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Don Mancini Says He’s Subverting Expectations in ‘Cult of Chucky’

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Don Mancini had no idea when he created Child’s Play way back in 1988 that Chucky, the doll with an angel’s smile and the devil’s own agenda, would spawn a franchise that he would still be talking about, much less writing new stories for, 30 years later…but he did have a dream.

As a horror fan in the 80s, he followed all of the major franchises and is still an ardent fan of Carpenter, Craven, Hooper and the rest.  His own creation, Chucky, has stood the test of time, spawning six sequels that have ranged in tone from classic slashers to darkly hysterical comedies.

“I created a little sandbox for myself to play in,” he admits, “and it’s allowed me to tell different kinds of stories.  Honestly, I feel like I won the lottery.”

Mancini has never wanted to tell the exact same kind of story twice, however.  In fact, he sees each sequel as an opportunity to switch directions and keep his audiences guessing.

“Any good story is about subverting expectations, and sequels are a golden opportunity for that,” Mancini says.  “People come into sequels with a lot of expectations and it’s my job to be surprising, to give you something you never saw coming.”

How does he do it?  By playing with the subgenre of the film.

In Curse of Chucky, the last film from the franchise, Mancini focused on the classic tropes of the big scary house and the woman in peril to draw Chucky from the land of dark comedy into something all together more serious.  With Cult of Chucky he continues that streak, but the action has been moved to a mental hospital. It’s going to be a crazy ride, and he cites Leonard DiCaprio’s Inception as an inspiration.

“We have a whole set of people in the institution who imprint on this doll in different ways depending on their particular illnesses,” he points out.  “Their perspectives are colored by the drugs they’re on, the dreams they’re having, and their diagnoses.  That allows Chucky to toy with them all in different ways.”

In fact, Mancini says, he wrote it so that the characters and audiences alike will question what is reality and what is hallucination throughout the film.

Production Still from the set of Cult of Chucky

Mancini was also excited to bring back one of his original characters after a brief scene at the end of Curse of Chucky.  Andy Barclay, the young boy with the misfortune of being Chucky’s first owner after the doll was possessed by Charles Lee Ray, is back and ready to fight his nemesis once again in Cult of Chucky.  To make it even more exciting, Alex Vincent who played Andy thirty years ago is back to reprise his role.

“It’s been awesome because when you create characters they become very personal to you.  I’ve spent a lot of time over the years wondering, even idly, what would have happened to Andy,”  Mancini says.  “What would that kind of childhood trauma do to a person in adulthood?  What would Andy be doing right now?”

Mancini kept up with Vincent over the years and from time to time they would discuss these very questions, but it took some convincing to get the studio to really back this idea of sort of looking backward rather than forward.  After seeing the final scene in Curse of Chucky, however, they were firmly on board.

From there, it was a bit of a chemistry experiment determining how a character from a much more serious film would interact with a character who rose to popularity in Chucky’s more comic phase in the late 90s.

In other words, what would happen when Andy met Tiffany, and how would these disparate characters from disparate films approach each other?  Luckily for Mancini, the combination was dynamite and he is excited for audiences to experience the old guard meeting the new.

With all of these changing themes, returning characters, and a brand new setting, Mancini admits he was a little nervous when the time came for Cult of Chucky‘s world debut at FrightFest in London.

“It’s always terrifying,” he says.  “You make this film and you take it out to the public for the first time and you know that the judgement is going to be very public and it’s going to be everywhere.  So, I was scared to death as we approached the London premiere.”

Luckily for Mancini and the cast and crew, the response in London was generally positive, and it has bolstered his courage as the film heads for other festivals around the world including Toronto After Dark and the Sydney Underground Film Festival.

Keep your eyes peeled because Chucky just might be hitting a festival big screen near you.  In the meantime, you can look forward to the official release date, October 3, 2017, on Blu Ray, DVD, and On Demand!

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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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