Curse of Chucky effectively brought the Child's Play series back to horror after two divisive horror comedies. And it did that a little too well.
WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.
- The film is much darker than the last two, both figuratively and literally, adding to the creepiness.
- Brad Dourif's voice has gotten raspier and deeper since the last Chucky movie. As such, he provides Chucky with a much more threatening voice than the previous installments. And it is awesome in its creepiness.
- You can tell whenever Chucky is about to move because that's when he looks his creepiest.
- The attic scene. Good God, the attic scene. For starters, it's where Chucky's infamous scars are revealed once again. But the real Nightmare Fuel comes with Barb's death.
- The flashback of how Charles Lee Ray (i.e., Chucky in his original body) met the Pierce family. He is revealed to be a lovesick creep who kills Sarah’s husband and takes her hostage in hopes of starting a new family with her. When Chucky learns that she tipped off the police, he angrily stabs Sarah, who's still pregnant with Nica, in the stomach. It has the added horror of paralyzing Nica from the waist down before she was even born AND cements Chucky as the Big Bad of the franchise.
- With the release of the season 1 finale of the Chucky television series, it’s arguably made even more horrifying with The Reveal that Sarah never called the police in the first place, as it was actually Tiffany who had done so due to Chucky killing without her (and potentially out of jealousy of Chucky’s obsession with Sarah), meaning Sarah was pretty much screwed regardless.
- Chucky's second killing is done at dinner, where he's poisoned one of the chili bowls. There's a long, tense air in the dining room as the audience is left wondering who got the poisoned dish.
- While it also overlaps with humor, the moment in which Chucky finally speaks for the first time- nearly 40 minutes into the movie- is also somewhat chilling, especially given the Vocal Evolution mentioned above. Alice is hiding under the covers with Chucky, frightened by the thunderstorm outside, and then...Alice: Chucky, I'm scared!Chucky: (finally moving on-screen) You fuckin' should be.
