Netflix Gets Beloved Horror Franchise Fans Have Kept Alive Nearly 40 Years

Just in case you haven’t seen the original Child’s Play, we’ll give you a brief catch-up on Chucky before heading over to Netflix to binge the rest of the movies. The story follows a hardworking single mother (Catherine Hicks) who goes the extra distance to get her son, Andy (Alex Vincent), the uber-popular Good Guy doll.

What she could never know is that the doll has been possessed by the spirit of a serial killer known as Charles Lee Ray who uses his new vessel to get back at his ex-accomplice and commit some more murders while he’s at it.

The original film was such a hit that Child’s Play 2 was almost immediately greenlit and unboxed itself in cinemas in 1990 with yet another title, Child’s Play 3, to follow in 1991. However, by this point, Universal had the franchise’s creator, Don Mancini, under the gun, rushing him and the rest of his team to deliver more content as soon as possible making the third installment much less popular than the two that came before it.

While it’s still an important part of the overarching story and references to come, if there’s one movie you want to axe from your watch-through of the Chucky films on Netflix, it would be number three.

It would be seven years before the tiny killer returned to screens, with the incredibly fun, campy, and grisly Bride of Chucky arriving in 1998. Not only does Brad Dourif return as the voice of Chucky (a part that he’s played throughout all the films and even the Syfy and USA Network TV series) but Jennifer Tilly’s Tiffany Valentine is introduced in the fourth movie making this an absolute must-watch on Netflix.

Back into the swing of things, the next movie to come was 2004’s Seed of Chucky which featured cameo appearances from the legendary John Waters, Redman, Billy Boyd, and more.

Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky are terrific watches for Netflix subscribers who like a little bit of campiness tossed into their horror flicks but the penultimate film (so far) in Mancini’s killer world, Curse of Chucky, returned the story to its slasher roots.

This and the movie to follow, Cult of Chucky, wouldn’t be screened in cinemas but instead celebrated direct-to-VOD and DVD releases. Still, audiences showed up and spent their money, proving that, like its main character, the Child’s Play franchise will always come back.

If you haven’t yet checked out all of the Chucky movies, taking advantage of their time on Netflix is the perfect way to fully understand the horror franchise’s history. With the TV series now three seasons in on USA Network, Syfy, and Peacock, this is a wonderful way to get caught up before diving into the episodic format. Like Michael Myers, Ghostface, and Jason Vorhees, Chucky is a cinematic icon whose story deserves a solid watch-through.