For Don Mancini, Chucky is Much More Than a Killer Toy
metroweekly.com“I felt that exploring a story about teenage issues through the horror prism was going to work well for us,” says Don Mancini of the success of his series Chucky. “Teenagers experience their emotions in a very stylized way.
And since that’s what we do with this character in our franchise, I thought that would be a good combination. It does seem to have worked out.”The show has been a hit for the SYFY Channel/USA Network and, by default, its creator Mancini.
His adorable (yet creepy) children’s toy possessed by the spirit of serial killer Charles Lee Ray first appeared on the big screen in 1988’s Child’s Play.More than 30 years later, with seven movies and three TV seasons under its overalls, Chucky, the Good Guys doll with a profane mouth and slaughterhouse persona, has seen his status forever cemented in history as a full-on horror icon.
One could almost argue that he has surpassed his ’80s contemporaries — but then, why tempt the wrath of Jason, Michael, and Freddy?What’s made Chucky the series so unique is not merely its body count — which, if we’re being honest, is formidable — or the extravagantly gory ways in which Chucky’s victims are dispatched (throat-slittings, face-rippings, crashing chandeliers), but rather its treatment of core characters Jake and Devon, teenage boyfriends portrayed with graceful, heartfelt emotion by young stars Zackary Arthur and Björgvin Arnarson.The pair developed a puppy dog crush on one another in season one.
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