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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cult_of_chucky_2017_movie_poster.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:Just when she thought playtime was over...]]
3
4The seventh film in the ''Franchise/ChildsPlay'' series, and the second to be released direct-to-video.
5
6Four years after the events of the previous film, Nica is residing in a mental institution, convinced that it was her who killed her family and not Chucky. Unfortunately for her, the killer doll returns to terrorize her, as well as the rest of the patients and staff, while also having a score to settle with his old enemy, Andy Barclay, with the help of his lover Tiffany.
7
8Followed by ''Series/{{Chucky}}'', a {{sequel series}} set some time after this film.
9
10----
11!!This film provides examples of:
12
13* AndIMustScream:
14** [[spoiler:At the end, Nica is possessed by Chucky, who promises to make sure she "stays asleep".]]
15** The state of the stitched-up Chucky doll in Andy's house, being gagged in a safe and brought out for torture. [[spoiler:And in the post-credits scene, [[Film/ChildsPlay2 Kyle]] wants in on the action.]]
16* AndTheAdventureContinues: The film seems to be the final installment of the original continuity, yet it ended at this note with [[spoiler:Nica now being possessed by Chucky and escaping the asylum and Kyle appearing at Andy's cabin to torture the original Chucky head.]]
17* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler:Right before killing Dr. Foley, Nica!Chucky says, “This is for Nica”]].
18* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Claire attempts to mock Nica for demanding that she return Chucky to Madeline, Nica counters her sarcastic question of if Nica will kill her with the threat that she'll poison her if she keeps behaving aggressively.
19* AsceticAesthetic: Harrogate is blindingly white and mostly bare of furniture outside of a few amenities, and it's surrounded on all sides by snow.
20* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:[[DrJerk Dr. Foley]]. Subverted with [[AsianRudeness Claire]], as initially her [[{{Jerkass}} general attitude and hostility]] towards Nica seemingly set her up to typically be one, but during [[HeelFaceDoorSlam her final moments after realizing Chucky is really alive, she attempts to warn Dr. Foley and Carlos who are restraining and sedating her in an operating room about the danger Chucky poses to them and the hospital]]. Just before she died, she was shedding TearsOfFear in her vulnerable and helpless state, which was enough to feel [[AlasPoorScrappy sorry]] for [[JerkassWoobie her in her last moments]]]].
21* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: Chucky and Tiffany both literally and figuratively get away with murder at the end of the picture, and Chucky finally regains a human body.]] Just see DownerEnding below for more on that.
22* BedlamHouse: The maximum security asylum Nica is housed in at the beginning of the film staffed by a PsychoPsychologist in Dr. Foley and [[OrderliesAreCreeps jerkass orderlies]] who prick a woman's foot just to prove she's paralyzed. Downplayed with Harrogate, but it certainly still gives off a daunting atmosphere.
23* BigBadWannabe: [[spoiler:Dr. Foley, if being a SmugSnake PsychoPsychologist who rapes Nica during their sessions gives anything away, even the actual BigBad Chucky is [[EvenEvilHasStandards disgusted]] but at the same time [[VillainRespect impressed]] with his vileness.]]
24%%ZCE. * BloodierAndGorier: Don Mancini was quoted as saying that this would be the goriest Chucky movie yet. ''He wasn't lying''.
25* BullyingTheDisabled: Claire does this to Nica early in the film. [[spoiler:Dr. Foley's rape of Nica during their sessions count as this too.]]
26%%* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler: Nurse Carlos.]]
27* TheBusCameBack:
28** [[spoiler: Like Andy and his original actor returning during TheStinger of the previous film, his old foster sister, Kyle and her original actress, makes her first appearance since the second movie after the credits]].
29** Tiffany's doll also returns, having been absent since [[Film/SeedOfChucky 2004]].
30* CallBack:
31** While out at dinner at the beginning of the film, Andy's less than pleased upon learning his date Googled him, and proceeds to tell her the abridged version of the whole franchise.
32--->'''Andy:''' [[Film/ChildsPlay1988 I was six. My babysitter was murdered.]] [''{{Beat}}''] [[Film/ChildsPlay2 Along with my teacher, and my caseworker,]] [[Film/ChildsPlay3 and thirty-seven]] [[Film/BrideOfChucky other people]] [[Film/SeedOfChucky over the years.]] [[Film/CurseOfChucky That I'm aware of...]]
33** The "mass murder" vs "multiple murder" InsistentTerminology from ''Bride'' makes a return when describing Nica.
34** Andy makes one to his original PreMortemOneLiner in [[Film/ChildsPlay1988 the first film]] after [[spoiler:ripping a hidden gun out of Chucky's stomach]].
35---> '''Andy:''' This is the end, fucker!
36* ContinuityNod: Doubles as a {{Callback}}. Chucky finding the new spell on a ''Voodoo for Dummies'' website evokes ''Film/BrideOfChucky'', where Tiffany used a ''Voodoo for Dummies'' book to bring back Chucky.
37* DarkestHour: The ending marks one for the franchise as a whole: [[spoiler:There are now two non-mutilated Chuckys running around, one of which has possessed Nica and escaped with Tiffany to do god knows what and another at the institution with Andy, who was been trapped there with no apparent way out. The lone bright spot is Kyle showing up to torment the original Chucky's still-severed head, but who knows if she'll be able to get to Andy in time before he gets possessed himself?]]
38* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:Played straight. It is established that Nica's niece Alice was killed between the events of this film and the previous one, while Madeline is committed to the asylum for killing her infant son. Both of these are mentioned rather than shown, but still.]]
39* DemotedToExtra: While he still appears in a decent number of scenes, Andy Barclay goes from the lead character of the first three films to a supporting role in a story that is definitely still Nica's.
40* DisproportionateRetribution: Chucky murders [[spoiler:Angela just because she thought she may have been hallucinating him.]]
41* DownerEnding: You thought ''Film/CurseOfChucky'' or even ''Film/ChildsPlay3'' ended bleakly? [[spoiler: This is the darkest and unhappiest any ''Child's Play'' film has ever ended or probably will end. Chucky has successfully possessed Nica and killed the other patients and staff; Andy's killed one of the Chuckies but is locked in the asylum cell (where it is implied that he would be blamed for the murders again); and Nica!Chucky, Tiffany, and Madeleine's Chucky are all still alive, and while the latter is likely to stick with being a doll and using it to his advantage to kill whoever encounters him, Tiffany and Nica!Chucky drives off into the night maniacally laughing with a Tiffany doll in the backseat. The only positive aspect is the stinger showing that Kyle is out there as well and, along with torturing the original Chucky head, she'll either continue on the crusade against Chucky where Andy left off or, since she stated that Andy sent her to his cabin, be able to break him out of the asylum.]]
42* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Subverted with Nica. The [[ItsAllMyFault guilt]] from learning about the death of her niece Alice was too much for her to take, so she attempted suicide by slitting her wrist with one of the spokes from her wheelchair. Unfortunately for her, Chucky wasn’t going to let her take the easy way out.]]
43* DrJerk: Dr. Foley makes the late Dr. Ardmore from the first film looked like a sweetheart in comparison.
44* EarnYourHappyEnding: This film, like a typical horror film, may not have a happy ending, but after decades of failure Chucky, at last, got what he had always wanted: to possess another human being, [[spoiler:in this case Nica.]]
45** [[spoiler:There may also be a happy ending for Andy in the future as the stinger shows Kyle appearing at Andy's cabin to torture the original Chucky head. And considering she stated that Andy sent her there, she may be able to break him out of the asylum.]]
46* ElectroconvulsiveTherapyIsTorture: The film opens with Nica receiving severe electroshock therapy while locked in the asylum.
47* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Downplayed. Chucky is disgusted with Dr. Foley’s sexual harassment of Nica]], although he expressed admiration for [[TheOneThingIDontHateAboutYou his methods]].
48-->'''Chucky:''' And they call ''me'' “sick”?
49* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Madeline readily accepts being killed by Chucky to [[TogetherInDeath reunite with her dead infant son]] and to [[DeathEqualsRedemption atone for smothering him]].]]
50* FakeMemories: Dr. Foley uses a combination of psychoactive drugs and hypnosis to attempt to implant memories in Nica of her killing Claire and Angela.
51* FriendlyEnemy: At the beginning, Andy seems to have accepted that Chucky is part of his life for good, and occasionally smokes weed with Chucky's disfigured, disembodied head.
52* {{Gaslighting}}:
53** Dr. Foley continually tries to convince Nica that she was the one who killed her family in the previous film rather than Chucky.
54** Inspired by Dr. Foley's ignorance, Chucky's severed head from ''Curse'' tries this on Andy [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]] saying maybe he is delusional after all and should join Nica in the asylum.
55* HappyEndingOverride: [[spoiler:In TheStinger of the last movie, Andy appears to be well-adjusted and successful, and when Chucky comes back, he greets him with a shotgun blast to the face. In this one, we find out that Andy's dating life sucks because his past keeps haunting him, and his only companion is Chucky's head, which he keeps locked in a safe. Oh, and TheBadGuyWins in this one.]]
56* HeelFaceDoorSlam:
57** [[spoiler:After being a [[{{Jerkass}} nasty character]] who thought Nica killed her friend Angela, Claire spends her final moments realizing Chucky is alive as well as him being Angela's real killer and tries to warn the asylum about his existence to rescue others before he kills her.]]
58** [[spoiler:[[BuryYourGays Carlos]], as the deleted scenes revealed that he was taking pictures of Nica and selling them on the internet through the Perez Hilton website, which is [[SpannerInTheWorks revealed to Andy Barclay that prompts him to race to the asylum to stop Chucky]], to pay for his husband's surgery and trip to Alaska. Then Carlos redeems himself by giving Nica the phone that he used to take pictures of her, but now for her to take pictures of Chucky being sentient to gather proof. Despite this, it wasn't enough to save him.]]
59* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler:Andy is dangerously close to this. He now lives in the middle of nowhere and keeps Chucky's still-conscious severed head, occasionally torturing him with nails, knives, and a blowtorch. By the end of the movie, he punches a security guard outside the mental hospital in the face just to get himself committed so he can rescue Nica from Chucky. And the way he eviscerates and stomps the third Chucky to death is nothing short of savage]].
60* HollywoodHealing: Somehow, [[spoiler:Nica's legs are able to be fully healed after being paralyzed from birth once Chucky takes over her body]]. The only real excuse would be [[spoiler:an application of his HollywoodVoodoo]].
61* HospitalHottie: Ashley is extremely attractive and works as a nurse.
62* IfIWantedYouDead: "...you'd be tits up by now!"
63* InTheStyleOf: Due to the DirectToVideo[[invoked]] nature of this installment, its limited production value gives this film a vibe of a ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode.
64* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Claire is introduced as an unpleasant character who hates Nica's guts and is generally ill-tempered and confrontational, but she is friends with Angela and [[spoiler:after realizing Chucky is really alive and Angela's real killer after accusing Nica of the crime, she tries to warn the asylum about the KillerDoll to prevent more deaths even though it leads her to be sedated by Dr. Foley and killed while she was vulnerable]]. Also, it can be implied that her confrontational and hostile nature is stemmed from her desire to protect the inhabitants of the mental hospital with minimum security from any threats that pose to them.
65* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Both surviving Chuckies and Tiffany make it to the end of the picture without any consequences whatsoever. Though what's left of the original Chucky is still being tortured by Kyle.]]
66* LickingTheBlade: Tiffany does this after [[spoiler:killing the asylum security guard.]]
67* ManIFeelLikeAWoman: [[spoiler: After Chucky takes possession of Nica, breast grabbing ensues and notes how there are perks to being supernaturally possessed.]]
68* MesACrowd: The [[TitleDrop titular "cult"]] of the film's title, overlapping with TheVirus. [[spoiler:Rather than merely [[BodySurf body surfing]] into an unwilling victim, Chucky figured out how to ''copy'' his own soul. He spreads himself across at least three different Good Guy dolls (with Chucky!Prime in Andy's possession) and by the end of the film one of the dolls escapes by hijacking Nica's body. It is also revealed that he taught Tiffany how to do the same thing.]]
69* MonochromePast: The footage of Maggie's death from the [[Film/ChildsPlay1988 first movie]] is shown with desaturated colors when Andy brings up her murder in the opening scene.
70* NotNamedInOpeningCredits:
71** [[spoiler:Similar to the last movie, Kyle's actress, Kristine Elise, isn't named until after TheStinger so as to not spoil her appearance.]]
72** [[spoiler:An interesting case where the Tiffany doll specifically is only listed in the ending credits in order to not reveal that Tiffany copied her soul into back it.]]
73* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:It’s revealed later in the film that the reason why Madeline is in the mental hospital is because she smothered her infant son.]]
74* OffWithHerHead: Bye-bye, [[spoiler: Claire.]]
75-->'''Chucky:''' Sometimes I scare myself.
76* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou:
77** Chucky enters Nica's room with the intent to kill her, only to find that she's already slit her own wrist. Instead of letting her die, he sews up the wound and leaves the message "NOT SO FAST" in her blood on the floor.
78** Chucky and his two doubles also argue a bit over who gets to kill Andy. They don't even consider (or refuse) to make it a team effort.
79* TheParanoiac: Claire, due to being generally confrontational and hostile towards Nica due to the latter's criminal record of first-degree murder which is enough to pose as a danger to a mental institution with minimum security. It is also likely Claire burning her house down and getting her committed is also due to some sort of paranoia she had.
80* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Congrats goes out to Dr. Foley for winning the asshole lottery. It's telling that you're such a bastard to those in your care that you even have the immortal serial killer disgusted with you.
81-->'''Chucky:''' I just... ''can't'' with this guy! I don't know whether to kill him or just take notes!
82** Chucky's seeming repulsion with Dr. Foley's actions is questionable, however, seeing as how he has something of an affinity for non-consent himself. In ''Film/SeedOfChucky'', he utterly enjoys attacking and binding and gagging an unwilling Jennifer Tilly in preparation for a soul transfer, and attempts to molest her afterward (and stops only when Tiffany enters the room). In ''Film/CurseOfChucky'', during a flashback, he kidnaps and binds and gags Sarah, and in this film, [[spoiler: after possessing Nica,]] the first thing he does is fondle her breasts. The series also reveals that both he and Tiffany get off sexually on forcing other people to watch them have sex.
83* SelfDeprecation: The movie seems to pre-emptively address the idea that Chucky can now possess multiple dolls at once being viewed as an AssPull by stating that it was due to him looking up a spell on "Voodoofordummies.com"
84* SexStartsStoryStops: Malcolm bangs Nica shortly after meeting her. The scene comes completely out of nowhere with next to zero buildup and has nothing to do with the narrative as a whole.
85* ShoutOut:
86** The gum Carlos gives Nica is Juicy Fruit, the same flavor [=McMurphy=] gives to the Chief in ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest''. This also doubles as a CastingGag, as Chucky's actor, Creator/BradDourif, got his start in acting starring as Billy in ''Nest''.
87** Chucky bursting out of the grave marked by a wonky cross is a reference to ''Film/TheEvilDead1981''.
88** Chucky laments the cancellation of ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'', a show which writer/director and Chucky creator Don Mancini worked on.
89** [[spoiler:The buzzcut Chucky has a Walther PPK hidden inside his stomach that Andy pulls out towards the climax, the same kind of gun also hidden inside the stomach of James Woods' character Max Renn in ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'', which was also released by Creator/{{Universal}} much like this film and most of the Chucky films]].
90* TheStinger: While the original Chucky's blown-off, the severed head is sitting around at Andy's house with nothing to do, [[spoiler: his former foster sister Kyle from ''Film/ChildsPlay2'' shows up to continue torturing him on his behalf.]] Let's just say he's not exactly looking forward to playtime.
91-->'''Chucky:''' [[spoiler:''Kyle''?]]
92-->[[spoiler:'''Kyle:''' Andy sent me. (''Holds up a pair of pliers'') We’re gonna have some fun.]]
93* ThrowingOffTheDisability: [[spoiler:Once possessed by Chucky, Nica gains the ability to walk and feel in her legs.]]
94%%* TongueTrauma: The death of [[spoiler:Madeleine]].
95* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler:Carlos, who simply stood and witnessed three Chuckies in Dr. Foley's study when earlier there was some time to flee before Nica noticed him, leading him to be stabbed, drilled and disemboweled by the KillerDoll trio. The patients as well, justified as they were already mentally damaged that left them vulnerable and unable to tell if Chucky is real or part of their disorders.]]
96* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: PlayedForLaughs. [[spoiler:Chucky is so dumbfounded by the fact that, despite the fact that he is ''standing right in front of her talking to her'', Angela is completely unconcerned about any of it and thinks he is one of her auditory and visual hallucinations, that he decides ''not'' to kill her yet, but to do so later, and walks off in a huff.]]
97* TrojanHorse: A short-haired Chucky ends up being possessed by Chucky, and the short-haired Chucky goes off to kill Andy, who mailed it to the asylum. [[spoiler:Turns out the reason why there even was a short-haired Chucky was for Andy to smuggle in a pistol, which he uses to kill that Chucky.]]
98* VillainousRescue: Of a [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic]] nature. [[spoiler:Chucky saves Nica from bleeding out after she slits her wrists out of guilt from Alice's death because he needs her alive to possess.]]
99* WhamShot: TheStinger shows [[spoiler:an adult Kyle (Andy's former foster sister from the second film) arriving at Andy's cabin to torture the original Chucky head.]]
100* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: After one of the Chuckies possesses Nica, that particular Chucky disappears. Even if it was a full spirit transfer instead of just copying himself onto her, what happened to the doll?]]
101** [[spoiler:''{{Series/Chucky}}'' reveals what happened to that Chucky: he did only copy himself into Nica, ended up being given to the daughter of an upper-middle-class African-American family, and is [[BackForTheDead tracked down and killed by Andy and Kyle]].]]
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