| Advertisement |
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Director Thommy Hutson and producer Michael Perez said they hope Doc of Chucky, premiering Friday on Shudder, encourages Child's Play fans to revisit less popular entries in the series. The five-hour documentary covers seven Chucky movies, from 1988's Child's Play to 2017's Cult of Chucky. The cast and filmmakers participated in interviews.
Advertisement
"I really wanted to explore Part 5 in a way that helped audiences want to revisit it and look at it through the lens of today," Hutson told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "It was such a big swing, not just for the franchise and not just for horror, but movies in general."
The fifth film, Seed of Chucky, focuses on the killer doll's child, born at the end of Bride of Chucky. Because the child doll was born neither male nor female, the 2004 film was ahead of its time exploring trans and gender binary issues in its macabre, comedic way.
Hutson said he hopes "that people don't just come away entertained, but that they revisit some of these movies with a different eye and with a different intention."
Perez said interviewing the cast of Child's Play 3 made him love the sequel more. The 1991 film was a financial disappointment and led to a seven-year hiatus before 1998's Bride of Chucky.
"Ones that maybe I was not as fond of as the others, I found a whole new love for," Perez said. "You really do look at them in a different way."
Doc of Chucky did not address the recent, three-season Chucky TV series. The show was premiering during the documentary's production, so Hutson said he wanted to focus on Chucky's history.
"We wanted this to be a bigger look back on something that felt like legacy," Hutson said. "The series was so new it wasn't legacy at that point. Yes, there may be more films, but at this point, I think we can safely look back at those first seven films."
Perez also noted that the seven films span more than 30 years -- from the development of Child's Play to the release of Cult.
"I think covering three decades is quite enough," Perez said. "After that, it gets a little bit redundant."
The filmmakers also chose not to include the 2019 Child's Play remake because it is separate from the continuing Chucky saga. MGM/UA retained the rights to the original film after selling the franchise to Universal, which released the sequels and produced the TV series.
"There's probably fantastic, wonderful stories about what it is and why it is and how it is," Hutson said. "In the context of Chucky, it's not there."
Screenwriter Don Mancini and producer David Kirschner, who were involved in each film, gave interviews for Doc of Chucky. Child's Play Director Tom Holland and Bride Director Ronny Yu also appear.
The documentary explores tensions between Holland and the rest of the team on Child's Play. These tensions had been discussed in the press and on home video releases of the film.
Hutson said Holland, Mancini and Kirschner were all open about discussing those tensions in the documentary.
"Michael and I didn't want to exploit that situation," Hutson said. "How can we weave that in to make sure that this important aspect is there, but not sensationalized?"
The saga began when Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) bought her son, Andy (Alex Vincent), the possessed Chucky doll. Hicks and Vincent also are in Doc of Chucky.
Only a few significant surviving cast members do not appear. The documentary reveals Child's Play 2's Jenny Agutter was not happy with her experience in the film, and she declined to participate in the documentary.
In Child's Play 3, Justin Whalin played a teenage Andy, but Whalin has retired from acting. Though he agreed to an interview, he ultimately backed out.
"I look at Justin as the one that got away," Hutson said.
Katherine Heigl starred in Bride of Chucky when she was 19. She was open to the documentary, but could not participate because Doc of Chucky coincided with her filming Netflix series Firefly Lane in Canada.
"She wished us all the best and she said, unfortunately, that she could not participate due to filming restrictions," Perez said.
Before Doc of Chucky, Hutson, Perez and their partner, Mark Alan Miller, produced documentaries on the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th films. Hutson said he would like to tackle Halloween next if there is a demand.
"I'm all in on Halloween," Hutson said. "We'll do it. I'm ready."
