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Kill… or Just Take Notes
“It’s odd when even the home studio seems exhausted by their property. Cult of Chucky withers under a lackluster budget, and the direct-to-video trap is inescapable. A couple of kills earn memorable status. Director Don Mancini (also the writer of all seven Child’s Play films) comes up with a few nifty shots of Chucky too, but the rest is on fumes. Cult of Chucky only follows the road, drifting without motivation.”
Read our full Cult of Chucky Blu-ray review for more
Video
Scream features the unrated cut only on UHD, and in Dolby Vision. From a new 4K master (according to the box art), Cult of Chucky looks decent for a direct-to-video presentation, as it originally was. It’s reasonably sharp, with passable resolution. Texture varies, inconsistent, but when at its best, it’s fantastic. Close-ups on Chucky reveal the rubber and plastic in full. Other facial definition (the human kind) shows superb texture. Noise also bounces from minor to aggressive at the source, with the encode holding up.
Purposefully muted color keeps Cult of Chucky’s palette in grays and blues, with blood and flesh tones the standouts. The rest maintains the pale aesthetic, and given the setting with white walls, opportunities are few to expand. The one exception is Jennifer Tilly’s red coat – that pops.
A pleasing zap to the contrast elevates highlights. It’s intense as needed. Black levels hit proper depth, keeping shadows dense and pure black. Crushing in the deepest shadows represents the on-set lighting.
Audio
Outside of some thunder and music stings, Cult of Chucky’s DTS-HD track barely uses the available channels. A bit of pitter-patter as Chucky runs around a room is a rare occurrence despite opportunity elsewhere. Voices stay in the center, and ambiance is rare.
Thrumming orchestration does involve the LFE a tad, albeit minor. Dynamic range is on show during the kills as a startling effect. That’s fine, just dull.
Extras
Writer/director Don Mancini and puppeteer Tony Gardner pair up for a commentary, and Mancini continues over three deleted scenes. The first featurette, Inside the Insanity, brings an EPK feel to its seven minute runtime. Good Guy Gone Bad is a better one, focused on the complex animatronic and puppet work.
What’s a shame is The Dollhouse only runs seven minutes. It’s a look inside the family-like atmosphere formed from making the Child’s Play films. There’s a fine documentary here potentially, if expanded.
Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.
Cult of Chucky
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Extras
Movie
While able to deliver a few chills, Cult of Chucky lack the intrigue, style, and uniqueness of its predecessors.
User Review
( vote)The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 39 full resolution uncompressed 4K screen shots grabbed directly from the UHD:
Matt Paprocki
Matt Paprocki has critiqued home media and video games for 20 years across outlets like Washington Post, Variety, Rolling Stone, Forbes, IGN, Playboy, Polygon, Ars, and others. His current passion project is the technically minded DoBlu.com. You can read Matt's body of work via his personal WordPress blog, and follow him on Twitter @Matt_Paprocki.