“Curse Of Chucky” brings the “Child’s Play” franchise back to its more traditional horror roots. It definitely isn’t an outright comedy like “Bride Of Chucky” and “Seed Of Chucky” were. Parts of this movie are actually quite good but as it goes on, it loses it and becomes just another entry in this underwhelming series.

Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) finds her life taking a dangerous turn soon after a mysterious package with the doll of Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif “Child’s Play”, “Alien: Resurrection”) inside it. As those around her start dying in horrible ways, she realises that the doll must be the key to the violence surrounding her.

The Chucky doll just isn’t scary. He’s the least intimidating slasher villain because he’s just a doll. That being said, some of the early sequences are surprisingly suspenseful. The effects for the doll have not got any more convincing since the late 80s and that’s a disappointment. The human characters are just not that interesting. Two of them engage in a secretive romantic relationship that adds very little to the movie. It just seems like an excuse to get some kissing in this otherwise quite sexually tame horror flick. By the way, Fiona Dourif is actually the real-life daughter of Brad Dourif.

The dinner sequence is genuinely really suspenseful and keeps you on edge. Although I predicted who would die, the way it unfolds is actually very clever. Soon after that, we see more of Chucky actually moving and it then becomes the same nonsense we’ve seen several times before. If you’re a big fan of the earlier “Child’s Play” movies, you may like the return to a more serious tone. However, these films have always been pretty campy and silly. It’s certainly not absolutely awful but I cannot recommend it.