The Child's Play Collection

[yoloswegmaster]

YOU JUST CAN'T KEEP A GOOD GUY DOWN!

From his very first outing in 1988, Chucky the pint-sized, plastic 'Good Guy' doll has managed to carve out a unique and enduring legacy while trying his (plastic) hand at some truly creative, blood-soaked mayhem!

In Tom Holland (Fright Night)'s Child's Play, a young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) receives his very own Good Guy doll. Unluckily for both him and his mother Karen (Catherine Hicks), "Chucky" happens to contain the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), and causes chaos for Andy and those around him, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. In Child's Play 2, Chucky returns in full mini-monster mode, terrorising Andy further in a sinister game of hide-and-seek. Child's Play 3 sees a teenaged Andy (Justin Whalin) dealing with both military school and a recently resurrected Chucky.

In Ronny Yu's Bride of Chucky, the doll with a killer personality returns and continues his murderous spree alongside his love, Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly). Series creator Don Mancini makes his directorial debut in Seed of Chucky, where Chucky and Tiffany continue their wicked antics after being resurrected by their living-doll child, Glen (Billy Boyd). Nine years later, Chucky chooses Nica (Fiona Dourif) and her family to torture in Mancini's Curse of Chucky, followed swiftly by Cult of Chucky, in which Nica faces the Good Guy once more with a little help from a grown-up Andy Barclay (Vincent).

Featuring brand new 4K restorations of the sequels with recent cast and crew interviews as well as Kyra Elise Gardner's behind the scenes documentary Living with Chucky, you don't want to miss this toybox of terror from Arrow Video! Wanna play?

Product Features:

Limited edition deluxe packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Mark Bell
Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the films by John-Paul Checkett, Kat Ellinger, Barry Forshaw, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Cerise Howard, and select archival material
Three double sided fold-out posters featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Mark Bell
4K UHD discs - Region Free
Blu-ray discs - Region B

DISC 1: CHILD'S PLAY (BLU-RAY)

2012 High Definition (1080p) Blu-Ray from MGM Home Entertainment
Original English stereo 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio
5.1 Spanish and Portuguese audio, and stereo 2.0 French audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Optional French, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese and Korean subtitles
Audio commentary with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and "Chucky" designer Kevin Yagher
Audio commentary with producer David Kirschner and screenwriter Don Mancini
Scene specific Chucky commentary
Evil Comes in Small Packages, three-part featurette: The Birth of Chucky, Creating the Horror and Unleashed
Chucky: Building a Nightmare featurette
A Monster Convention featurette
Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child's Play vintage featurette
Image gallery

DISC 2: CHILD'S PLAY 2 (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and Dolby Atmos audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with director John Lafia
Puppet Masteri, an interview with writer Don Mancini
Under Pressure, an interview with actor Alex Vincent
The Family Expands, an interview with producer Don Kirschner
In Kyle We Trust, an interview with actress Christine Elise
School's Out, an interview with actress Beth Grant
The Second Dance, an interview with executive producer Robert Latham Brown
Extra scenes from the broadcast TV version
Original promotional featurettes
Theatrical trailer
TV spot
Image gallery

DISC 3: CHILD'S PLAY 3 (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and Dolby Atmos audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio Commentary with producer Robert Latham Brown
Audio Commentary with director Jack Bender
Ride the Frightening, an interview with writer Don Mancini
War Games, an interview with actress Perrey Reeves
Chucky Goes East, an interview with producer David Kirschner
Carnivals and Campouts, an interview with producer Robert Latham Brown
Midway Centurions, an interview with actor Michael Chieffo
Shear Terror, an interview with makeup artist Craig Reardon
Unholy Mountain, an interview with production designer Richard Sawyer
Extra scenes from the Broadcast TV version
Theatrical trailer
TV spot
Image gallery

DISC 4: BRIDE OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with director Ronny Yu
Audio commentary with actors Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif and screenwriter Don Mancini
Archival introduction by Jennifer Tilly
Spotlight on Location, featurette on the making of Bride of Chucky
The Making of Bride of Chucky featurette
Extra scenes from the Broadcast TV version
Theatrical trailer
TV spots
Image gallery

DISC 5: SEED OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of both the Theatrical Version and the Unrated Version of the film
Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 on both versions
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and special makeup effects artist Tony Gardner
Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and Jennifer Tilly
Off With the Head, Tony Gardner on Seed of Chucky
Chucky Be Demented, John Waters on Seed of Chucky
Slashed Scene with commentary by writer/director Don Mancini and Debbie Carrington
Heeeeere's Chucky, Jim Moret interviews Chucky
Family Hell-Day slide Show
Conceiving the Seed of Chucky featurette
Jennifer Tilly on The Tonight Show
FuZion Up Close with the stars of Seed of Chucky
Storyboard to final feature comparison featurette
DVD easter eggs
Teaser trailer
Theatrical trailer
TV spots
Image gallery

DISC 6: CURSE OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the Unrated Version of the film
Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini, special makeup effects artist Tony Gardner and actor Fiona Dourif
Andy's Secret Return, actor Alex Vincent on Curse of Chucky
It's Got A Death Curse, animatronic effects supervisor Tony Gardner on Curse of Chucky
Twist of Jill, actor Danielle Bisutti on Curse of Chucky
Playing with Dolls: The Making of Curse of Chucky featurette
Living Doll: Bringing Chucky to Life featurette
Voodoo Doll: The Chucky Legacy featurette
Storyboard comparisons featurette
Deleted scenes
Gag reel
Trailer
TV spot
Image gallery

DISC 7: CULT OF CHUCKY (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)

4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the Unrated Version of the film
Original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with writer/director Don Mancini and special effects makeup artist Tony Gardner
Doll in the Family, animatronic effects supervisor Tony Gardner on Cult of Chucky
Do the Chucky Stomp, actor Alex Vincent on Cult of Chucky
A look inside Alex Vincent's recording studio
Inside the Insanity of Cult of Chucky featurette
Good Guy Gone Bad: The incarnations of Chucky featurette
The Dollhouse, filmmaker Kyra Elise Gardner talks with her father Tony and the Chucky family about working on the franchise
Deleted scenes
Trailers
TV spot
Image gallery

DISC 8: LIVING WITH CHUCKY (BLU-RAY)

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of Kyra Elise Gardner's definitive documentary on the Child's Play franchise
English lossless stereo audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with director Kyra Elise Gardner
Candid Conversations, Favorite Death Scenes and Strange Families featurettes

[yoloswegmaster]

Don't know if this is just an oversight but the first film is listed as being blu only and is from an older master.

[What A Disgrace]

Looks like they couldn't get 4K rights to the original film, much like with Enter the Dragon and Bruce Lee.

[EddieLarkin]

MGM seem to have had a blanket ban on UK UHD licensing for a long time now.

Ah well, this should still work out much cheaper than importing the Shout sequel discs, and just topping with their release of the first one.

[dwk]

According to a post at the Blu-ray.com forum, here is what is exclusive to the Arrow set:

Child’s Play 2:
-Original promotional featurettes
-Image Gallery

Child’s Play 3:
-Image Gallery

Bride of Chucky
-Archival introduction by Jennifer Tilly
-Image Gallery

Seed of Chucky
-Unrated Cut in 4K
-DVD Easter Eggs
-Image Gallery

Curse of Chucky
-Image Gallery

Cult of Chucky
-Image Gallery

LIVING WITH CHUCKY (BLU-RAY)

[swo17]

Looks like they couldn't get 4K rights to the original film, much like with Enter the Dragon and Bruce Lee.

I liked how in the Bruce Lee set, this was subtly distinguished by the Arrow logo being replaced by the WB one, but it doesn't look like they've done that here (though there is a WB logo toward the bottom of the spine)

[Finch]

James Flower confirmed on X that MGM indeed wouldn't budge on the original film for the UK rights. Guess I can get Scream's Carrie 4k whenever Amazon have it for half price again.

[ryannichols7]

I have no horse in the race for this particular release, but crushing to know Carrie won't see an Arrow UHD in the upcoming future. I somehow didn't keep up with the fact that MGM isn't licensing UHDs in the UK. seems weird given they have no problem in the US, and they're still licensing plenty of Bluray titles to the various labels

[therewillbeblus]

This is clearly going in the direction of the UHD thread, but is the Scream UHD Carrie significantly better than Arrow's already-excellent blu-ray?

[Finch]

I think I marked it as a solid upgrade though Shout's encode is merely good (as opposed to great on Black Christmas).

[Finch]

Annoyingly this also means that for any MGM title that's with Kino, we are left hoping that the most arrogant label in the world stops flagging downmixes as original audio and requests the actual OG mix from the studios. I had a few MGM titles from Kino in my list until the reports came in and was left with Ronin as the only film that wasn't compromised in one way or another. We haven't had confirmation yet if The Train 4k's audio is acceptable (PQ is great as with Manchurian Candidate).

[therewillbeblus]

Does someone have a list of MGM titles for Arrow/Kino/etc. that are now worth prioritizing pickups for? Though I'm still not really clear on what the situation is

[JamesF]

Before you rush to import all the Shout and Kino UHDs you’ve been holding off on, all I’ll say is that just because they wouldn’t license one film to us for whatever reason (beats me!) doesn’t mean that they’re not willing to license other UHD rights to us.

Major studios, consistent and predictable? Pfft!

[ryannichols7]

Before you rush to import all the Shout and Kino UHDs you’ve been holding off on, all I’ll say is that just because they wouldn’t license one film to us for whatever reason (beats me!) doesn’t mean that they’re not willing to license other UHD rights to us.

Major studios, consistent and predictable? Pfft!

okay I walk it back, will continue to hold on hope for Carrie among other titles. thank you as always for being informative!!!

[therewillbeblus]

Thanks James, I was wondering how we got from A to Z!

[colinr0380]

The EFAP fellows are working through the Child's Play series for this year's spooky month

[The Curious Sofa]

One of the more interesting horror franchises out there. While not every movie is a winner, it was more successful at reinventing itself than most of the competition over the decades thanks to Don Mancini's continued (and delightfully queer) influence. It went from straight horror to outrageously camp to meta over seven movies, and then fully came out of the closet with the TV series. The worst Child's Play movie is the only one Mancini was not involved with. Why bother with A.I. Chucky (a desperate bid for relevance) when you could be hanging with possessed-by-Brad-Dourif Chucky?

[beamish14]

One of the more interesting horror franchises out there. While not every movie is a winner, it was more successful at reinventing itself than most of the competition over the decades thanks to Don Mancini's continued (and delightfully queer) influence. It went from straight horror to outrageously camp to meta over seven movies, and then fully came out of the closet with the TV series. The worst Child's Play movie is the only one Mancini was not involved with. Why bother with A.I. Chucky (a desperate bid for relevance) when you could be hanging with possessed-by-Brad-Dourif Chucky?

I love Ronny Yu’s Bride of Chucky and Child’s Play 2. The production design and cinematography in the latter is just amazing. Plus it has Jenny Agutter and Gerrit Graham as a couple, which is very inspired casting. John Lafia directed The Blue Iguana, a very eccentric and funny little gem that Kino handled

[colinr0380]

The EFAP crew didn't get into any of the somewhat absurd controversy about Child's Play 3 being used as a convenient scapegoat in the Jamie Bulger murder case in the UK by the tabloids, simply because of existing in the zeitgeist at the same time as the crime occured and the film dealing with a child being put into danger throughout, despite there being no other particular connection than that tenuous one to connect the film to real-life events. I seem to recall it was suggested that the father of one of the two child murderers rented the film out, although there was no indication that he had ever let his son see it, but that was enough to tar the film with the brush of controversy. However I did not entirely expect the EFAP people to mention it since that is more of a UK-specific situation with that film (similar to the way that in the late 1980s Rambo got caught up in the Hungerford situation just because a witness to the rampage said that the killer looked like "he was in a Rambo film"), and a lot of the guys on that show who are from the UK appear to have born in the mid-90s, so well past the time of encountering the tabloid controversy firsthand. But I have often wondered if all of that whipped up controversy played its part in both the seven year gap between Child's Play 3 and Bride of Chucky and the tonal shift from children being put in danger from Chucky to adults instead.

Anyway, they are just about to get to Bride of Chucky in the next day or so, and given that the EFAP people loved the also Ronny Yu directed Freddy vs Jason out of all the Nightmare on Elm Street series, I am curious to see what they make of that one. Lots of fascinating supporting cast trivia to get into as well since that's the one that features a pre-transition Robert Arquette, before they became Alexis Arquette a few years later. Its also got a couple of comedians in the cast, which underlines the tonal shift to even more camp comedy with Kathy Najimy (aka the jolly nun from the Sister Act films) making a quick appearance, and this being one of John Ritter's last notable film roles (in a really nice touch his son Jason Ritter, appears in Freddy vs Jason in one of his first film roles!)

[The Curious Sofa]

I don't know who EFAP are, but having to get into the James Bulger killing because British tabloids made a non-existent link between that movie and the murder (BTW. "Jamie", a nickname the boy was never called while alive, was another tabloid lie) would be a serious buzzkill when discussing these campy horror movies. Maybe just not open that can of worms.

Also, if these EFAP people are fans of the dismal Freddy vs Jason, I'm now forever put off to check them out.

The two ultra-camp movies in the middle, Bride and Seed, aren't favourites of mine. I prefer the last two films, which were the best at balancing horror with humour. With Cult of Chucky, the series went out on a high, though it works best if you've seen all the previous movies. But there is something to like about each of them.

[JamesF]

since that's the one that features a pre-transition Robert Arquette, before they became Alexis Arquette a few years later.

Just to nitpick, her professional name was always Alexis Arquette, even when acting as a man, including in earlier horror films like the well-worth-seeking-out Jack Be Nimble and the not-so-much Sometimes They Come Back… Again.

[The Curious Sofa]

I once ended up at a trivia night at a gay bar in West Hollywood hosted by Alexis Arquette where the audience had to guess the dick size of the contestants.

Arquette was the best thing about Uli Edel's adaptation of Last Exit to Brooklyn, which could almost be considered a horror film. I was hoping for more great work from another Arquette sibling, but I can see why the Hollywood of the time didn't know what to do with her/him. According to David Arquette, Alexis began presenting as a man again a few years before their death, so that non-gender specific artist's name was no accident.

[colinr0380]

Ah, that makes sense. They are very much playing a male character in Bride of Chucky so that's why I made the assumption that the transition happened a bit later, but I am happy to be corrected!

And if it makes any difference Curious Sofa, those Every Frame A Pause people really liked Nightmare on Elm Street 3 for its inventiveness as well when they did the series last year, though they hated Wes Craven's New Nightmare for being boring, which might play into the lack of particularly riffable on the fly stuff in that one like you say! Though it is still important for its meta aspects, such as the use of New Line headquarters and the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge earthquake as plot elements on top of the actors playing versions of themselves, which feeds into the Scream series to come! (Come to think of it there must have been something in the ether with lots of young kids being terrorised by killers, and ending up being disbelieved and monitored by callous doctors/psychiatrists/experts, in films around the late 80s and early 90s - Poltergeist III, the Child's Play films, New Nightmare, even The Fly II! Children in those days had to deal with a lot! Let alone adding in the Jurassic Park effect!)

[The Curious Sofa]

New Nightmare is my favourite movie in the series!

I mostly stay away from opinion pieces on film, be that on YouTube or podcasts. If I read a book on film or listen to a movie podcast I want to learn something I didn't know before, so I gravitate to writing and podcasts that are based on research. And if I want opinions I don't need any more from 30something, straight, white dudes, who make up 90% of those who produce this type of content (I didn't check out EFAP, so I may be all wrong here).

It's also a generational thing, I learned so much about film from reading books and with these podcasts and videos, I'm always surprised how much these guys don't know about something they claim to be passionate about. Then they have to look up a well known fact or name on Wikipedia during their podcast, so theirs are not the type of opinions I respect.

[colinr0380]

I know what you mean Curious Sofa, but I also like approaching these kind of internet pieces less to serve as replacements for the experience of watching the film yourself, or even to get fresh insights per se, but as with something like MST3K a chance to look through films though different eyes (its the reason why I'll be skipping M3GAN when they do a diversion into it later in this series, because I have not yet watched it to form my own opinion of it as yet). I take these kinds of series as being a bit like excitedly introducing films you like to a group of friends (albeit parasocial ones in this case) and when it inevitably turns out that they respond to different things entirely, or even hate a film that you love outright, then not getting upset but still being interested in the different experience of that particular group of people seeing it.

For the record, I love New Nightmare too!