One of the most iconic horror franchises has been embroiled in a war with the creator. Photo / AP
One of the most iconic horror franchises has been embroiled in a war with the creator. Photo / AP
No one's playing nice in the spat engulfing this week's reboot of Child's Play.
At stake is the soul of the franchise — does it remain true to its schlocky, bonkers heritage, the one where two anatomically correct possessed dolls copulate and spawn a baby doll, or go down the slicker path of its reboot?
Don Mancini is the creator of maniacal Chucky, having penned the script while still a university student in the 1980s. The first Child's Play movie premiered in 1988 — the story of a serial killer who uses voodoo to possess a doll in his dying moments before going on pint-sized murderous rampages.
Is the original Chucky creepier than the new one? Photo / AP
The movie was released by United Artists and grossed almost $US50 million from a budget a fifth of the box office. In other words, it was a success.
Soon after, according to Slate, United Artists was for sale and the potential buyer, none other than Christopher Skase, didn't want the association of Child's Play, so UA dropped the franchise.
According to producer David Kirschner, five studios came courting and ultimately the sequels went to Universal, who released Child's Play 2 and another five movies that followed.
Mancini would go on to write all the sequels and even started directing from the fifth instalment. For fans, Mancini is Child's Play.
The movies became increasingly outlandish and farcical, embracing its ridiculous premise of Chucky, the homicidal doll, and borders on being a parody of itself. For its many devoted fans, that was part of the appeal, though the previous two movies returned to straighter horror.
So when United Artists/MGM, which owns the rights to the original movie, announced in July 2018 that it was rebooting Child's Play, Mancini was pissed. He was offered a producing credit, which he refused because the studio didn't actually want him involved.
Brad Dourif, who played the human serial killer Charles Lee Ray and has voiced Chucky's distinctive and chilling laugh in every Child's Play movie, was replaced by Mark Hamill.
Perhaps the biggest insult to the original movies is Chucky's backstory was changed significantly, from being possessed to ones and zeros — Chucky is now artificial intelligence gone wrong, like HAL 2000.
This new Chucky doesn't look so innocent either. Photo / AP
When the first image of the rebooted Chucky was revealed, Mancini couldn't help but throw shade on Twitter.
While he tweeted, "This is all I have to say on that subject", Mancini actually had plenty more on his mind.
Appearing on the Post Mortem podcast, Mancini said, according to Flickering Myth: "Obviously my feelings were hurt. I did create the character and nurture the franchise for three f**king decades.
"The studio just wanted our approval, which I strenuously denied them.
"I hesitate to say too much about it because I don't want to sound like I'm bellyaching too much. But the producers of that movie are the producers of It. How would they feel if there was some legal loophole that allowed David Kirschner and I to swoop in and make our own It with our own version of Pennywise?"
Even long-time franchise star Jennifer Tilly, who was introduced as Chucky's girlfriend Tiffany Valentine in Bride of Chucky, weighed into the furore, tweeting "#notmyChucky". So did Dourif.
Don’t worry Babe. You’re the only anatomically correct animatronic killer doll for me! pic.twitter.com/sJC3yW4ePs
What seems to be driving Mancini's beef with the reboot, besides being possessive of the morbid monster he created, is his Chucky movies are still going and there's a plan for more in the pipeline.
The two most recent Chucky instalments, Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky, were released as recently as 2013 and 2017. While they went straight to DVD after screening at some genre festivals, it was well-received by fans and fansites.
Mancini said that it was hard not to "feel a little insulted" when he had just made two movies that "had done extremely well".
There's also a planned Chucky TV series in the works, with Mancini at the helm. The show is slated for 2020 on the Universal-owned Syfy network.
"The people who are making that movie, they don't know how that's going to affect my livelihood. It's not just a pay cheque. It's very personal. MGM's screwing with that, potentially."
Of course, there have been competing franchises of the same iconic character before, most notably James Bond and Never Say Never Again. In that instance, the main franchise won out and is still going.
The director of the Child's Play reboot, Lars Klevberg, was more conciliatory. He told EW: "Everyone is a huge fan of Don Mancini. If he was making this movie with us it would be really amazing, but we understand his reasons.
