s still a solid presentation.
It’s hilarious, it’s wacky, it’s gonzo and it’s not for everyone. Seed of Chucky is the most out there film in the franchise so if you prefer the more grounded approach of the earlier films, you might dislike this. I’m a huge fan of the film myself, and it’s in my top three Chucky films, just for how bonkers it gets. It’s a hell of a time.
Film:
Curse of Chucky
Director: Don Mancini
Screenplay: Don Mancini
Starring: Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott and Brad Dourif
Country: United States
Running Time: 96 min
Year: 2013
After Seed’s relatively poor performance at the box office compared to prior instalment and the mixed-to-negative reception to the film, the franchise was once again put on hold and we wouldn’t see another Chucky film for nine years. But in 2008, Mancini stated that they were planning a reboot/remake to the franchise that returned to the horror roots that fans would love.It took years to get off the ground and the idea of a full reboot was ditched in terms of a soft refresh, following a new set of characters and having a more slow-burn approach to it. That film would end up becoming Curse of Chucky.
Curse of Chucky follows Nica, a paraplegic woman who lives at home with her mother, who surprisingly dies the same day that a Good Guy doll is packaged to the pair. Her mother’s death is ruled as a suicide and after Nica’s sister, her niece Alice and other members stay at the home to look after her, Alice develops a bond with the Good Guy doll.
To nobody’s surprise at this point, the Good Guy doll is Chucky and as usual, he’s wanting to transfer his soul into the body of Alice. It’s a tale that’s been told in virtually every film in the franchise so far, but the difference this time is how the film’s pinned more as a psychological slow-burn, instead of a film with a consistently huge kill count. It’s an ambitious approach, and like Seed, it’s helmed by Mancini once again. While I love Seed of Chucky, I find Curse to be a massive step-down in terms of quality. It’s not the worst film ever by any means and it’s clear that Mancini’s passion for this world is at an all-time high, but it doesn’t result in a film that’s incredibly engaging. While it’s one of Mancini’s personal favourite films in the series, I can’t say the same myself, unfortunately.
Our lead protagonist Nica is played by Fiona Dourif, daughter of Chucky himself, Brad Dourif and that casting is one of the highlights for me. While she’s not given an incredible amount to do, her interactions with Chucky are entertaining and there’s a fun meta quality to the pair that I dug. It’s just the rest of the film that suffers for me, and I found the low-budget digital look of Curse to pale in comparison to the first five instalments. The 4K transfer is good, but nothing mind-blowing and it’s only a minor improvement over the already decent Blu-ray release available.
The film has great concepts and occasionally, there’s a moment that makes me think that this could have been better with a higher budget and a tighter runtime, but as it stands, Curse of Chucky is the weakest entry in the series for me.
Film:
Cult of Chucky
Director: Don Mancini
Screenplay: Don Mancini
Starring: Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent, Jennifer Tilly and Brad Dourif
Country: United States
Running Time: 91 min
Year: 2017
After the streaming and home media success of Cult of Chucky, another sequel was greenlit with Mancini retaining directorial and writing positions and thus, Cult of Chucky was born. As I mentioned in the section for Curse, I wasn’t a huge fan of the film and had my reservations going into Cult as I didn’t remember loving this on my first watch either. While I definitely had a better time with this when compared to Curse, it’s nothing spectacular.
Continuing where Curse left off, with Nica being placed in a mental institution after being framed for Chucky’s murders. She believes she committed the murders and blames herself until a certain Tiffany Valentine brings a Chucky doll into the institution and makes her realise that our favourite serial killer doll is real after all.
While I’m not a huge fan of the whole “let’s place a horror film in a mental institution” trope and initially, the film feels really tasteless, as it goes on and we get Chucky messing with the patients, it becomes pretty fun. It’s nothing mind-blowing for the franchise and it has this ugly clinical approach which I completely get being intentional, but it makes for a film with a dull colour palate that I’m indifferent on. Some of the shots are gorgeous, they feel influenced by the work of De Palma with a campy edge to it, but the colour grade really makes most of the sequences blend into each other.
The biggest complaint I have with this film is how it markets itself as the one with the “cult” of Chucky roaming around, which only comes into play very late into the runtime. It’s nice to see legacy characters like Tiffany and Andy return and Tilly and Vincent are having a good time in their brief moments, but I wish we got more with them.
Both Dourif’s have more to do this time around, with Brad giving some great one-liners as Chucky and Fiona really delivering a committed performance as Nica. While it’s not Oscar-worthy stuff, it fits what’s being asked of her and as someone who’s seen the television show and knowing where her character goes in the future, it’s nice to see the development her character gets here.
The 4K presentation is an improvement over Curse of Chucky, even though it still has that upscaled digital look that doesn’t translate as well as the earlier films did on UHD. The synth-y score is actually a highlight of the film too, with the new rendition of the Child’s Play theme being a favourite of mine.
While it’s difficult to say that this would win over people who weren’t fans of Curse, there’s some enjoyment to be had with Cult of Chucky. Mancini’s vision is more clear here and his freedom to experiment leads to some entertaining moments, although the film offers diminishing returns overall. I’d say it’s around on par with Child’s Play 3 for me, so it’s a fun time in places, just messy as a whole.
Film:
Life after Cult
After Cult of Chucky, MGM quickly greenlit a reboot of the Child’s Play franchise into development, without the involvement of Mancini or any key figures of the prior films. This was due to them owning the rights to the original film and while that reboot isn’t included in this release, I don’t actually hate it. Mark Hamill voices Chucky in the reboot, and he does a pretty solid job, although the shift from puppetry to a computer generated Chucky didn’t bode well with fans, and I wasn’t super hot on that either.
It’s not great, by any means, but there’s some fun moments to be had with it and seeing as it’s released by Universal in the UK, it would have been nice to see it included here. I understand why it’s been omitted though, given Mancini’s distaste for it.
At the same time that the reboot was being released, Mancini was approached by Universal’s television division, USA Network to create a Chucky television series. While the series follows new characters and fully embraces the queer vibes that Mancini always brought into the franchise, it does tie in to the continuity of the films as it goes along and it’s an absolute blast. Again, it would have been brilliant to see the first two seasons included in this box set, as the series is, in some ways, even more enjoyable than certain entries into the film franchise, but again, I can see why it wasn’t included. If you’re a fan of the films and you haven’t checked out the series, I’d absolutely recommend giving it a shot!
Living with Chucky
Director: Kyra Elise Gardner
Starring: Kyra Elise Gardner, Brad Dourif, Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent, Jennifer Tilly, Don Mancini, Billy Boyd and John Waters
Country: United States
Running Time: 101 min
Year: 2022
To close out the features included in this behemoth of a collection, we’re treated to a feature-length documentary directed by Kyra Elise Gardner, the daughter of Chucky’s makeup artist from Seed onwards, Tony Gardner. Filmed over the course of many years, the documentary initially stars as your standard retrospective documentary about a horror franchise before turning into something else.
All of the key players are interviewed, Brad Dourif, Don Mancini, Fiona Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Alex Vincent, John Waters, Tony Gardner, David Kirschner, Christine Elise, Billy Boyd and more, as well as figures in the horror industry like Dead Meat’s James A. Janisse, actor Lin Shaye and Abigail Breslin. It’s a great selection of interviewees and with a runtime of 100 minutes, there’s a good amount of time spent discussing each film. Well, almost. They completely brush over Child’s Play 3 but given the distaste that Brad Dourif and Don Mancini have for that film, which is detailed more by Mancini in his interview included with Child’s Play 3 in this set, it makes sense.
However, after they finish going through the franchise from Child’s Play to Cult of Chucky, the last section of the documentary focuses more on why Kyra wanted to create the doc in the first place. As her father had been working on the films since she was so young, Kyra wanted to meet the “other family” she has, through her dad, which are the people involved in the Chucky franchise. It’s heartwarming and adds a layer of humanity and compassion to the documentary that I wasn’t expecting, but really delighted me.
As a documentary, it’s mostly talking heads with some footage of the films included, but the presentation is solid, with each film entry being introduced by Kyra placing a VHS or DVD copy of the film into her player, and it’s clear that she’s a fan of the franchise which makes it even more enjoyable to watch.
Living with Chucky is a great way to conclude the collection, and while bonus features included in the set do repeat some of the anecdotes, information and more that’s in this documentary, if you want something that contains the majority of the behind-the-scenes info that you’re craving, the documentary is a great way to get it.
Film:
The Chucky Collection releases on December 18th from Arrow Video on Limited Edition 4K UHD and Limited Edition Blu-ray. I viewed the UHD release and was sent discs for all of the films, except from Child’s Play and Living with Chucky, as these are archival discs from prior releases, and both are Blu-ray. I won’t comment on the AV for those films as they’re old releases with nothing new, but for the rest of the films, I was mostly in love with these releases. All of the UHD discs have HDR10/Dolby Vision grades and as I recently upgraded my home cinema, these were some of the first films I got to experience in Dolby Vision HDR. They look spectacular, primarily Child’s Play 2 up to Seed of Chucky, given how they were all shot on film and these restorations bring new life to the films that wasn’t present on the old Blu-ray releases. These scans are the same as the Shout Factory releases in the US, so if you own those, there’s not a lot to sway people to double dip, but Seed of Chucky contains both cuts of the film in UHD, whether the Shout release only contains the theatrical cut. The last two films were shot digitally and are upscales from 2K masters, so there’s not as huge of an upgrade to those films but there’s some minor improvements that fans will enjoy. Child’s Play 2 and 3 contain Dolby Atmos audio upgrades that are welcome, although the original 2.0 mixes are included too. Bride, Seed, Curse and Cult contain DTS MA 5.1 and 2.0 tracks, and every film contains English subtitles. As previously mentioned, the first film is an archival Blu-ray release and doesn’t come with any new extras and is an old scan, which is disappointing given how great most of the films look in this set. Overall, it’s a pretty solid collection on an AV level which is let down by the lack of a UHD release for the first film and the upscales for Curse and Cult. The release is housed in a collector’s edition box release similar to other Arrow Video Limited Editions, although I wasn’t sent the physical release itself so I can’t comment on that. The following extras are included:
- Limited edition deluxe packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Mark Bell
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by John-Paul Checkett, Kat Ellinger, Barry Forshaw, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Cerise Howard, and select archival material
- Three double sided fold-out posters featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Mark Bell
- 4K UHD discs – Region Free
- Blu-ray discs – Region B
DISC 1: CHILD’S PLAY (BLU-RAY)
- 2012 High Definition (1080p) Blu-Ray from MGM Home Entertainment
- Original English stereo 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio
- 5.1 Spanish and Portuguese audio, and stereo 2.0 French audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Optional French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese and Korean subtitles
- Audio commentary with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and “Chucky” designer Kevin Yagher
- Audio commentary with producer David Kirschner and screenwriter Don Mancini
- Scene specific Chucky commentary
- Evil Comes in Small Packages, three-part featurette: The Birth of Chucky, Creating the Horror and Unleashed
- Chucky: Building a Nightmare featurette
- A Monster Convention featurette
- Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child’s Play vintage featurette
- Image gallery
DISC 2: CHILD’S PLAY 2 (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and Dolby Atmos audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with director John Lafia
- Puppet Masteri, an interview with writer Don Mancini
- Under Pressure, an interview with actor Alex Vincent
- The Family Expands, an interview with producer Don Kirschner
- In Kyle We Trust, an interview with actress Christine Elise
- School’s Out, an interview with actress Beth Grant
- The Second Dance, an interview with executive producer Robert Latham Brown
- Extra scenes from the broadcast TV version
- Original promotional featurettes
- Theatrical trailer
- TV spot
- Image gallery
DISC 3: CHILD’S PLAY 3 (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and Dolby Atmos audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio Commentary with producer Robert Latham Brown
- Audio Commentary with director Jack Bender
- Ride the Frightening, an interview with writer Don Mancini
- War Games, an interview with actress Perrey Reeves
- Chucky Goes East, an interview with producer David Kirschner
- Carnivals and Campouts, an interview with producer Robert Latham Brown
- Midway Centurions, an interview with actor Michael Chieffo
- Shear Terror, an interview with makeup artist Craig Reardon
- Unholy Mountain, an interview with production designer Richard Sawyer
- Extra scenes from the Broadcast TV version
- Theatrical trailer
- TV spot
- Image gallery
DISC 4: BRIDE OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with director Ronny Yu
- Audio commentary with actors Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and screenwriter Don Mancini
- Archival introduction by Jennifer Tilly
- Spotlight on Location, featurette on the making of Bride of Chucky
- The Making of Bride of Chucky featurette
- Extra scenes from the Broadcast TV version
- Theatrical trailer
- TV spots
- Image gallery
DISC 5: SEED OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of both the Theatrical Version and the Unrated Version of the film
- Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 on both versions
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and special makeup effects artist Tony Gardner
- Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and Jennifer Tilly
- Off With the Head, Tony Gardner on Seed of Chucky
- Chucky Be Demented, John Waters on Seed of Chucky
- Slashed Scene with commentary by writer/director Don Mancini and Debbie Carrington
- Heeeeere’s Chucky, Jim Moret interviews Chucky
- Family Hell-Day slide Show
- Conceiving the Seed of Chucky featurette
- Jennifer Tilly on The Tonight Show
- FuZion Up Close with the stars of Seed of Chucky
- Storyboard to final feature comparison featurette
- DVD easter eggs
- Teaser trailer
- Theatrical trailer
- TV spots
- Image gallery
DISC 6: CURSE OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the Unrated Version of the film
- Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini, special makeup effects artist Tony Gardner and actor Fiona Dourif
- Andy’s Secret Return, actor Alex Vincent on Curse of Chucky
- It’s Got A Death Curse, animatronic effects supervisor Tony Gardner on Curse of Chucky
- Twist of Jill, actor Danielle Bisutti on Curse of Chucky
- Playing with Dolls: The Making of Curse of Chucky featurette
- Living Doll: Bringing Chucky to Life featurette
- Voodoo Doll: The Chucky Legacy featurette
- Storyboard comparisons featurette
- Deleted scenes
- Gag reel
- Trailer
- TV spot
- Image gallery
DISC 7: CULT OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the Unrated Version of the film
- Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and special effects makeup artist Tony Gardner
- Doll in the Family, animatronic effects supervisor Tony Gardner on Cult of Chucky
- Do the Chucky Stomp, actor Alex Vincent on Cult of Chucky
- A look inside Alex Vincent’s recording studio
- Inside the Insanity of Cult of Chucky featurette
- Good Guy Gone Bad: The incarnations of Chucky featurette
- The Dollhouse, filmmaker Kyra Elise Gardner talks with her father Tony and the Chucky family about working on the franchise
- Deleted scenes
- Trailers
- TV spot
- Image gallery
DISC 8: LIVING WITH CHUCKY (BLU-RAY)
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of Kyra Elise Gardner’s definitive documentary on the Child’s Play franchise
- English lossless stereo audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with director Kyra Elise Gardner
- Candid Conversations, Favorite Death Scenes and Strange Families featurettes
Child’s Play extras
Audio commentary #1 – Actors Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and Chucky designer Kevin Yagher lead this archival audio commentary, recorded for the 20th anniversary of the film. It’s a fairly informative track where the trio reminisce on the shoot, but it’s a tad dry overall. Not a bad track by any means, but it lacks the energy of others included in this collection.
Audio commentary #2 – Producer David Kirschner and screenwriter Don Mancini discuss the film on this archival audio commentary, also recorded for the 20th anniversary is a more insightful listen. Mancini’s honest about his experiences with this first film and it’s a good listen.
Scene specific Chucky commentary – This extra has Chucky himself give commentary on four scenes in the film: Chuck’s Thoughts, The Advantages of Being Chucky, Chucky on Filmmaking and Up Close and Personal with Chucky. It’s a delightful extra that I had a blast with. Hearing Chucky talk about “his first kill” and “toying” with his victims is pretty hilarious.
Evil Comes in Small Packages – An archival 25 minute look back at Child’s Play that’s split up into three sections: The Birth of Chucky, Creating the Horror and Unleashed. It’s a solid look back at the first film and contains interviews from all the key players, like Don Mancini and David Kirschner as they discuss the origins of the film and how the shoot went. It’s a good watch.
Chucky: Building a Nightmare – An archival featurette that contains interviews with Kevin Yagher, Tom Savini and David Kirschner highlighting how they brought Chucky to life. It’s a decent extra that runs for 10 minutes.
A Monster Convention – An archival extra from Monster Mania 2007, showcasing a cast reunion panel that lasts for around 5 minutes. The only thing I would have hoped for from this is for it to run a little longer than 5 minutes, but it’s still a neat inclusion.
Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child’s Play – An archival featurette from 1988 that’s absolutely charming. It’s 6 minutes long. In many ways, it’s dated by today’s standards with its presentation, but that only made me appreciate this one more. A really fun watch.
An image gallery is included.
Child’s Play 2 extras
Audio commentary – This audio commentary with director John Lafia was recorded in 2019 and its inclusion here is solid. He details his love for classic Universal monster movies and how he wanted the tone to replicate those films with its introduction. It’s an insightful commentary that’ll please fans of the film.
Puppet Master – This archival interview with writer Don Mancini from 2022 is a fun viewing. It runs for around 13 minutes and knowing what a central figure Mancini is for the Chucky franchise, it’s a delight getting to hear him discuss how Child’s Play 2 came to fruition. He highlights his influences on the tone, such as The Return of the Living Dead and also mentions how Jenny Agutter wasn’t a fan of the production. It’s a solid interview.
Under Pressure – This archival interview with actor Alex Vincent runs for around 8 minutes. He’s very open about how hard he worked to deliver a great performance and he seems incredibly humble. Knowing that his relationship with Mancini was always positive is delightful, and Vincent even talks about not taking part in Child’s Play 3. It’s another solid interview.
The Family Expands – This archival interview with producer Don Kirschner runs for around 8 minutes. It’s a solid interview and he highlights the troubles of changing distributors, working with Lafia versus working with Holland on the prior film and more. It’s an eye-opening interview that I’d recommend.
In Kyle We Trust – This archival interview with actress Christine Elise runs for 10 minutes. She seems positive on the overall experience and has great things to say about Mancini and the other crew members. In particular, she praises director Lafia for having a heart of gold and it’s great to hear that the shoot went well. She also details the difficulties of acting against nothing during the scenes with Chucky. The best interview on this disc, easily.
School’s Out – This archival interview with actress Beth Grant runs for 5 and a half minutes. She plays Miss Kettlewell in the film and is absolutely charming to listen to. She reminiscences about the shoot and it sounds like she had a blast, especially during her death scene. It’s absolutely worth checking out.
The Second Dance – This archival interview with executive producer Robert Latham Brown is a brief one at only 4 minutes. Brown discusses how certain shots were crafted, including the scene with Chucky inside of the moving car. It’s an okay interview, but I wish this one was a little longer.
Extra scenes from the broadcast TV version – Totalling 11 minutes in length, these sequences are a fun watch for any fan of the films. Sourced from a Sci-Fi channel TV recording, the quality isn’t spectacular but it’s still a solid inclusion.
Original promotional featurettes – Two original featurettes from the marketing of Child’s Play 2 that last for 9 minutes. There’s interviews with the crew and they’re a charming inclusion.
An original theatrical trailer, TV spot and an image gallery are included.
Child’s Play 3 extras
Audio Commentary #1 – This archival audio commentary with Robert Latham Brown is an alright listen. It’s fairly dry and mostly highlights how the production went. Worth checking out for the hardcore fans.
Audio Commentary #2 – Justin Beahm hosts this audio commentary with director Jack Bender who recounts his experiences directing Child’s Play 3. It’s a pretty solid audio commentary that’s worth a listen.
Ride the Frightening – This archival interview with writer Don Mancini runs for 13 minutes. He’s very honest about the reception of the film, how he wasn’t pleased with his screenplay and it’s the best interview on the disc.
War Games – This archival interview with actress Perrey Reeves runs for five and a half minutes and she recounts her experiences working on Child’s Play 3. I enjoyed her enthusiasm and it’s a great interview.
Chucky Goes East – This archival interview with producer David Kirschner runs for 6 and a half minutes and is a pretty open look into the third film. He discusses losing Alex Vincent, some of the troubles with Child’s Play 3 and more. It’s a solid interview.
Carnivals and Campouts – This archival interview with producer Robert Latham Brown lasts for 4 minutes and he discusses the ideas they had to bring Chucky back to life after the end of Child’s Play 2 and how he directed the title sequence for Child’s Play 3. It’s a fun interview.
Midway Centurions – This archival interview with actor Michael Chieffo runs for 4 minutes. Chieffo plays the security guard in the film and recounts his experiences during the shoot. A fun little interview.
Shear Terror – This archival interview with makeup artist Craig Reardon runs for 7 and a half minutes. Reardon talks about how he almost worked on the first Child’s Play and how he got the job on Child’s Play 3 due to his prior work with director Jack Bender. A fascinating interview.
Unholy Mountain – An archival interview with production designer Richard Sawyer that runs for around 7 minutes. He discusses his past working relationship with director Jack Bender and how he came up with the ideas for the finale. It’s a decent interview, although it’s a little dry.
Five minutes of extra scenes from the broadcast TV version are included, and they’re presented from a network TV recording that isn’t as high quality as other extras on this set, but it’s a nice inclusion nonetheless.
An original theatrical trailer, TV spot and an image gallery are included.
Bride of Chucky extras
Audio commentary #1 – This archival audio commentary with director Ronny Yu is an alright listen, even though it’s fairly dry. Yu discusses how it was his second American feature and how the humour and romance aspects of the film drove him to direct it. While Yu isn’t the most engaging host, there’s some fun knowledge shared in this commentary that’ll make it worth checking out for fans.
Audio commentary #2 – This archival audio commentary with actors Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and screenwriter Don Mancini is the far more entertaining track of the two. The trio have a great time discussing Bride of Chucky, joking about throughout and it’s an absolute treat to hear everybody having a blast on this track. A great listen.
Introduction by Jennifer Tilly – An archival introduction by Jennifer Tilly for the old UK DVD release of the film. It’s around two minutes and has Tilly recounting how fun it was to work with Chucky, especially during their sex scene. It’s hilarious.
Spotlight on Location – An archival featurette discussing the making of the film with interviews from cast and crew members, such as Don Mancini, Jennifer Tilly and Ronny Yu. It’s 10 minutes long and it’s a decent watch.
The Making of Bride of Chucky – Another archival featurette that runs for 10 minutes also containing interviews with Mancini, Tilly, Kirschner and Chucky himself. Similar ground is covered but the footage of Dourif and Tilly recording their voice lines in the booth is delightful to see. It’s another decent watch.
Extra scenes from the Broadcast TV version – Just under three minutes long, this is a fun collection of sequences for the TV version of the film. The early one in the police station is fun. It’s great to see these included.
An original theatrical trailer, TV spot and an image gallery are included.
Seed of Chucky extras
Audio commentary #1 – This archival audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and special makeup effects artist Tony Gardner is a fun track. Although it’s the first track listed, there’s references to the below track with Mancini and Tilly that’s funny to hear. There’s a refreshing amount of information from the pair that’s shared, highlighting the difficulties of shooting the film in Romania and more. It’s a solid audio commentary that I’d recommend.
Audio commentary #2 – This archival audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and Jennifer Tilly is a fun listen, with the pair continuing their great commentary streak after the excellent Bride of Chucky track included in this set. Note: there’s some minor audio issues with this track, with mic popping and I found it a tad distracting, but this is due to how the audio commentary was recorded.
Off With the Head – An archival interview with special effects make-up artist Tony Gardner that runs for 19 minutes. He discusses how he became attached to Seed of Chucky. Hearing the lengths that Gardner and his team went to get the look of Chucky, Tiffany and Glen/Glenda right is admirable and he has kind words to share about Don Mancini, which is delightful. It’s worth checking out.
Chucky Be Demented – A great 6 minute interview with John Waters talking about his love for the Child’s Play franchise as well as his experience working on Seed of Chucky. It’s a delightful interview.
Slashed Scene – This 3 minute sequence which was cut from the film is presented with optional commentary by writer/director Don Mancini and Debbie Carrington. It’s a fun scene that would have been great to see included in the film, and hearing the pair talk about why it was deleted is interesting. Worth checking out for the fans.
Shucky Unsheathed, Jim Moret interviews Chucky – An archival interview with Jim Moret who interviews Chucky about Seed of Chucky. There’s also a sequence involving Chucky’s early screen-tests which is fun.
Family Hell-Day Slide Show – An archival extra where Chucky, Tiffany and Glen/Glenda watch a slideshow of their holiday adventures. It’s delightfully entertaining.
Conceiving the Seed of Chucky – This is an archival featurette that runs for 19 minutes including interviews from Chucky, Tiffany, Glen/Glenda, Don Mancini, Jennifer Tilly, John Waters and other crew members and it’s a solid behind-the-scenes featurette. There’s breakdowns on how the dolls were created which was my favourite part of this extra. There’s some overlap with prior extras in the set, but it’s still a good watch.
Jennifer Tilly on The Tonight Show – An archival extra where Jennifer Tilly jokingly pretends to narrate her experiences shooting the film in Romania.
FuZion Up Close with the stars of Seed of Chucky – An archival TV interview with actors Jennifer Tilly, Tiffany and Chucky himself. It’s a really hilarious extra.
Storyboard to final feature comparison featurette – A 14 minute extra showcasing the differences between the storyboards and what ended up in the final film for major sequences in the film. It’s a fascinating watch that I’d recommend checking out.
DVD easter eggs – Three DVD extras that are really humorous, I loved the second one in particular with Chucky recording DVD promo pieces.
An original theatrical trailer, a teaser trailer, a selection of TV spots and an image gallery are included.
Curse of Chucky extras
Audio commentary – This archival audio commentary features writer/director Don Mancini, special makeup effects artist Tony Gardner and actor Fiona Dourif is a delight. The pairing of Mancini and Gardner is as delightful as the prior audio commentaries, but Fiona Dourif adds even more charm to the track. The trio reminisce on the shoot and it’s both insightful and enjoyable to listen to. I highly recommend checking it out.
Andy’s Secret Return – An interview with actor Alex Vincent on his experiences after Child’s Play 2 and being brought back for Curse of Chucky. It runs for around 7 minutes and he details his resistance to watching some of the later sequels after not being brought back for Child’s Play 3. It’s another good interview with Vincent that I’d recommend checking out.
It’s Got A Death Curse – An interview with animatronic effects supervisor Tony Gardner on his work on Curse of Chucky that runs for almost 8 minutes. He details the difficulties designing Chucky in Curse due to the financial and critical failure of Seed of Chucky. It’s a decent watch and Gardner is always fascinating to listen to.
Twist of Jill – An interview with actor Danielle Bisutti on her experiences playing Barb in Curse of Chucky. It’s a 13 minute interview and she discusses her thoughts on the screenplay, her thoughts on the franchise as a whole and more. It’s a pretty good interview and she recounts the experience positively.
Playing with Dolls: The Making of Curse of Chucky – A fifteen minute archival making of included on previous Blu-ray releases that features interviews from the cast and crew. It’s your typical making of featurette that you’d expect from a modern horror film, it’s an alright watch and you can tell how much fun everybody had making the film.
Living Doll: Bringing Chucky to Life – An archival featurette that looks at how Chucky was brought to life in Curse. It runs for 8 and a half minutes. Tony Gardner features heavily, as well as footage of Brad Dourif recording his lines for the film. It’s a fun featurette.
Voodoo Doll: The Chucky Legacy – This archival featurette discusses the legacy of the Child’s Play franchise and runs for around 7 minutes. Cast and crew discuss their favourite moments from the franchise, their favourite kills and more. It’s a decent overview on the franchise up to the point of Curse of Chucky and it’s nice to see this ported over from the old releases.
Storyboard comparisons – Opening with an introduction from director Don Mancini, this archival featurette contains twenty five minutes of storyboard comparisons. Mancini’s commentary throughout is engaging and makes this a good watch for fans of the film.
A series of six deleted scenes are included which run for around 6 minutes. It’s neat to see these included.
An original trailer, TV spot, a gag reel and an image gallery are included.
Cult of Chucky extras
Audio commentary – This archival audio commentary with Don Mancini and Tony Gardner is about what you’d expect from the pair, and that’s not a bad thing! They’re lighthearted throughout, joking and reminiscing about the shoot and if you enjoyed their prior tracks, you’ll enjoy this one.
Doll in the Family – An interview with Tony Gardner who touches on his time working on Cult of Chucky. Like his prior interviews, it highlights some of the difficulties bringing Chucky to life, but it’s another fascinating interview. It runs for 7 and a half minutes.
Do the Chucky Stomp – An interview with Alex Vincent on his work on Cult of Chucky. It’s six and a half minutes long and like his prior interviews, it’s a charming watch. It’s clear how important the character of Andy is to Vincent and his kind words for Mancini as a director are great to hear.
A look inside Alex Vincent’s recording studio – This extra only lasts for a minute but showcases Alex Vincent’s musical skills. It’s a bizarre inclusion.
Inside the Insanity of Cult of Chucky – An archival featurette that’s six and a half minutes long, touching on what makes Chucky iconic to audiences around the world. Seeing how they brought the multiple Chucky dolls to life was delightful.
Good Guy Gone Bad: The Incarnations of Chucky – This archival featurette touches on the different designs of Chucky throughout the franchise and his look in Cult of Chucky.. It’s a brief 5 minutes but offers a decent look at how they brought the doll to life in this film.
The Dollhouse – An archival 5 minute featurette with Kyra Elise Gardner, daughter of Tony Gardner who interviews her father and crew members about the Chucky family. It’s a charming featurette which sets the stage for the documentary included in this boxset, Living with Chucky.
Three deleted scenes, a series of trailers, a TV spot and an image gallery are included.
Living with Chucky extras
Audio commentary – This audio commentary with director/producer/editor Kyra Elise Gardner is a fun listen, and right from the start, Gardner enthusiastically touches on the shoot, interviewing people she’d always wanted to talk to and more. It’s a delightful audio commentary.
Candid Conversations – This eight minute extra contains outtakes from the shoot of the documentary and it’s a fun watch. Seeing Don goof around talking about his love for The Return of the Living Dead is great.
Favourite Death Scenes – As the title suggests, this three minute extra has the interviewees explaining their favourite death scenes in the franchise. There’s a similar extra of the Curse of Chucky disc, but this is still a nice inclusion.
Reception from Families – This 6 minute featurette touches on the families of the people interviewed. It’s a decent watch.
A trailer is also included.
I wasn’t provided with the booklet, the posters or the limited edition packaging, but I assume it’s up to the same high quality standards as most Arrow Video releases.
Overall, Arrow’s Chucky Collection is packed to the brim with interviews, audio commentaries, deleted scenes and other extras that’ll please any fan of the franchise. While the majority of it is archival, I’m glad to see virtually everything from the Shout Factory releases ported over (with the exception of the first film, but that makes sense given the old MGM Blu-ray being included) as well as the Living with Chucky documentary to supplement the collection. Solid transfers overall, with the earlier films looking and sounding the best, with the later ones being decent AV experiences overall. The absence of the first film on UHD and for die-hard fanatics, the reboot and TV series hold it back from being the definitive Chucky release, but it’s still a great package overall that any fan of the franchise will have hours of fun with. An easy recommendation and a solid way for Arrow Video to close out 2023.
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