10 Horror Movie Franchises That Forgot How To Be Scary

It's difficult to make a movie about a 3-foot tall murderous piece of plastic remotely frightening, however the first Child's Play set out to do just that. Written by Don Mancini and directed by Fright Night's Tom Holland, what makes Child's Play work is the fact that it knows just how ridiculous its premise is, but manages to pull off some genuine scares anyway.

Take, for instance, the moment when child Andy's mother (Catherine Hicks) is conflicted about whether her son is a homicidal maniac or Chucky is really a living, murderous entity. As she's threatening Chucky, holding him over the fireplace, he shows his true colours, the fear amped up largely due to the excellent voicework by Brad Dourif.

Even the first Child's Play had a sense of humour about itself. The second leaned even heavier on bad one-liners, but at least the violence is infused with some degree of social commentary about the corporate world. By the time creator Mancini - the only voice who stuck through the franchise until the remake - reached Bride of Chucky, he went full-on meta, not even attempting to scare anyone. It was entirely about the jokes, with some light gore sprinkled in to please genre fans.

And frankly, it paid off. Even Dourif claims Bride is his favourite of the series.