Director: Kyra Gardner
By 1988 Hollywood’s horror icons were running out of gas. Old staples like the Halloween and Friday the 13th franchises were up to four and seven films respectively, and even relative new-comer Freddy Kruger was also on to his fourth Nightmare on Elm Street movie. As with many franchises, all were suffering from the law of diminishing returns both financially and critically, and the genre desperately needed new blood…
Enter Chucky: a serial killer possessed plastic doll that goes on a murder spree with only his tormented six year old owner Andy knowing the truth about the mysterious and violent deaths. Child’s Play (1988) was a massive hit and over the following 30-plus years spawned six more films, a remake and a TV show, as well as more merchandise than you could shake a machete at.
This film series and its subsequent influence on pop culture seems a ripe subject for a talking heads documentary with plenty of clips from the movies, and that is exactly what you get – for the first hour at least. Most of the major players from the seven films are here including creator/writer/director Don Mancini, producer David Kirschner, and special effects wizard Tony Gardner. Also present are actors Brad Dourif (Chucky), Jennifer Tilly (Chucky’s bride Tiffany), Billy Boyd (Chucky’s child Glen/Glenda), and Alex Vincent and Fiona Dourif (Chucky victims Andy and Nica), as well as many others. Their reminiscences are generally interesting and insightful and the love that they all have for the series and for each other is very apparent. There are also some horror experts interviewed to add context, and a delightful contribution from filmmaker John Waters (Hairspray, Pink Flamingos) who is a fan of the series and made a cameo as a victim in one of the films. Less successful are a handful of talking heads whose connection to the films are tenuous at best, and whose comments contribute very little.
Each film is covered briefly and this will undoubtedly lead anyone with an interest in the series (and who else would be watching this?) to want to revisit the franchise. From this point of view, this documentary is extremely successful and shows the artistry and hard work that go into what could easily be dismissed as trashy schlock.
Living with Chucky is a love letter to the Child’s Play franchise and the family of people behind it. As a result of this, it generally steers away from anything controversial. This makes this documentary a little toothless, especially considering the history of the Child’s Play films. The franchise has been named as the influence on various murderers across the globe, as well as being publicly blamed as an instigating factor in the tragic murder of Jamie Bulger in 1993. None of this is even hinted at here. Also not mentioned is the 2019 reboot, which none of the original creative team were involved with. This is somewhat understandable but still feels a little churlish.
And then at around the sixty minute mark, this film takes a left turn. It is suddenly revealed that the maker of this documentary, Kyra Gardner, is actually the daughter of one of the talking heads – Tony Gardner, who supervised the special effects and puppets on the films from the fourth instalment onwards. This then explains the avoidance of anything too controversial in the preceding hour, as well as the reason for the presence of the interviewees with no connection to Child’s Play (they all have worked with Gardner Sr. on other projects), and for the remaining forty minutes of its runtime, Living with Chucky becomes a little schmaltzy and unfocussed. Gardner is clearly too close to the subject matter to make a documentary solely about the Child’s Play franchise, and although she shows enough filmmaking talent for this film to almost completely avoid the stink of nepotism, the weaving of her own life into the narrative produces mixed results.
Gardner shows promise as strong documentary maker, and although her family connection to the Child’s Play franchise has afforded a good start to her professional career, she would be best served by now moving to a subject matter much less close to home.
Living With Chucky will be available to own or rent in the UK & Ireland from April 24 via Amazon, AppleTV, Sky Store, Virgin Media and Google Play. Also available on Blu-ray.
