When it comes to longstanding horror franchises, it’s hard to find a character withthe longevity and ability to adapt to ongoing sociological fearslike Chucky has. From psychological thrillers to campy bloodfests todark comedies, the little redheaded doll has gone through many iterations, all focusing on the loose premise of a doll that is animated with a malicious spirit. Innocuous and cute, Chucky finds his way into intimate familial settings that other monsters would not, giving him an edge of surprise that he exploits over and over. The following listcompiles all eight full-length films belonging to the franchise, as well as two short films placed in the order of release. In addition to these films, Chucky has inspired comic books, and video games, andhas even made his way to television.
The series, simply titledChucky, was released in 2021 and follows teenager Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur), who picks up the killer doll at a yard sale. It’s a tale as old as time — or at least, as old as theChild’s Playfranchise — and Jake learns the hard way that Chucky isn’t quite the Good Guy he pretends to be. Soon enough, Chucky begins to torment those around Jake, including the families of his classmates, leading to an unlikely trio of kids determined to take Chucky down once and for all. Not to mention, the series brings back some fan favorites from the franchise, withBrad Dourifreturning as the voice of Chucky,Jennifer Tillycoming back to play the iconic Tiffany Valentine, andFiona Dourifreprising her role as Nica Pierce, just to name a few.Chucky, which is nowmidway through its third season, is a brilliant addition to the franchise, allowing fans plenty more content from the titular doll while evolving the franchise for a new generation of fans. And to make it better, the series doesn’t retcon any of its prior films, so all the wacky lore that comes with theChild’s Playfranchise is still very much intact. You don’t have to have seen all of the movies to watch the show, but doing so certainly gives the series a much more fleshed-out feeling — and besides, who doesn’t want more Chucky content?
Child’s Play
A struggling single mother unknowingly gifts her son a doll imbued with a serial killer’s consciousness.Director
Chucky Movies in Order of Release Date
Chucky Movies in Chronological Order
There are no prequels yet, so the best way to watch the films is in the order of release, with one exception:the 2019 film is a remake, not a sequel continuing the previous three decades of the franchise, which means it can be watched as a standalone without worrying about the rest of the chronology.
1. ‘Child’s Play’ (1988)
The originalChild’s Playfilm begins with a man who is both a serial killer and voodoo practitioner (Brad Dourif) transferring his soul into the body of a doll after almost dying from a cop’s gunshot wound to his chest. Once inside the doll, he is able to infiltrate the life of a boy named Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), continuing to commit the murders that he would have done in his original body. Directed byTom Holland, this film was dramatically successful at the box office. So successful, in fact, that it garnered a cult following that would propel the evil doll forward with enough momentum to create a decades-long franchise.
2. ‘Child’s Play 2’ (1990)
Not only is the second film next chronologically, but the same amount of time that lapsed between releases also lapsed in theChild’s Playuniverse. Picking up two years after the events of the first film,Child’s Play 2sees Andy now in foster care because his mother ended up in an institution after the previous struggle with Chucky. A strange electrical malfunctionbrings Chucky back to life, allowing him to take up his previous pursuit of following and tormenting Andy. As with later iterations of theChild’s Playfranchise,Child’s Play 2addresses anxiety surrounding not only childhood but also the ways that adults and those in positions of power are reduced to a childlike understanding of the mechanical functions around them, from the dolls that are shipped from a warehouse to the electrical spark that can return life to a deceased serial killer.
3. ‘Child’s Play 3’ (1991)
Andy just can’t seem to catch a break. This time played byJustin Whalin, the boy is now sixteen and ready to destroy Chucky. After all of the negative publicity that the company garnered from the previous two films, the Good Guys factory is attempting to re-mold their toys, but the melted wax contains a drip of Chucky’s blood, which is enough to bring him back to life in the new doll. Directed byJack Bender, this is the last film in the franchise to includeChild’s Playin its title. From here on out, Chucky becomes the recognizable throughline in the films’ titles.
4. ‘Bride of Chucky’ (1998)
Already pretty drenched in camp,Bride of Chuckyis where the franchise really takes a turn for the humorous. For the first time in ten years, the character of Andy Barclay gets a break. Instead, this installment focuses on the relationship between Chucky and a doll animated by his former lover and accomplice, Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly). After the resounding commercial success of the first three films,Bride of Chuckyseems more like a parody of itself. Positioned pretty squarely in the middle of the franchise, this moment of levity injects an increased playfulness into the violence.
5. ‘Seed of Chucky’ (2004)
The sequel toBride of Chucky,Seed of Chuckyis (grotesquely) what it sounds like, featuring perhaps most memorably the dolls using a turkey baster to inseminate a human woman with Chucky’s sperm. The film continues with Bride’s emphasis on humor and parody, though less successfully from a commercial standpoint. Seed of Chucky begins with Tiffany and Chucky’s son, Glen, setting out to learn about the parents he never knew.Don Mancini, who wrote every installment of the franchise apart from the final, 2019 reboot, used thisslasher-comedyas his directorial debut. Notably, it was the last of theChuckyfilms to be released in theaters.
6. ‘Chucky’s Vacation Slides’ (2005)
The DVD and Blu-ray version ofSeed of Chuckywas released a year after it was out in theaters, and those who brought it home got a little something extra: the short film titledChucky’s Vacation Slides. In it, Chucky, Tiffany, and Glen are looking at photographs of their family vacation when Tiffany notices there are corpses behind them. At the conclusion of the last film, she is under the impression that Chucky has quit killing people, so with this revelation, she leaves him, taking Glen with her. Chucky stays behind, watching the photographs until his next victim, a pizza delivery man, arrives.
7. ‘Chucky Invades’ (2013)
BeforeCurse of Chuckycame out on DVD, four short clips were released as teasers. Together referred to asChucky Invades, the clips show Chucky infiltrating four different horror films:Psycho,The Purge,Mama, andDrag Me to Hell. These little clips further demonstrate the franchise’s commitment to the silliness of the genre. Displayed directly in the much more serious footage of the films he invades, Chucky can be seen as the subversive, generically undefinable character who has come to be loved and hated in maybe equal proportion.
8. ‘Curse of Chucky’ (2013)
rema WithCurse of Chucky, director and writer Don Mancini returns to horror after a foray into the realm of comedy-slasher. This plot is much more straightforward and much more in line with the ‘88 incarnation that started everything. An unwitting family receives Chucky in the mail mysteriously, and once he is in their home, he begins his slasher routine of killing each one of them in succession. There are interesting parallels between Chucky’s delivery to the doorstep of a family and this being the first film in theChild’s Playfranchise to be released straight to video, skipping the publicity of the theater. In this more subtle way, the film can’t really avoid its self-referential tendencies.
9. ‘Cult of Chucky’ (2017)
At the end of the previous movie, the doll was mailed — bizarrely — to the original owner, Andy Barclay, who immediately shot him in the head. Now, four years later, Andy still has the head. But it wasn’t enough for Andy to just kill Chucky, so since then, he’s been continuing to torture the decapitated head, leaving it increasingly deformed. Of course, it doesn’t seem like anything will actually put an end to Chucky, and he arrives at the mental hospital where Nica—a survivor from the previous family—is being convinced that she actually committed the murders and Chucky was just a manifestation of her subconscious. The following showdown is nostalgic if chaotic, featuring performances from much of the original cast.
10. ‘Child’s Play’ (2019)
What’s convenient can also be monstrous. In this reboot, Chucky responds to a growing fear of machine control. After three decades of the same canon, theChuckyfranchise was faced with a studio reboot that set aside the existing timeline (and the paranormal elements of the original franchise). That means this one is a standalone that doesn’t tie into the previous films' watch order. The movie starts out with a factory in China, where a worker creating Buddi dolls (AI toys that are able to use the internet to control all of the various smart technologies in a consumer’s home) faces horrific working conditions. Before committing suicide, he programs the doll to have none of the ordinary safety features, leading to Chucky’s characteristic violent immorality.Child’s Play(2019)reiterates the fact that Chucky, having now haunted three decades of movie-goers, is elastic in his ability to encapsulate historically specific fears including not only autonomous inanimate objects but things that we have breathed life into through rapid technological innovation.
