Cult of Chucky

Four years after the events of Curse of Chucky, Andy Barclay lives alone in a remote cabin. His girlfriend Rachel breaks up with him because his past with Chucky scares her. Andy goes home to the thing he keeps locked in his safe: Chucky's severed head, still alive. The head taunts him, and Andy works it over with a blowtorch, the way he has been doing for years.

Nica Pierce has spent those same four years locked up after Chucky framed her for killing her family. After years of therapy, including electroshock, she now believes she did the killings herself and that Chucky was only a delusion. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Foley, says she is improving and has her moved to a medium-security hospital. There she makes friends with a nurse named Carlos and meets the patients in her therapy group. Malcolm has multiple personalities. Angela has been there thirty years and thinks she is already dead. Claire burned her own house down. Madeleine smothered her baby son. Foley brings a Good Guy doll into group as a therapy tool. Most of the group hates it, but Madeleine starts treating it like her baby.

Tiffany Valentine visits Nica. She is now the legal guardian of Nica's niece Alice, and she tells Nica that Alice has died. Tiffany leaves behind a second Good Guy doll, saying it was a gift from Alice. That night the doll wakes up. Chucky wanders the halls, runs into Angela, and then finds Nica cutting her wrists over Alice. In the morning Nica's wrists have been stitched shut and 'NOT SO FAST' is written in her blood. Angela is dead with her wrists cut and 'CHUCKY DID IT' written beside her.

Nica remembers that Valentine was the last name of Charles Lee Ray's girlfriend. To prove the doll is just a doll, Foley burns its fingers with a lighter, and it doesn't react. Claire tries to throw that doll down the trash chute, and it bites her. Foley and Carlos think she bit herself, so they sedate her, strap her to a gurney and leave the doll in the room. Outside, Madeleine takes her own doll to the hospital cemetery and pushes Malcolm into an open grave. Malcolm climbs out holding the doll and gives Nica a nasty smile. Back inside, the melted-finger Chucky opens a compressed air canister. It shoots up through the skylight, and falling glass cuts off Claire's head.

News of the deaths gets online, and Andy heads for the hospital. In a private session Foley hypnotizes Nica, kisses her, and lets slip that he has been abusing her during their sessions. Chucky knocks him out with a bottle and hands Nica a shard to finish him, but she won't. The next day Malcolm starts calling himself Charles Lee Ray. Foley survives and uses the attack to blackmail Nica. On the road, Andy gets a phone call from Tiffany telling him the cult is growing. Madeleine tries to smother her doll with a pillow, then breaks down and finally admits she killed her son. Foley holds a small funeral and the staff bury her doll. Andy gets himself inside by punching a guard and is locked in a cell. That night Nica sees the doll's grave start to move, but the other Chucky knocks her out with a sedative.

A package arrives for Foley: a third Good Guy doll with short hair, mailed by Andy. Madeleine's doll crawls out of the dirt and comes to her room. She lets him kill her so she can be with her son, and he chokes her by forcing his arm down her throat. Nurse Ashley finds the body and quits. Foley finds Nica tied in a straitjacket in his office and tries to assault her again, and again gets a bottle over the head. The one-armed Chucky walks in with a power drill and wakes the short-haired doll with the chant. The three Chuckys explain the plan. The original Chucky found a voodoo spell online that let him split his soul into as many bodies as he wants. Alice was one of those hosts until she was killed. Carlos walks in on this and the three dolls cut him to pieces.

The short-haired Chucky goes after Andy. Out front, the guard Andy punched checks a car parked at the gate and finds only a Tiffany doll in the back seat. Tiffany comes up behind him and cuts his throat with a nail file. In the office, the melted-finger Chucky moves a piece of his soul into Nica. She can walk again. Wearing the red high heels Foley put on her, Chucky in Nica's body stomps Foley's head in. Malcolm shows her Ashley's body with a drill in it and claims he did it. Nica-Chucky calls him a poser, and Malcolm admits his personalities are his way of trying to matter. The one-armed Chucky drills through the back of his skull and out his eye.

The short-haired Chucky gets into Andy's cell and stabs him in the leg. Andy reaches into the doll's chest and pulls out a gun he hid there before mailing it. He shoots the doll and stomps its head. Nica-Chucky shows up and dares Andy to shoot Nica's body, but the gun is empty. With the hospital going into lockdown, Nica-Chucky leaves Andy locked in the cell. The one-armed Chucky puts the drill down beside the bodies and sits on a couch like a normal toy. Outside, Nica-Chucky and Tiffany kiss and drive away together, and the Tiffany doll in the back seat turns out to be alive too.

After the credits, Andy's foster sister Kyle from Child's Play 2 lets herself into Andy's cabin. Andy has sent her to keep torturing Chucky's head while he is away, and the film ends with Chucky screaming. This scene is only in the unrated cut.

Story notes

• Nica Pierce is confined to a psychiatric hospital where Good Guy dolls begin appearing around her.
• Andy Barclay, Tiffany Valentine and multiple manifestations of Chucky converge as the franchise expands Chucky's possession abilities.

Release facts

• Released: 2017-10-03 (Blu-ray, DVD, digital, on demand and US Netflix); world premiere 2017-08-24 at London FrightFest
• Runtime: 91 minutes (the Universal press release lists 1 hour 30 minutes)
• Domestic: No theatrical release. The Numbers tracked over $2.3 million in US DVD and Blu-ray sales by October 2017.

Cult of Chucky had its world premiere on August 24, 2017, at London FrightFest. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released it on Blu-ray, DVD, digital and on demand on October 3, 2017. The same day it started streaming on Netflix in the United States. The Numbers tracked about $2.2 million in US disc sales in its first two weeks and over $2.3 million by the end of October 2017.

Reviews were mostly good. Rotten Tomatoes lists 81 percent positive from 26 critics, with a 62 percent audience score. Metacritic gives it 69 out of 100. Its critics consensus says the film is sillier and better than ever.

Benedict Seal reviewed it for Bloody Disgusting out of FrightFest and said a seventh film had no business being this good or breaking this much new ground. Stephen Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter liked the quips and nasty kills and compared Mancini's split-screen style to Brian De Palma on an indie budget. Scott Mendelson of Forbes compared it to Fast Five for this series. William Bibbiani of IGN gave it 7.4 out of 10 for its big ideas and strong performances.

The film was nominated for Best DVD or Blu-ray Release at the 44th Saturn Awards in 2018.

Press and marketing

• Theatrical key-art / poster campaign reference: Universal Pictures At Home — Cult of Chucky poster / photo / home-media archive.

Cast

Crew

Production

In December 2013, after Curse of Chucky came out, Don Mancini confirmed he was working on a seventh film. Bloody Disgusting reported in February 2015 that he was writing the script. A year later Mancini, Jennifer Tilly and Fiona Dourif said shooting would start soon, and the production set up an office in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Tony Gardner has said Mancini was already talking about the asylum idea while Curse was still being finished.

On January 5, 2017, Entertainment Weekly revealed the title, the premise, the cast and the plan to release the film straight to video through Universal. Mancini said he had wanted to do multiple Chuckys ever since Child's Play 3 but never had the money for it until this film, 26 years later.

Brad Dourif, Fiona Dourif, Jennifer Tilly and Summer H. Howell all came back. Alex Vincent returned as Andy in his first major role in the series since Child's Play 2, 27 years earlier. He had already made a short appearance in the post-credits scene of Curse. Mancini told /Film that Fiona Dourif recommended Zak Santiago for Carlos after the two worked together on Dirk Gently. Carmen Kotyk handled casting. Christine Elise came back as Kyle for the post-credits scene.

Universal 1440 Entertainment announced the start of principal photography on January 9, 2017, in Winnipeg, the same base Curse of Chucky used. Michael Marshall returned as director of photography. Filming wrapped on February 20, 2017, according to Production List. Gardner took on an associate producer credit and told Alterian's press that he stepped into a producer role to help keep the effects work on schedule and on budget.

Mancini told /Film that a mention of Glen and Glenda from Seed of Chucky was shot for the end of the film and then cut, even though he wanted to keep it. On the commentary track he said studio executives asked for the three Chuckys to look a little different so viewers could tell them apart.

Shortly before release, a full copy of the film was leaked to YouTube. Mancini responded on Twitter, calling out the people who shared it and warning that Universal's lawyers now knew who they were.

Gardner says Mancini was already discussing the asylum concept while Curse of Chucky was finishing.

Filming locations

• Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Principal photography from January 9 to February 20, 2017, including the psychiatric hospital and Andy's cabin
• Universal 1440 Entertainment announced that principal photography began January 9, 2017 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, continuing the Winnipeg production base established by Curse of Chucky.

Effects and makeup

Tony Gardner and his company Alterian, Inc. returned to build and perform Chucky, as they had on Seed of Chucky and Curse of Chucky. Because the story needed three living Chuckys, the team built several differently finished dolls and shot many scenes out of story order to keep the versions straight.

Gardner used Child's Play 2 as his main reference for the doll's look, and went back to the doll's original proportions, down to the size of the hands. Mancini wanted the hair to stand out against the white hospital sets, so it is a brighter orange than the orange-brown of the first film. Gardner also added a slight bag under the eyes to make the face look a little more like Brad Dourif's and to help the mechanics.

The team leaned on rod puppets with the rods and puppeteers painted out digitally afterward, which let the dolls move more freely. For the finale with all three dolls in one room, operators wore green suits and used green rods. Gardner explained that with a limited number of animatronic puppeteers available, the dolls could be performed separately and the passes combined in post.

Adrien Morot handled the makeup effects and Doug Morrow did the applications in the effects shop, so most of the blood and gore was in their hands. That freed Gardner's crew to focus on the dolls. Gardner told ComingSoon.net that the only kill his team really had to get involved with was Carlos's, because all three puppets had to interact.

Garrett Zima was the production's Good Guy doll historian. Gardner said Zima owned an original doll from the second or third film and had great reference material.

According to the Chucky fan wiki, the severed head Andy keeps in his safe is the same Chucky doll seen in Curse of Chucky.

Cult's multiple-Chucky premise required several differently configured practical dolls to work within the same sequences. Gardner's team combined animatronics and rod puppetry with green rods/green-suit operators that could be digitally removed or composited.

Adrien Morot's makeup-effects crew and Winnipeg artist Doug Morrow handled much of the blood-and-gore work, allowing Gardner's unit to concentrate on the unusually heavy multi-Chucky puppet workload.

Gardner cites Child’s Play 2 as the main proportion reference for the redesigned Good Guy doll. Its hair was made more orange to stand out against the pale hospital sets.

Garrett Zima provided an original early-sequel doll and reference material as the production’s doll historian, according to Gardner.

Gardner added a slight bag beneath Chucky’s eyes to evoke Brad Dourif’s face while giving the animatronic mechanism useful room for evil expressions.

Because the available animatronic puppeteers were limited, the team could perform the three Chuckys separately and combine the photographed passes digitally.

Props and costumes

Patricia J. Henderson designed the costumes. Craig Sandells was production designer, Réjean Labrie art director, C. Summer Holmes set decorator and Mark Stratton property master.

Gardner scaled the new dolls back to the original Good Guy design. He told ComingSoon.net that by Bride of Chucky the doll was holding guns, so its hands had gotten bigger, and this time they went back to the smaller hands.

Each Chucky had its own continuity build. The crew nicknamed the short-haired doll 'Buzzcut,' and Madeleine's doll went through versions nicknamed 'Ragamuffin,' 'Edwardian' and 'Evil Dead' as it lost an arm and got buried, as Mancini notes on the commentary.

The red high heels Foley makes Nica wear are the shoes Nica-Chucky uses to stomp him to death.

Andy's cabin displays his uniform from Kent Military School, from Child's Play 3. The combination on the safe holding Chucky's head is 11/9/88, the release date of the original Child's Play.

A screen-matched hero Good Guy doll from the film was sold at a Propstore auction.

For Cult, Gardner deliberately returned the new Good Guy dolls toward the proportions of the original franchise design, including smaller hands after the larger gun-holding hands developed by the Bride era.

The multiple dolls required distinct continuity builds, including variants with an arm missing or different hair, turning Chucky's changing physical condition into a tracked prop/costume system across the film.

Production artifacts

Scripts and documents

The killers

Deaths

Angela

Played by

Marina Stephenson Kerr

How

Wrists cut; 'CHUCKY DID IT' written in her blood (off screen)

Where

Psychiatric hospital

By

Chucky (melted-finger doll)

Claire

Played by

Grace Lynn Kung

How

Decapitated by falling skylight glass after Chucky launches a compressed air canister through it

Where

Treatment room where she is strapped to a gurney

By

Chucky (melted-finger doll)

Madeleine

Played by

Elisabeth Rosen

How

Choked when the doll forces its arm down her throat; she lets it happen

Where

Her room

By

Chucky (Madeleine's doll, later the one-armed doll)

Nurse Carlos

Played by

Zak Santiago

How

Stabbed over and over in the chest, drilled in the stomach and slashed open

Where

Dr. Foley's office

By

All three Chucky dolls

Asylum guard

Played by

Darren Wall

How

Throat cut with a nail file

Where

Car parked at the hospital's front gate

By

Tiffany Valentine

Dr. Foley

Played by

Michael Therriault

How

Head stomped in while wearing red high heels

Where

His office

By

Chucky in Nica's body

Nurse Ashley

Played by

Ali Tataryn

How

Drilled through the stomach (off screen)

Where

Psychiatric hospital

By

Chucky (one-armed doll)

Malcolm

Played by

Adam Hurtig

How

Power drill through the back of the skull and out the eye

Where

Psychiatric hospital

By

Chucky (one-armed doll)

Chucky (short-haired doll)

Played by

Brad Dourif (voice)

How

Shot with the gun hidden in his own chest, then head stomped

Where

Andy's cell

By

Andy Barclay

Carlos

Method

Killed by three Chucky dolls

Killer

Multiple Chuckys

Production note

Tony Gardner specifically identified Carlos's death as the kill his doll team had to handle directly because all three puppets interact.

Joseph LoDuca composed the score, his second Chucky film after Curse of Chucky. Scott Francisco was music editor.

The Chucky fan wiki lists 24 score cues by title, including 'Andy's Cabin,' 'Cult of Chucky Main Theme,' 'Electroshock,' 'Miss Valentine,' 'S'Mother Madeleine,' 'He Always Comes Back,' 'The Three Chuckies' and 'The Red Shoes.'

Home Media

• 2017, Universal Blu-ray + DVD + Digital (street date October 3, 2017). R-rated and unrated versions. Blu-ray is BD-50 at 1.78:1 with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. DVD is DVD-9 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1. Extras: feature commentary with Don Mancini and head puppeteer Tony Gardner, 'Inside the Insanity of Cult of Chucky' and 'Good Guy Gone Bad: The Incarnations of Chucky.'
• 2017, Universal DVD (same date and extras as the Blu-ray set).
• 2017, Chucky: Complete 7-Movie Collection, released in the US on October 3, 2017, the same day as the single disc.
• 2017, Netflix (US) streaming. This is the R-rated cut, about a minute shorter and without the post-credits scene.
• 2023, Scream Factory Collector's Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray (August 29, 2023). The 4K disc has the unrated version from a new 4K master. The Blu-ray has both the unrated and R-rated versions, with DTS-HD MA audio. Extras: Mancini and Gardner commentary, 'Doll in the Family' with Tony Gardner, 'Do the Chucky Stomp' with Alex Vincent, an Alex Vincent recording studio piece, 'Inside the Insanity,' 'Good Guy Gone Bad,' 'The Dollhouse,' deleted scenes with optional commentary, trailers and a TV spot. Shout's store also sold bundles with original-art posters, Devon Whitehead alternate-art slipcovers and posters, and a limited enamel pin set for Chucky 4 to 7.
• 2023, Arrow Films The Chucky Collection 4K UHD (UK, December 18, 2023). Cult of Chucky disc presents the unrated version in 2160p with Dolby Vision and HDR10, DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0. Same extras as the Scream Factory set plus an image gallery. Arrow also sold a store-exclusive limited edition of the collection.

Home video history

• 2017, Universal disc packaging and Chucky: Complete 7-Movie Collection box set.
• 2023, Scream Factory store-exclusive bundles for the Collector's Edition: original theatrical art posters, Devon Whitehead alternate-art slipcovers and posters, and a limited Chucky 4 to 7 enamel pin set.
• 2023, Arrow Films The Chucky Collection limited edition 4K box set (UK).
• Trick or Treat Studios, Plush Body Good Guy 1:1 collectible doll. It is not sold as a Cult of Chucky item, but Trick or Treat Studios credits Garrett Zima, who worked on this film's Good Guy dolls, as creative consultant on its Good Guy doll line.
• Trick or Treat Studios officially licensed 1:1-scale Good Guy collectible doll developed with Garrett Zima, whose studio biography identifies his Cult of Chucky Good Guy-doll screen credit before his work as a creative consultant on the commercial replica line.

The catalog

Official trailer

Gallery

Posters & Key Art

Film Stills

Behind the Scenes

Press & Promo

Effects

Props

Production Art