Chucky - Season 1

The well-known Child's Play films get a sequel in this series. Is Chucky a worthy successor to those films or should this doll be taken to the thrift store? Briefly recap of the franchise story. In the American town of Hackensack, slightly more strange accidents occur than elsewhere in the United States. Just before Halloween, lonely and much-bullied teenager Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur, Transparent) buys a real 'Good Guys' doll at a flea market. He wants to use the doll for his rather lurid works of art. He soon notices that Chucky is no ordinary doll. An uneasy relationship develops between Jake and Chucky when Chucky encourages him to deal with his school teases. What is Chucky's goal and how long will it be before the people around Jakes notice that something strange is going on?

It must be said: the films were not cinematographic gems. Only the first part scores sufficient on IMDb. The rest hardly exceeds a 5.5. I think we can mainly look for the cause in the predictable plots and the sometimes mediocre acting.

The switch to television can sometimes be an improvement, especially nowadays. The budgets for series have risen considerably in recent decades and the quality has improved enormously. This is mainly because in a series time can be taken to properly develop the characters and the story.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for this series. A possible cause lies in the fact that the original writer Don Mancini was able to interfere (too) much with it. It would have been much better if a team of good writers had been allowed to work on the story, while retaining the original plot elements of course.

As it is, I can't say much good about the script.

As it is, I can't say much good about the script. Especially in the first half of this season, everything gets off to a slow start, but although the pace picks up a bit in the second half, it doesn't really get to where it could be.

The whole feels like a soap for teenagers with horror elements. The dialogues are clichés and the events predictable. Even the murders deliver an unbalanced mixture of wooden animation and beautiful effects. With every assassination attempt, I get the feeling that someone could have given that little bastard a good kick before he could become dangerous. No, everyone freezes when he comes running with his knife.

Even the murders deliver an unbalanced mixture of wooden animation and beautiful effects.

The actors are doing their best. Unfortunately, half of the cast consists of B actors who can't turn this mediocre script into Oscar-worthy material either. Schoolmistress Miss Fairchild (Annie Briggs, Carmilla) and Mayor Michelle Cross (Barbara Alyn Woods, One Tree Hill) are especially annoying and implausible, but they're not alone.

The Dourif family is a positive exception. Father Brad (Once Upon a Time) is back on track as the voice of Chucky. Daughter Fiona Dourif (The Blacklist) plays a beautiful double role as the possessed Nica Pierce. Jennifer Tilly (Monsters at Work) also reprises her role as Tiffany Valentine with verve.

It is only because of their presence that my final rating remains at 6.5 and does not drop any further. Anyone hoping for a much-improved version of the first film will be disappointed. Nice - for the fans - is that there are many references to that film and the origin of Charles Lee Ray. My guess is that if you didn't like the movies, you're not going to like this series either. A second season has been announced and that's great news for fans. Otherwise, that cliffhanger in the last episode would have sucked too.