It’s hard to choose the best Chucky movies. Don Mancini’s decade-long franchise is undoubtedly full of jewels, but it also goes in many different directions. The story of a serial killer trapped in the body of a “Good Guys” doll – chasing a boy named Andy – ranges from small and intimate to big and ambitious in the blink of an eye. Again, it’s creepy, funny, dark, shocking, and blatantly queer. And it’s about to get its own TV series on Syfy.
The great thing about the Chucky films is that the entire franchise is incredibly consistent. The tone and style swing in wild directions, but there’s no such thing as a bad movie. I doubt Child’s Play 3 is everyone’s favorite, but it’s more than welcome along with the others. With Brad Dourif always on hand to cast the killer doll and other recurring cast members like the incomparable Jennifer Tilly, each new movie comfortably builds on the last. Among these great horror movies, which are the top Chucky movies? Which is number one? And how do they all compare to each other? Let’s find out by rating them all!
Publisher’s Note: The 2019 remake of Child’s Play, while by no means bad, felt a little redundant while the original franchise was still alive and well. Since it exists outside of the main Chucky franchise, including the upcoming series, it didn’t get a place on the list. But don’t let that stop you from checking it out!
7. Children’s game 3
Child’s Play 3 is by far the weakest of the franchise, yet still a fun entry that plays with the formula in a rewarding way. Eight years after Chucky died in Child’s Play 2, the film skips ahead and sees the carcass of the last Chucky doll accidentally shuffled into the plastic container used in a new line of Good Guys dolls. Now Chucky is back in a new body and he’s back on the hunt for Andy.
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The film deviates from its predecessors by enrolling an older Andy at a military academy who is still separated from his mother, who was deemed unable to look after him. Now he has to struggle not only with the return of Chucky, but also with the toxic machismo and hierarchies among the boys and teachers around him.
6. Child’s play 2
Child’s Play 2 doesn’t reinvent anything. It’s a pretty straight forward sequel to Child’s Play, with Andy still stumbling from the events of that film and being placed in a foster home while his mother undergoes a psychological evaluation (her story about a killer doll wasn’t well received). The charred corpse of Chucky is processed by the company behind Good Guys in a strange manufacturing process. Don’t waste, don’t wanna, I guess.
When Chucky follows Andy, we get a moving portrait of foster families. Andy’s foster father is a little suspicious of the boy, but his foster mother is a warm and caring presence for him. And his foster sister Kyle’s tough exterior doesn’t get in the way of keeping an eye out for Andy, and helping him kill Chucky is a wonderfully gruesome climax. It’s at the bottom of the Chucky movies list, but it’s worth a look.
5. Chucky cult
It’s hard to resist the return of Andy Barclay (played by original Andy actor Alex Vincent). In Cult of Chucky, Andy tries to get a woman out of a mental institution where Chucky wants to go after her. Nica (who survived in Chucky’s previous curse) can’t get anyone to believe her that Chucky is coming to her along with familiar franchise faces.
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Writer Don Mancini (who also runs Cult) has spoken about his desire to have multiple chuckys in Child’s Play 3, but limited by budget. Here he has his wish, because Nica fights a whole army of Chucky dolls. The movie is deliciously insane and brings back characters from practically every movie before. A post-credit scene even teases Andy’s foster sister Kyle’s return to fight alongside him against the Chucky’s army. A fun and wild entry among the Chucky movies.
4. Curse of Chucky
There’s a back-to-basics quality in Curse of Chucky that makes it a standout feature. After the pugnacious humor and general craziness of Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky, Don Mancini returned to a more classic form of horror. In this episode, Chucky makes his way to the home of a mother and daughter he knew years ago as Charles Lee Ray. Chucky has hidden his scars from previous films to target Nica Pierce, her mother, and her visiting family. The killer doll is unusually quiet throughout and is reminiscent of the creeping feeling of discomfort and fear from the first two Child’s Play films.
Curse of Chucky manages to build on the broader Chucky mythology while telling a new and compelling story – and one that includes a thoughtful and progressive portrayal of disability by her heroine Nica, who uses a wheelchair.
3. Children’s game (1988)
You can’t deny the original Chucky movie, Child’s Play. Inspired by consumer excitement for the Cabbage Patch Kids and My Buddy dolls in the 1980s, Don Mancini created an immediately iconic horror monster in the smelly Chucky.
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Most importantly, Mancini (and director Tom Holland) created a compelling story in which young Andy Barclay and his mother fell victim to the deranged killer Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray, who lost his consciousness in the body of a good guy Doll has transferred. Chucky’s only way out is to take over Andy’s body. With its mixture of black humor and the eerie chill of a murderous children’s toy, Child’s Play has more than earned its status as a horror classic.
2. Chucky seeds
Seed of Chucky adds to the comedy and general weirdness of Bride of Chucky. If a sex scene between the Chucky and Tiffany dolls hurt your sensitivity in this movie, get ready for it to get even harder.
Years after the events of Bride, Chucky and Tiffany have become horror icons and main characters in a film franchise. The only problem is, they’re dead. But that doesn’t stop their orphaned child from tracking down the animatronic dolls used in the films and bringing them back to life with another voodoo evocation. Now the whole family is looking for hosts, including that of Jennifer Tilly, who plays and speaks Tiffany in real life. Don Mancini, in the director’s seat for the first time, is obviously having a lot of fun here. The film is smart, funny, deeply bizarre, and features a pretty touching exploration of gender when Chucky and Tiffany learn that their child wants to get past both Glen and Glenda.
1st bride of Chucky
Franchises are constantly reinventing themselves. Sometimes it works incredibly well, like The Suicide Squad. At other times, not as much as with certain Terminator sequels that are supposed to remain unnamed. One of the best examples of a new life finding franchise is Bride of Chucky.
With a renewed interest in slashers (and confident slashers in particular) after Scream’s success in 1996, Don Mancini gave his franchise a big and welcome makeover, leaning heavily on the premise’s inherent comedy. Bride of Chucky combines classic horror tropes with a series of winking eyes to the audience in order to reconfigure Chucky as the (anti) hero of his own story, who is now accompanied by bride Tiffany. They’re not exactly a happy couple, but they are a charismatic couple that put the film at the top of the list of Best Chucky Movies.
- Bride of Chucky is currently only available on VOD.
Which Chucky movie is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.
