Sins Of The Father

Religion and family go head-to-head as Chucky returns to wreak revenge once more

- DARREN SCOTT

YOU KNOW THAT spooky season has officially begun when you sit down with Child's Play creator, writer, director, and executive producer Don Mancini. Why? Because it means that his demon doll is heading back to stalk us, just in time for Halloween.

After seven big-screen outings, Chucky came to terrorize television screens last October in his first self-titled series. Not a reboot, not a remake but a continuation of the 34-year legacy - with all the complicated and kooky bits included - the show was a smash hit.

When we catch up with Mancini - called from "a little emergency" on set that we can only imagine has ginger hair - he's shooting the last block of Chucky season two, comprising the final two episodes, seven and eight. "Knock wood," he grins, "I'm feeling good about it. I think fans are gonna dig it."

The studio and network, he says, have been incredibly supportive from the beginning of the journey to reanimate Chucky once more. This, he notes, is because of genuine love from them for the character and the genre. "That's not always the case," he chuckles, citing that "horror/slasher stuff" might not necessarily always be people's "thing".

"I've been around a long time now - a lot of these executives grew up on Chucky. So they're just genuinely enthusiastic about the character and the franchise and the show."

FAMILY AFFAIR

The success of the first season, Mancini considers, probably makes them "feel even more bullish about it." But as we discussed way back in SFX 344, it was never taken for granted that the show would land, let alone guarantee a second run.