Chucky movies ranked — Universal Pictures

Who would have guessed that a killer doll would be so popular?

The Child’s Play series features Chucky the killer doll, one of the most famous villains in slasher movie history. The series is rarely creepy and never scary, but nevertheless it has become one of the most successful and durable horror franchises. We have the Chucky movies ranked below and we also list the Chucky movies in order.

Chucky was created by screenwriter Don Mancini, who was inspired by the Cabbage Patch Kids craze of the ’80s. Mancini has written the scripts for all the Chucky movies except the remake. Chucky is voiced by actor Brad Dourif, whose raspy inflection fits Chucky’s personality to a tee.

Another recurring character in the series is Andy Barclay, played by Alex Vincent. In the original movie, Andy is a small child who gets Chucky as a birthday present. Andy is featured in the first three installments. He later returns in “Cult of Chucky” and the television series as a middle-aged man who is obsessed with Chucky.

After the success of the original film, Child’s Play quickly received two sequels. The first performed well at the box office, but Child’s Play 3 experienced diminishing returns, causing the series to go dormant for several years. It was eventually revived with Bride of Chucky in 1998, which features Tiffany, a female killer doll. In 2002, Bride of Chucky received an absolutely bonkers sequel, Seed of Chucky, which features Chucky and Tiffany’s offspring, Glen or Glenda.

The box office failure of Seed led the series back into hibernation for several years. In fact, Seed of Chucky remains the last Chucky movie, other than the remake, to receive a major domestic theatrical release. But the series was revived in 2013, with the no-frills low budget sequel Curse of Chucky. This surprisingly good installment received a positive reception from fans, leading to a direct sequel, Cult of Chucky. A reboot of the original Child’s Play was released in 2019, with Mark Hamill voicing a much different version of Chucky.

The original series was continued with the Chucky television series, which has been surprisingly effective at integrating the plot elements of all the previous movies (except the remake, which it ignores) into a coherent storyline. A teenage boy purchases Chucky at a yard sale, believing that he is a normal vintage toy from the ’80s.

After Chucky reveals his true nature, he tries to manipulate the teen and his friends into becoming murderers. The series eventually reveals a diabolical scheme involving an army of Chucky dolls. We haven’t ranked the TV show here, because comparing movies to TV is like comparing apples to oranges. But, if we were to rank it, it would be probably be in the top four.

This is probably the world’s most wild and crazy horror franchise. It’s hard to deny its cultural impact. Chucky, like Freddy and Jason, has become so well known that virtually everyone, even people who never watch horror, knows who he is.

Since the series stopped numbering the installments after Child’s Play 3, the series can be confusing for newcomers. The movies are listed in chronological order below.

The Chucky movies in order:

Child’s Play (1988)

Child’s Play 2 (1990)

Child’s Play 3 (1991)

Bride of Chucky (1998)

Seed of Chucky (2002)

Curse of Chucky (2013) (direct to video)

Cult of Chucky (2017) (direct to video)

Child’s Play remake (2019)

Chucky Season 1 (2021) (sequel to Cult of Chucky, ignores the remake)

Chucky Season 2 (2022)

Chucky Season 3 (2024)

The Chucky Movies Ranked

8. Child’s Play 3

This one picks up several years after the end of the second movie, with a teenage Andy attending military school. Of course, Chucky shows up to wreak more havoc.

This movie was rushed into production after the success of Child’s Play 2 and it shows. It is creatively weak and often boring. Until the remake, this was the last installment to use the Child’s Play moniker.

7. Seed of Chucky

Photo: Universal Pictures

Glen, a misfit doll who is the innocent son of Chucky and Tiffany, embarks on a quest to find his parents and is taken aback when he discovers that they are murderers. Glen has a violent female split personality, Glenda. Tiffany becomes obsessed with possessing the body of actress Jennifer Tilly, who portrays a fictionalized version of herself and is having an affair with the rapper Redman, who is also playing himself.

Jennifer has two children, a boy and a girl, that could be human vessels for Glen and Glenda. Oh yeah, and Chucky is in the movie too, performing his usual shtick.

Did ya get all that? This movie has one of the weirdest and most convoluted plots imaginable. There are too many characters and Chucky feels like a side issue in his own franchise.

6. Child’s Play remake

Chucky is reimagined as a malfunctioning robot in this serviceable but bland reboot, which was initially intended to start a new series. Mark Hamill voices Chucky. Andy Barclay, who is portrayed as an older kid after being barely more than a toddler in the original film, is given the doll by his mom.

Of course, the robot goes crazy and becomes obsessed with destroying anyone who is a threat to his bond with Andy. This film has a plot that’s similar to the movie M3gan, but it lacks that film’s wit, energy, and creativity. The mediocre critical and commercial response nixed plans for a sequel.

5. Bride of Chucky

After the negative reception to Child’s Play 3, the series was revived five years later with a very ’90s Scream-inspired installment featuring an evil female doll, Tiffany (voiced by Jennifer Tilly) and numerous references to other horror movie franchises.

This movie often goes overboard with its chaotic craziness, but at least it’s a major creative improvement over its immediate predecessor. It’s a frenetic, fast-paced ride with lots of in-jokes for horror fans.

4. Cult of Chucky

The seventh installment is a direct sequel to Curse of Chucky and is set in a mental institution, where Chucky tracks down Nica Pierce, played again by Fiona Dourif. Every slasher franchise should have at least one installment set in a hospital or mental ward!

As you might expect, Chucky finds plenty of useful tools to play with. He also gains the ability to possess multiple dolls simultaneously, setting up a key plot device in the Chucky television series.

3. Curse of Chucky

This one takes a back to basics approach, cutting down on the excesses of the previous two installments. Chucky is mostly creeping around in the background, similar to the original movie. This might have simply been a budget decision, but regardless, it was the right choice. Nica Pierce (played by Fiona Dourif, the daughter of Chucky voice actor Brad Dourif), a paraplegic, is visited by her young niece, Alice.

Alice finds a strange doll that has inexplicably appeared in Nica’s apartment. Soon people began to die mysteriously. No points for guessing if the deaths have something do with Alice’s new doll. Other than the first movie, this is the only Chucky movie that manages to be a little bit creepy.

2. Child’s Play 2

Andy is now in foster care after his mother is institutionalized following the traumatic events of the previous film. His foster parents are annoying, but he gets a cool foster sister named Kyle. Chucky soon returns and he is hellbent on exacting revenge on Andy.

Child’s Play 2 has the most clever ending of the series, with Andy and Kyle battling Chucky in a grotesque malfunctioning doll manufacturing plant. I love the toy factory ending, it is so deliciously insane!

1. Child’s Play

Although its special effects are dated, Child’s Play remains the best of the series. It has the best cast and the concept of a killer doll was still relatively novel at the time. Along with Chucky, this movie introduces his greatest nemesis, Andy Barclay.

Charles Lee Ray, a Chicago serial killer, dies in a shootout with the police. Shortly before bleeding to death, he uses a voodoo spell to transfer his soul into the body of a “Good Guy” doll.

Later, an unsuspecting mother purchases the doll from a street vendor who is selling it for half price. The final battle with Chucky proves that it’s really, really difficult to kill a possessed doll!