Chucky, originally known as Charles Lee Ray, is the main antagonist of the Child's Play franchise. Chucky is initially portrayed as a vicious serial killer who transfers his soul into a "Good Guy" brand doll using voodoo magic. Chucky was created by writer Don Mancini and is primarily voiced by Brad Dourif.[7]
Chucky first appeared in the 1988 film Child's Play. In the film, serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), also known as "Chucky", uses a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll after being shot by Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon). Pretending to be an inanimate object, Chucky later is given to young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) by his mother Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) and begins terrorizing the family. Chucky learns that he can only become human again by possessing the first person he told his real name to- Andy. The Barclays and Norris eventually kill Chucky by setting him on fire and shooting him.[8]
Child's Play 2 (1990)
Chucky made his second appearance in the 1990 sequel, Child's Play 2. In the film, Chucky is repaired by Play Pals Inc, leading to his resurrection. Chucky continues his pursuit of Andy, who is now eight and has been placed in foster care. Andy is terrorised at his new home and at school, leading to the deaths of his teacher (Beth Grant), case worker (Grace Zabriskie) and foster parents (Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham). Andy's foster sister Kyle (Christine Elise) learns that Chucky is alive and follows Chucky and Andy back to the Play Pals factory. Together, Andy and Kyle kill Chucky by partially melting him with molten plastic and then blowing his head up with an air-hose.[9]
Child's Play 3 (1991)
In Child's Play 3, Chucky is inadvertently resurrected eight years after the events of the previous film when a splash of his blood is mixed with molten plastic being used to produce new Good Guy dolls. He finds that a now teenage Andy (Justin Whalin) is currently enrolled at a military academy. Chucky attempts to possess the body of a young boy named Tyler, but is stopped by Andy and his love interest Kristin de Silva (Perrey Reeves), with his body being shredded apart by a giant fan.[10]
Bride of Chucky (1998)
Chucky is reconstructed and resurrected by his former girlfriend Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly). When Tiffany learns Chucky had no intentions of marrying her, she holds him captive in a cage-like playpen. Chucky escapes, kills Tiffany and transfers her soul into a female doll. Chucky explains that in order for them to transfer their souls again, they need a magical amulet called the Heart of Damballa, which was buried with his body in Hackensack, New Jersey. Tiffany calls and convinces her neighbor Jesse (Nick Stabile) to take the dolls to Hackensack.
With his girlfriend Jade (Katherine Heigl), Jesse takes the dolls to Hackensack, with Chucky and Tiffany killing multiple people along the way. The dolls also have sex one night, unknowingly impregnating Tiffany. Chucky and Tiffany take Jesse and Jade hostage to be their new host-bodies, but Tiffany has a change of heart and betrays Chucky. Chucky kills her before being shot to death by Jade. Shortly after, an infant doll crawls from Tiffany's corpse, attacking a police officer.[11]
Seed of Chucky (2004)
Several years after the events of Bride of Chucky, Chucky and Tiffany's gender confused and pacifistic living-doll child (voiced by Billy Boyd) tracks them bodies down to Hollywood, Los Angeles, where their bodies have been rebuilt as props for a horror film based on the "urban legend" of Chucky the doll. The child uses the Heart of Damballa to resurrect the pair. Realizing their child has no blatant gender, Chucky proclaims them a boy and names them "Glen," while Tiffany insists they are a girl and names them "Glenda."
Tiffany decides to transfer her soul into her favorite actress, Jennifer Tilly, who Chucky impregnates with his semen to create a body for Glen/Glenda. Chucky forces Glen/Glenda to help him commit several murders, causing Glen/Glenda's psychological trauma. Chucky and Tiffany learn that Glen/Glenda actually has two distinct personalities- the peaceful male Glen and the murderous female Glenda. Jennifer gives birth to twins, allowing both personalities to have a body of their own, while Chucky decides he doesn't want to transfer his soul into a human anymore. Angered by his change of heart, Tiffany leaves Chucky. A vengeful Chucky tracks down and kills the Tiffany doll, not realizing Tiffany had already swapped spirits with Jennifer. Glen, believing his mother dead, murders Chucky with an ax.
Five years later, Glen and Glenda have transferred their souls into Jennifer and Chucky's babies while Tiffany now masquerades as Jennifer. Glen discovers his father is still alive when his disembodied arm appears and attacks him.
Curse of Chucky (2013)
Nine years after the events of the previous film, Chucky arrives at the house of the paraplegicNica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) and her mother Sarah. Chucky kills Sarah and several of Nica's other family members who come to visit. He reveals himself to Nica and explains that in 1988, he became obsessed with Sarah and took her hostage after killing her husband. When the police arrived, Chucky became convinced Sarah was somehow responsible and stabbed her pregnant belly, causing Nica's paralysis. He was then tracked down and shot by detective Norris, leading to the events of the original film.
Chucky, using anecdotal evidence from the murders, frames Nica and manages to escape. He travels to visit Nica's niece Alice to take over her body. Sometime later, Chucky (still in his doll form) tries to kill his old nemesis Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), only for Andy to ambush him with a shotgun.[12]
Cult of Chucky (2017)
Four years after the events of the previous film, Chucky returns to torment a now institutionalized Nica, while Andy Barclay attempts to stop his plans once and for all.[13] Chucky kills numerous other inmates at the asylum, continuing to frame Nica for the murders. Andy becomes confused at the prospect of this latest murder-spree, as he still has the living head of the Chucky that tried to ambush him.
Chucky eventually reveals that he found a new spell that allows him to split his soul and possess multiple different bodies. He possesses Nica (restoring her ability to walk), and kills her sexually abusive psychologist before escaping with Tiffany. Meanwhile, Andy ends up locked in a room at the asylum after he traveled there to kill all of the Chucky dolls.
Later, Andy's former foster sister Kyle arrives at his home to torture the Chucky head he still has.
Chucky (2021-2024)
The television series Chucky acts as a sequel, following the events of Cult of Chucky.
In the first season, Chucky is purchased by 14-year-old Jake Wheeler at a yard sale. After Jake learns who Chucky is and his intentions, he teams up with his crush Devon Evans and bully-turned-friend Lexy Cross to stop him. Chucky kills several of the kids parents and is able to complete a voodoo ritual that allows him to possess an army of Good Guy dolls. While several of the Chucky dolls are killed, the rest escape, taking Andy Barclay hostage.
In season two, Jake, Devon and Lexy are sent to a Catholicreform school after Chucky kills Jake's new foster-brother and frames them. The three manage to take one of the Chucky's hostage and brainwash him into being a "Good Chucky," while most of the other Chucky's are killed by The Colonel, a psychopathic and cannibalistic Chucky. The kids save Andy from The Colonel's cabin, and he kills the doll. Good Chucky's spirit is sent to hell after he begins to have violent episodes (including killing a fellow reform student who befriended the group), while the Chucky possessing Nica is removed from her body through an exorcism and escapes in a new doll body. Meanwhile, Tiffany takes Lexy's sister Caroline hostage.
In season three, the last remaining Chucky begins to age rapidly when he is abandoned by Damballa due to the exorcism in the previous season. Learning that the only way he can get back Damballa's support is to perform a series of ritualistic murders in a place of great evil, Chucky infiltrates the White House and begins committing murders. Jake, Devon and Lexy befriend the son of the president in order to infiltrate the home. Chucky is eventually able to win back Damballa's favor and reconciles with Tiffany. They drive away with Caroline while Jake, Devon and Lexy's spirits are trapped in marionettes.
Child's Play (2019 reboot)
In the 2019 reboot, Chucky (voiced by Mark Hamill) is a high-tech artificially-intelligent "Buddi" doll created by the Kaslan Corporation. Primarily designed to be a life-long companion to its owner by learning from its surroundings, Buddi dolls can also connect to and operate other Kaslan products.
Chucky has his safety protocols disabled by a disgruntled Kaslan employee during the assembly process, and as a result, Chucky gradually develops violent tendencies as he tries to eliminate anyone stopping him from being "best friends" with his owner Andy Barclay (Gabriel Bateman). Together with his mother and some of his friends, Andy is eventually able to kill Chucky and burn his remains. However, another Kasland doll elsewhere begins to malfunction, hinting that Chucky's consciousness may have transferred into it.
Charles Lee Ray was born on May 1, 1957,[23][24] in Hackensack, New Jersey, to Peter and Elizabeth Ray. In contrast to his claims that killing had been in his family for "generations", Charles is shown to have had a loving family growing up.
However, unknown to his parents, Charles suffered from sadistic and homicidal urges. When Charles returned home from trick-or-treating on Halloween in 1964, he noticed a razor blade stuck inside an apple. He bit into it regardless, allowing the razor to his mouth. On his eighth birthday in 1965, Charles behaved aggressively, using a mallet to knock a piñata to the ground and violently smash it.
Sometime later, a local serial killer known as "The Hackensack Slasher" broke into his home and killed his father. Entranced, Charles used a pocketknife to stab his mother to death, happily telling the Hackensack Slasher that he "helped." Impressed by the boy's actions, the Hackensack Slasher gave him advice on always covering his tracks, then wiped the blood off Charles's pocketknife before handing it back to him.[25]
Charles was placed in the Burlington County Home for Wayward Boys. He received therapy from a woman named Dr. Amanda Mixter, who referred to him as "Charlie." Instead of helping young Charles, the psychotic Mixter encouraged him to embrace his homicidal tendencies. She also destroyed the remaining humanity Charles had left, claiming to have found that part of him "boring."
Charles was known for playing with the smaller children and attempted to mold three boys into following his killer footsteps, teaching them swear words and reading them fairy tales twisted to revolve around murder. One day, he murdered a janitor that had earlier yelled at him. Charles presented his body to the children, horrifying all of them with the exception of a young boy named Eddie Caputo. Charles later fled the home, leaving the janitor's severed hand behind as a gift for Eddie.[26]
In 1986, Charles picked up a woman named Delilah and a red-headed woman from a nightclub and brought them back to a hotel. When Charles threatened the red-headed woman by holding a knife to her throat, he was shocked to find her sexually aroused by the action. Ray then chose to kill Delilah instead, stabbing her and passing the knife to the red-head woman to join in. After killing her together, red-headed woman introduced herself as Tiffany.[27] Charles, now going by "Chucky" as suggested by Tiffany, and Tiffany became a couple and later left Hackensack after killing a man that was attempting to sell them a car.
In 1988, Chucky and Tiffany had relocated to Chicago, Illinois. Chucky became an infamous serial killer known as "The Lakeshore Strangler" and began studying Voodoo under the guidance of a named John Bishop. Unbeknownst to John, Chucky perverted his teachings, which were intended to be used for good. Both Tiffany and Eddie Caputo became accomplices to Chucky's murder-spree.
While at a neighborhood barbecue, Chucky was introduced to a woman named Sarah Pierce and her family. He becomes obsessed with Sarah, and wanting her for himself, killed her husband Daniel before kidnapping her. Around the same time, tensions rose between both Chucky and Tiffany when she found out Chucky was killing people without her. After one last argument, Tiffany called the police, telling them Chucky's whereabouts.
The police discovered Chucky holding Sarah hostage. Believing she had somehow turned him in, Chucky stabbed Sarah in the stomach, which would leave her unborn child Nica Pierce paralyzed from the waist down, before fleeing the scene. Police Detective Mike Norris chased Chucky to a nearby Toy Store, where he would be gunned down and transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll.
Development
Design
In the original script for Child's Play, titled Batteries Not Included, a doll named 'Buddy' comes to life after Andy mixed his blood with the doll's fake blood and would have targeted his enemies, being an outlet for Andy's suppressed rage. However, writer John Lafia later rewrote Mancini's original script and created the character of Charles Lee Ray to possess the doll (now named 'Chucky') and have him go after his enemies instead.
Child's Play creator and co-writer Don Mancini explained that Chucky draws heavily from the My Buddy dolls: "In my original script, he was originally called Buddy, and we couldn't use it because of the 'My Buddy' doll. The director went out and got a 'My Buddy' doll, a Raggedy Ann, a Raggedy Andy, and one of those life-size baby infants. What I told [designer] Kevin Yagher was, I wanted something similar to a My Buddy doll. I described "Buddy" in my original script, now "Chucky", as wearing red-buttoned overalls, red sneakers, striped sweater, with red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. Kevin went off and sketched many designs of Chucky until the final was picked. Yagher then built the first doll from those sketches and my details".[28]
Performance
For the first four films, Chucky was controlled by a team of nine puppeteers, led by Brock Winkless, who moved Chucky's mouth via radio control, wearing a rig that captured his mouth movement. The others were in charge of operating the doll's head, face, and limbs. By Curse of Chucky, Chucky's mouth, now performed by lead puppeteer Tony Gardner of Alterian, Inc., was now operated via a radio-control unit without the need for a rig, and the doll himself now required fewer people to bring him to life. For the first film, for scenes where Chucky had to move around in wide shots, a little-person actor in a life-sized costume, Ed Gale, would portray Chucky in scenes where the character is walking, the props on the set enlarged to fit the size of the actor.[3][4]
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