Here are the nine films in order:
- “Child’s Play” (1988)
- “Child’s Play 2” (1990)
- “Child’s Play 3” (1991)
- “Zapatlela” (1993)
- “Bride of Chucky” (1998)
- “Seed of Chucky” (2004)
- “Curse of Chucky” (2013)
- “Zapatlela 2” (2013)
- “Cult of Chucky” (2017)
- “Child’s Play” (2019)
The first three films in the series were all straightforward horror films, and all followed the relationship between the killer doll Chucky and Andy, the young boy from the first film. By “Child’s Play 3,” Andy is a teenager attending a military academy. Starting with “Bride of Chucky,” the series took a turn toward comedy, turning the horror into something a little more slapstick. Chucky and his bride Tiffany — whose soul he shunted into a doll out of spite — became the main characters, and the films became snarky and self-aware in the “Scream” mold. The 2013 “Curse of Chucky” saw the series movie to home video, and shifted the tone slightly back toward horror. “Cult of Chucky” introduced the notion that Chucky’s soul could be trifurcated, and he stalked victims from several doll bodies simultaneously.
The Syfy TV series takes place after “Cult of Chucky.”
The 2019 remake was again about Andy (Gabriel Bateman) and his mom (Aubrey Plaza), but the doll was now named Buddi (Mark Hamill) and was not possessed by a serial killer. In the remake, Buddi was an artificially intelligent toy that had its safety protocols removed by a bitter sweatshop employee. Buddi, wanting to protect Andy from harm, became murderous and possessive. It was a clever update to the “Child’s Play” material.