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Don Mancini Says Cult of Chucky is “Chucky on Drugs”

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Of all the various slasher icons to star in their own long-running franchises, few were probably less likely than Chucky (voiced by the legendary Brad Dourif), possessed doll host to the soul of dead serial killer Charles Lee Ray.

After all, Chucky is a doll, and thus not very physically imposing. Yet, as easy as it would seem for a grown adult to kick Chucky’s ass, the diminutive death dealer always manages to survive to slay more victims, while taking a few more lives along the way.

The Chucky – or Child’s Play – series has certainly had its ups and downs in quality over the years, although each entry has its fans, even the insanity that is Seed of Chucky. Still, I don’t think anyone really expected the series’ first DTV entry Curse of Chucky to be as downright awesome as it was.

Curse in many ways took things back to basics, trying its best to make Chucky more of a brutal force of evil again, and less of a wisecracking comedian. Earning raves from fans, the film proved successful enough to inspire Universal to greenlight another sequel, entitled Cult of Chucky.

cult of chucky

Set four years after Curse, Cult once again centers on Nica (Fiona Dourif), who was sent to an asylum after being framed for the murder of her family by Chucky. Nica has been convinced that she in fact killed them and that Chucky was a hallucination, that is until a familiar doll arrives at the snow-covered facility.

During a recent interview with the CBC writer/director – and Chucky creator – Don Mancini offered the following comments on how Cult is coming together:

I wrote it with snow in mind. We shot all night outside for one sequence, and we got snowed out with a blizzard. We had to shut down for safety reasons. Our zoom lens also froze. But the snow was great — that really paid off. It gave the film a Shining-like feel.

In Cult of Chucky, we’re doing a mental institution movie. There will be dream sequences and lots of surrealism. This will be Chucky on drugs. To me, I don’t know why people would take the approach of doing the same things with a sequel. Sequels offer the opportunity to subvert expectations. All good storytelling is about good surprises. Sequels, by their very nature, bring baggage — how can I subvert them in a fun way?

Hmmm, dream sequences? Surrealism? Could Cult of Chucky end up giving fans a bit of a “Chuckmare on Elm Street” vibe? That’s definitely one path the series hasn’t taken before, and could prove to set apart Cult from its predecessors.

Joining Dourif on this crazy ride are Chucky’s old nemesis Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), and Chucky’s wife Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly). In an amusing bit of continuity between wildly different films, Tiffany remains inside the body of actress Jennifer Tilly, who Tiffany possessed in the fourth wall-breaking Seed.

Chucky is one of the only major horror franchises to retain the same continuity between all installments, with no remakes or alternate timelines being introduced to muddy up things. Here’s hoping Cult proves as good as Curse, and Mancini gets to bring Chucky back again for an 8th go-around.

Child's Play 7

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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