Living With Chucky is by filmmaker Kyra Elise Gardner.
Kyra Elise Gardner had an unusual introduction to the Child’s Play franchise. Instead of meeting Chucky, the infamous killer doll, through old VHS tapes or at a local video rental store like most young horror fans, Gardner’s father was puppeteering the doll himself in the 2004 film ‘Seed of Chucky.’ Tony Gardner has gone on to work on additional Chucky sequels, ‘Curse of Chucky’ and ‘Cult of Chucky,’ and has also worked on the new ‘Chucky’ series, which just wrapped shooting its second season. However, Chucky has been more than just a prop to Kyra Gardner throughout her life – he’s a family member.
Gardner initially made a documentary short that explored her relationship with Chucky, ‘The Dollhouse.’
Her Florida State University project was later shown before the world premiere of ‘Cult of Chucky.’ However, this short got Gardner’s foot in the door to make a feature-length documentary that explored the history of the Child’s Play franchise in addition to her relationship with the doll.
Enter ‘Living With Chucky,’ a thorough examination of the ‘Child’s Play’ franchise’s history that includes everyone you can imagine that has worked on the films: Don Mancini, David Kirschner, Brad and Fiona Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, Alex Vincent, Billy Boyd and, of course, Tony Gardner. The documentary’s history of ‘Child’s Play’ is pretty straightforward. It transitions from film to film with VHS and DVD copies of the movies inserted in their respective players to show which film we are moving to. In addition, it shines a light on the age of the franchise: the pre-2000s films are VHS tapes, while the later films are on disc.
About midway through the documentary, it transitions from just history to a deeper look at the familial feeling and camaraderie shared by those who have dedicated many years of their lives to the series. Gardner becomes a character in the documentary because of her passion for everyone she has looked up to for many years.
It’s very apparent that this is a passion project for Gardner, as if she had all of these pent-up feelings about this film franchise and the only way she could express them was to put them on screen. In addition, the interviews are much more personal because all of the interviewees have a history with Gardner, or at the very least have known her father for such a long time.
Verdict
‘Living With Chucky’ might not provide new information about the franchise to longtime horror fans, but it’s a fun history that’s capped off with a passionate personal story. ‘Living With Chucky’ premiered at Fantastic Fest 2022 and will hopefully get a wider release. Do you Vouch for it? Read more Reviews on Nerdtropolis and Subscribe to our YouTube.
Drew Munhausen
Media and Movie Mastermind who co-hosts the Moviegoers Society Podcast and Fresh out the Pod.