SPOILER WARNING! The following article contains massive spoilers for the third episode of Chucky Season 3. If you have not yet watched, continue at your own risk!
“Jennifer’s Body,” the third episode in the third season of Chucky, features arguably the most horrifying scene that the series has unleashed yet. One of the coolest aspects of the show is that it regularly features Alex Vincent, the original Andy Barclay from 1988’s Child’s Play, and it is beyond shocking to see him get tied to his bed and stabbed to death by his nemesis. The whole think thankfully turns out to just be a dream, but it is terrifying on first watch (particularly after the traumatic death of Annie Briggs’ Rachel Fairchild in Episode 2).
Shocked by what I was witnessing while watching the episode earlier this month, I was compelled to ask about the sequence the next day when I had the incredible pleasure of interviewing Don Mancini, the creator of Chucky. He was there when Alex Vincent was making his acting debut as a six/seven-year-old in the original Child’s Play, and he was thrilled with the work that the actor did in his death scene. Said the filmmaker,
Well, first of all, wasn't Alex great in that scene? He just gets better and better every season, I think. And we were all so impressed with him when he shot that scene. As you know, it's a dream sequence as it turns out, and part of what's I love about it is literally just the slow dissolve to Chucky, you know, and he is waking up going [laugh] Because this is what Chucky dreams about, right?! Is killing him.
It unquestionably tracks that Chucky’s favorite dream would be killing Andy. The spotlight drifted from their conflict for a while with Bride Of Chucky and Seed Of Chucky, but Andy was a perfect pain in the ass to the killer doll through the first three Child’s Play movies, and Alex Vincent made a spectacular return to the role in the post-credits scene of Curse Of Chucky, where he is featured blowing the titular villains head off with a shotgun. He takes immense pleasure in torturing Chucky in the sequel that followed, Cult Of Chucky, and he has done a tremendous job thwarting his nemesis through the first two seasons of the USA/Syfy series.
Because he is an important legacy character, there is an impression in Chucky that he may be “safe,” but the dream sequence is extra horrifying because it dispels that notion (for a limited time). If you were shocked, that was certainly the intention of the filmmakers, and while Don Mancini couldn’t talk too much about the event as far as story is concerned, he revealed how the scene qualifies as one of the movie’s great tributes to classic cinema:
We wanted to do something shocking. I can't say too much 'cause you've only seen the first half of the season, and you're seeing like a lot of threads that come back around later. So, you know, stay tuned I guess. But yeah, I just knew that when you're watching it cold, I knew that it would be, 'Holy shit!' And I wanted it to be as violent as possible, because not only for the shock value, but that is how Chucky would dream of it. It's also a specific homage to the opening of Basic Instinct [laugh]. Which I love!
Thinking about it for a moment, Don Mancini then recalled that this wasn’t the first time that Chucky tied Andy to a bed, so perhaps the homage works the other way. Or as he put it:
And Chucky has tied up Andy to his bed before . So that's actually... Basic Instinct stole it from us!
Obviously it’s unclear right now if the Chucky series will ever actually feature a sequence where Charles Lee Ray successfully murders Andy Barclay… but if this is the only time we ever get to see that play out, it should be known that Alex Vincent had a blast. The Chucky creator walked away impressed with what the actor brought to the moment, saying,
Oh yeah. I think he was very into it. And like I said, he really prepared for that. And I think he really brings it, because you really feel his terror. But also seeing that Caroline being party to it and just that Chucky has just brought everything next level. He's corrupted a child. It's about to kill his original child enemy. It's just all… it's very wrong in all the right ways.
“Very wrong in all the right ways” could very well be the Chucky tagline.
Following “Jennifer’s Body,” there is only one more episode left in the first half of Chucky Season 3 – which has been split in half because of the strikes in Hollywood. The mid-season finale will air simultaneously on Syfy and USA in the show’s regular timeslot on Wednesday, October 25 at 9:00/8:00c, and if you’re a cord cutter, you’ll be able to watch it on Thursday, October 26 if you have a Peacock subscription. Be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend both before and after that, as we have more for you coming up from my interview with Don Mancini.
