Universal Greenlights CURSE OF CHUCKY!

Chucky’s back!

According to Moviehole, Don Mancini (who penned all five of the CHILD’S PLAY pics and directed SEED OF CHUCKY) has been tapped by Universal Home Entertainment to write, direct, and produce CURSE OF CHUCKY!

Per Moviehole: In this new film, which is being produced for DVD, Chucky arrives to wreck havoc within a family that’s regrouped for a funeral. In the wake of her mother’s passing, a young woman – in a wheelchair since birth – is forced to put up with her sister, brother-in-law, niece and their nanny as they say their goodbyes to mother. When people start turning up dead, the fearless Nica discovers the culprit might be a “strange doll” she was sent a couple of days earlier.

Unlike the last couple of “Chucky” movies, while there will be humour, there’s a lot more emphasis here on making the series scary again – so this’ll be a throwback to the first three “Child’s Play” movies. (Interestingly enough, a reboot of the series has been in development which also encompassed a slightly darker, more frightening tone, suggesting we’ll likely never see another campy ‘Chucky’ flick again.)

Main characters in the film include heroine Nica; Barb, Nica’s older sister, a manipulative, controlling cow that nags her handsome husband Ian and 5-year-old daughter Alice; and Jill, the “smokin’ hot” nanny that’s sleeping with Ian. There’s also fun supporting characters like a meddling priest, who will come face-to-cross with Chucky, and of course, the deceased woman, mother Sarah.

Glad to see this franchise finally steering itself back on course. The last two Chucky pics were AWFUL self-indulgent parodies that weren’t scary in the slightest. I’ll be perfectly fine if CURSE just kicks in where CHILD’S PLAY 3 left off (the Moviehole piece, which can be read in its entirety HERE, indicates that will be the case) and doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of Tiffany (I will miss Jennifer Tilly’s bodacious bosom though) and Glen/Glenda.

What excites me most about CURSE is the NEW NIGHTMARE vibe I’m getting from it. A return to “scary Chucky” (last seen in CHILD’S PLAY 2) feels like maybe Uni didn’t realize they had a decent dead horror franchise in need of resurrection (similar to the predicament New Line was in following FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE) not reboot (similar to the predicament Warner was in following FREDDY VS JASON) and when they did they decided to do the right thing. Good call.

USELESS KNOWLEDGE: Chucky's full name, Charles Lee Ray, is derived from the names of notorious killers Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray.

[via Moviehole]