LIVING WITH CHUCKY **** USA 2022 Dir: Kyra Elise Gardner. 105 mins
A pint-sized killer who has become infamous for his murderous antics is well worth celebrating and who better to tell this story than the daughter of one of the creators of Chucky. Thanks to the family connection, I found the documentary delved further into who the crew were and how the Chucky franchise affected them, hence the title. This sets the content apart from other documentaries of horror franchises.
Spanning over three decades, the creative team became one big family during long hours over months away from home. The Dourifs know this well. As a young girl, Fiona Dourif’s father Brad was the star of Child’s Play and it’s sequels. They likely didn’t envision that she would join the franchise two decades later. Seeing their father-daughter bond and how Fiona took inspiration from him was a really lovely touch.
It was inspiring to hear the influences behind Chucky’s name as it was derived from three of the most famous killers – Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray. These make perfect sense and explain why Chucky is so sinister.
This documentary doesn’t gloss over any part of the franchise, even including the Chucky series that I have yet to watch. Each aspect is kept fresh with a whole host of Chucky stars drawing from their own memories and experiences. We also get to hear from Horror icon Lin Shaye, with her thoughts on 80s horror and the Chucky franchise.
If you’re a fan of Child’s Play or any of the films in the franchise, you need to give this a watch.
Review by Poppy Blundell
Living With Chucky will be available to buy on Blu-ray on 24th April 2023 and to own or rent on digital platforms such as via Amazon, AppleTV, Skystore, Virgin Media and GooglePlay in the UK & Ireland from 24th April 2023.
Living With Chucky will be available to buy on Blu-ray on 18th April 2023 in the USA.
Living With Chucky is also available now on Screambox.com on iOS, Android, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox in the USA.