A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th both got documentaries on their respective series. I guess it was a matter of time before Chucky got his. If you’re looking for an exhaustive chronicle of the franchise, forget it. This isn’t nearly as in-depth as the others I mentioned. It’s a shame because it kind of feels like a missed opportunity.
I was honestly kind of surprised by the number of cast and crew who were suspiciously absent. Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon, the stars from the original are nowhere to be found. The same goes for director Tom Holland and special effects man Kevin Yagher, who created the doll for the first four films. (The director, Kyra Gardner is the daughter of Tony Gardner, who did the effects for the series from Seed of Chucky on, so maybe there was a conflict of interest there.)
The opening portion about the first film is good, but they really rush through the making of 2 and 3. Oddly enough, Brad Dourif isn’t interviewed for these segments, which is disappointing as it would’ve been interesting to hear his take on them. (Maybe he didn’t have anything nice to say, so they cut it out.) Since this is a fluff piece, they don’t even mention the infamous Bulger case where a couple of kids murdered a schoolmate and blamed it on Child’s Play 3. Conversely, they spend way too much time on the lukewarm DTV sequels.
You can see in the interviews that Dourif takes the role of Chucky VERY seriously, which is I guess a testament to the character’s longevity. The file footage scenes of him voicing Chucky in an audio booth are among the best in the film as you can really tell he’s giving it his all, even if his reactions aren’t being used in the film. The interviews with Jennifer Tilly are fun too, but they aren’t all that in-depth.
The film particularly hits a wall in the last half hour when the camera turns on the director. It’s here where she talks about how the Chucky filmmakers are kind of like a second family she never met and that she’s using the documentary as an excuse to meet and talk to everyone involved. (Fiona Dourif can also relate as she is also a second generation of Chucky participant.) This segment is OK, but it just seems like it should’ve been its own thing. Having it tacked onto a chronicle of the franchise just seems like a way to pad things out. I mean, make a movie about Chucky or make a movie about your family. Splitting the difference just doesn’t quite make for an engaging documentary.
While parts of Living with Chucky play like a nice jaunt down memory lane, it ultimately feels more like a DVD bonus feature than an actual documentary. Some of the material will be an old hat for fans and/or people who read Fangoria back in the day though. The parts with people who weren’t even involved with the franchise (like Abigail Breslin and Marlon Wayans) weren’t really necessary either. At least they interview John Waters, who gets the best line: “Chucky has sex! Godzilla doesn’t have sex! Frankenstein doesn’t jerk off!”
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