Welcome to the Dollhouse: A Review of "Living with Chucky"

…because the name is a rights issue, but you get it.

After 35 years, the “Chucky” franchise has become the horror version of the Olive Garden.  If you’ve worked on any of the 7 films or 2 seasons (thus far) of the tv show, you’re basically family.  So it makes sense that “Living with Chucky,” a new documentary retrospective on the making of the films comes from writer/director Kyra Elise Gardner, daughter of “Chucky” effects maven Tony Gardner.  Here at Macabre Daily, we’re going to avoid the usual joke about the movies being “in her blood.”  Well…

Brad and Fiona Dourif apparently ignoring their guest back there.

“Living with Chucky” is essentially a feature-length expansion on “The Dollhouse,” Gardner’s mini doc from the special features on the “Cult of Chucky'' blu-ray and DVD.  It’s not a lengthy travelog like “Never Sleep Again” or “Crystal Lake Memories,” but rather a professional and personal home movie.  We hear from most of the franchise mainstays like Don Mancini, Alex Vincent, and Jennifer Tilly.  There’s also longtime producer David Kirschner, as well as Brad and Fiona Dourif, who share a delightful joint father-daughter interview.  All the major contributors are here, as well as unexpected fans of the series, like Marlon Wayans, Abigail Breslin, and James A. Janisse.  Few stones are left unturned.

If you’re already well-versed on franchise lore, the doc doesn’t tread too much new ground.  However, Gardner shows the unique angle of a filmmaker who grew up with the franchise.  Literally.  Though Kevin Yagher is famous for designing the Chucky doll and worked on the first four entries, a deal couldn’t be reached to bring him onto “Seed of Chucky.”  Mancini and Kirschner lucked out by bringing on genre veteran Tony Gardner, who took over the effects and continues to work on the franchise to this day.  Think of him as the Brian Johnson to Kevin Yagher’s Bon Scott (minus the fatal alcoholism).  Gardner recounts this for the doc, as well as what it was like seeing her dad as the resurrected Chucky and Tiffany’s first kill in “Seed of Chucky.”  I’m sure it plays great at family reunions.

Kyra Elise Gardner shows Chucky you can see Wabash and Van Buren from here.

While there are plenty of anecdotes in “Living with Chucky” Gardner also shines a light on the family members of the franchise’s crew and their toils.  When Tony Gardner and his team started working on “Seed,” no resources from past films were provided. They had to freeze-frame VHS tapes of the previous films as research.  It’s pretty incredible when you think about it, but Gardner talks about how she was halfway around the world at a young age while her dad made movie magic in Romania. 

Making-of docs never really focus on the familial cost of these films, and while this isn’t brought up to litigate a lonely childhood, it sheds some light on a perspective you might not see as you’re watching technicians deal with the mechanics of a killer doll with smaller budgets in freezing conditions. 

“Living with Chucky '' may not be the exhaustive study of a killer franchise that other documentaries try to do, but it doesn’t want nor need to be. It ends just as the “Chucky” tv show is announced, which just means there’s more story to tell. While the “Chucky” franchise is centered around a mean doll who kills people and ruins lives, Gardner never lets us forget that like the documentary itself, it’s crafted with love.

“Living with Chucky” releases on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, VUDU, Hoopla, Xbox, SCREAMBOX and more on April 4th. A Collector’s Edition Blu-ray will also be released on April 18 and available in the US & Canada.

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