This ranking does not include the ‘Chucky’ series as the ranked list below only focuses on the movie series – a full ranking will be coming soon and will be linked HERE once published. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @CoveredGeekly so you don’t miss out on our future posts.
This ranking will also not be including the 2019 movie ‘Child’s Play’, starring Aubrey Plaza and Gabriel Bateman as Karen and Andy Barclay, which saw Mark Hamill take on the voice of Chucky, as this was not canon to Mancini’s main Chucky-verse of movies and was just an attempted reboot to the original classic.
In 1988, the now legendary writer Don Mancini released the first Child’s Play movie, which saw Alex Vincent’s Andy Barclay face off against the iconic slasher known as Chucky, aka Charles Lee Ray, voiced by Brad Dourif (The Lord of the Rings, The X-Files).
Within only a few years of the first instalment being released, two Child’s Play sequels were quickly given the green light, produced, and released for fans to enjoy more chaotic madness from the killer doll – making it a trilogy.
However, some years after the release of Child’s Play 3, a new instalment was brought to life entitled Bride of Chucky, which introduced an acquaintance and love interest to Brad Dourif’s Charles Lee Ray, known as Tiffany, played by Jennifer Tilly. Tiffany begins her journey in Bride of Chucky as a human, similar to Dourif’s character, later then turning into a doll herself who ends up being just as unpredictable and mad as Chucky himself.
There are seven ‘Chucky’ movies altogether, chronologically being Child’s Play, Child’s Play 2, Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, and Cult of Chucky, which has now been continued as a television series for the SyFy network, from the original cast and crew of the classic Child’s Play franchise.
So, where does each movie rank when compared to each other, which ‘Chucky’ movie is the best, and which one is the worst relative to the rest? Check out the full list below to find out where each one ranks on our official ranking for the entire series.
Despite these movies all being released and available to watch digitally, this will not be a spoiler-heavy ranking.
7/7 – Curse of Chucky (2013)
Kicking off this ranking at the bottom of the list is 2013’s Curse of Chucky, despite not being a bad movie, it just doesn’t hold up as well when compared to the overall Child’s Play franchise. This sequel introduces Fiona Dourif’s Nica Pierce, Fiona being the real-life daughter of Brad Dourif who voices Chucky in every single Child’s Play sequel.
It’s a fun and intense ride as Nica Pierce receives a mysterious package through the mail, which ends up being a Good Guy doll, the official Chucky doll’s brand, delivered to Nica directly by Charles Lee Ray himself to seek out revenge on her family.
This instalment still offers plenty of surprises, great storytelling and practical effects, along with beloved Chucky moments where nobody believes the protagonist’s claims that a killer doll is on the loose – something that always comes back in every sequel… and works every time.
6/7 – Child’s Play 3 (1991)
Child’s Play 3 raised the stakes even higher compared to the first two Child’s Play movies, placing Chucky and Andy in a military camp for youngsters, where Chucky goes on a killing spree to get to Andy and even finds a new child to try and torment. Actor Justin Whalin replaced Alex Vincent in this sequel as the famous Chucky protagonist known as Andy Barclay, mostly due to the story being set many years later and the movie being produced within only a year of Child’s Play 2.
This sequel worked well but just doesn’t rank higher than its predecessors on this ranking, which will be explained further down the list. However, in all respects to it being the third movie in a trilogy, Child’s Play 3 still holds up well today and perfectly wraps up the first three movies plus the early chapter of Andy Barclay’s life.
5/7 – Seed of Chucky (2004)
The fifth movie in the series comes in fifth place on this ranking, Seed of Chucky, which teamed together Brad Dourif with fellow The Lord of the Rings-alum Billy Boyd, as Dourif played Gríma Wormtongue in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy – with Boyd who starred as Peregrin Took, aka Pippin, one of the main hobbits from Tolkien’s LOTR novels.
Boyd entered the mix as Glenn/ Glenda, a child to Chucky and Tiffany, who is even born as a doll from the start due to the mysterious magic used throughout the franchise, and somewhat natural methods. This sequel is full of meta-commentary, with Jennifer Tilly even starring as a fictional version of herself, along with playing Tiffany. It’s full of moments that will make you both laugh and jump and offers a perfect sequel to Bride of Chucky.
4/7 – Cult of Chucky (2017)
The last official movie of the Child’s Play franchise ranks at number 4 out of 7 in this ranked list, beating the previous mentions simply due to the reimagining of what the crazy Charles Lee Ray, aka Chucky, can think up when figuring out how to torment his victims.
Cult of Chucky doesn’t just give one Chucky to be weary of, but three, with this instalment being a direct sequel to Curse of Chucky that’s packed with plenty of new twists, surprises, and maybe some of the goriest scenes ever shown in the whole series.
Major Spoiler: Why does this Child’s Play sequel ranks so high? Simply because Charles Lee Ray finally manages to use his dark magic spell to transfer his soul into a human, as opposed to a doll, which is something Chucky has tried to do in almost every single movie – and out of all the actors who finally got the chance to play such a human, Brad Dourif’s Daughter Fiona Dourif got the role, who stars as Nico for the second time making Chucky a real family legacy.
3/7 – Child’s Play 2 (1990)
There’s just something that Child’s Play 2 has that the previously mentioned instalment does not, be it Alex Vincent’s Andy Barclay summoning up the courage to face Chucky properly and mangle him using machinery inside a factory that makes Good Guys dolls, the strong female lead known as Kyle who is played by Christine Elise that just kicks a** throughout the whole movie, or the cunning and evil steps that Chucky takes to seek revenge on Andy – Child’s Play 2 is just an all-round perfect sequel to the original Child’s Play, and probably the best second-chapter of a Child’s Play character seen yet.
2/7 – Bride of Chucky
Now, it should be noted that Bride of Chucky was an extremely close first contender for this ranking, as this Child’s Play sequel was by far one of the best in the whole franchise, offering a new light to Brad Dourif’s Charles Lee Ray, aka Chucky, and introducing a brand new killer doll named Tiffany played by Jennifer Tilly – it even stars Katherine Heigl as the main protagonist!
What this movie did best was pairing two brilliant actors who worked perfectly together regarding on-screen chemistry, comedic timing, and the ability to seem insane and enthusiastic enough to truly enjoy torturing and killing innocent people.
However, what this movie also did was reboot the entire franchise as there had not been a new instalment for almost a decade, plus kick off a brand new chapter in Chucky’s story while also staying true to its character lore and history. This movie wins top marks for being both a sequel and a reboot at the same time, perfectly executing both – at the same time.
1/7 – Child’s Play
The first and original Child’s Play movie which came out in 1988 gets first place in this ranked list, mostly because there just wouldn’t be a Chucky franchise without this brilliant introduction brought to life by Don Mancini, not to mention that this movie was a massive game changer in the slasher genre and way ahead of its time – as it still holds well today.
You just can’t beat the original as they say, and that is especially true with Mancini’s Child’s Play franchise, which the attempted remake back in 2019 proved as instead of winning a sequel, fans demanded that the originals continue, ultimately leading to the Chucky TV series being greenlit at SyFy – which we’ll be sure to rank next time!
