10 Horror Movie Sequels That Had No Right To Be This Good

6. Curse Of Chucky

Curse Of Chucky Nica
Universal Studios

When Curse of Chucky was first announced, the vast majority of horror fans rolled their eyes at what was billed as starting from scratch with a standalone tale that ignored anything seen previously in the Child's Play franchise.

By this point, not only had Chucky long become an icon of the genre, but audiences had also developed a fondness for Charles Lee Ray's 'bride' Tiffany and their offspring Glen/Glenda. To hear that all of this was being thrown out of the window as the franchise recalibrated after five films, that had many shaking their head at the prospect of starting an entirely new canon for everyone's favourite Good Guy doll.

Gone were the battle-worn stitches and scars of Chucky, and instead a fresh new Good Guy arrives at the door of Nica and her family. While this doll starts to covertly slice its way through the family home, this is every inch a complete restart for the property. That is, of course, until it's revealed that Curse is both a do-over and a sequel - complete with appearances from franchise favourites Tiffany/Jennifer Tilly and Andy Barclay.

In Curse of Chucky, we have a film which exemplifies how to breathe fresh life into a series while still being respectful to what has come before. For that, writer/director Don Mancini deserves huge credit.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.