The Rules of the Spell in Child’s Play Pt. 2

I previously laid out the rules for Chucky’s magic spell in the first 3 Child’s Play movies. Now I wanted to approach the magic in Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, and Cult of Chucky. We know that both Charles Lee Ray and Tiffany Valentine have done their homework and learned more about the spells from the book Voodoo for Dummies (first introduced in Bride of Chucky).

For the purposes of this article:
“Lost Soul” refers to the soul of the person who casts the spell to transfer their soul.
“Form” refers to the inanimate object the Lost Soul is possessing

Unspoken Rule 3: The Damballa Chant can be used to revive a Lost Form back into the previous Form

Source: Tiffany Valentine gets the chant from her Voodoo for Dummies book to bring Chucky back into his Good Guy doll body. It seems to take a while but that could have been Chucky’s sense of showmanship making her believe that she failed only to surprise her later.

Second Source: Glen uses the chant in Seed of Chucky to revive Tiffany and Chucky.

This is obviously not necessary as Chucky came back to his Form in Child’s Play 2 and 3 on his own without the help of somebody chanting. The chant may ensure that the Lost Soul returns to the form whereas before Chucky was lucky to come back by sheer force of will.

Unspoken Rule 4: Death Is Necessary for the full transfer of a Lost Soul into a Form

Source: In Child’s Play, Charles Lee Ray dies as he completes the Damballah chant that puts him in the Good Guy doll. This is how Charles Lee Ray escaped justice from the system as the Lakeshore Strangler.

Second Source: In Bride of Chucky, Chucky is confronted by his ex-girlfriend Tiffany Valentine. As revenge for her betrayal and as a way to establish leverage over her, he kills her. He then uses the Damballah chant to transfer her Lost Soul into her new doll Form.

I am not sure if this is necessarily a valid rule but it seems to be the case. As of Season 2 of the Chucky television show, we have not seen the full transfer of a Lost Soul into a Form. Things change and these rules are clarified as more lore comes out.

Spoken Rule 4: A Heart of Damballa amulet must be used when transferring a Lost Soul into a human body

Source: In Bride of Chucky, Chucky tells Tiffany that he needs the Heart of Damballa that his human body was buried with in order to return them to human bodies. The entire plot of the movie is driven by Chucky and Tiffany’s journey to Hackensack, NJ to dig up the corpse of Charles Lee Ray.

Chucky states in Bride that the Heart of Damballa is necessary for the transfer of his Lost Soul into a human body. I think he might be wrong about that because the amulet had not appeared before this movie. It was present during Chucky’s initial transference into the Good Guy doll. Its necessity for a full transference to a human host may be necessary but that remains to be seen. It was not information he apparently had in the previous three movies. However, it is apparently used to transfer Tiffany into Jennifer Tilly’s

I assume that the amulet is not unique. It is an item through which the loa Damballa’s power flows which means another one could probably be made and consecrated.

Unspoken Rule 5: If they have anatomically compatible parts, two Forms can have sex and get pregnant

Source: In Bride of Chucky, Tiffany and Chucky have sex in their doll bodies. We don’t see it (thankfully) but Chucky states that he is anatomically correct (for a cis male) and Tiffany definitely confirms as much. At the end of the movie, Tiffany gives birth to a doll baby not even knowing that she was pregnant.

This actually follows naturally from Spoken Rule 2 since the Lost Soul’s Form slowly becomes flesh. The transformation apparently works on reforming genitals and reproductive systems on dolls. Don’t think about it too much.

Unspoken Rule 6: A Heart of Damballa amulet can be used to enhance the Damballa Chant

Source: In the early part of Seed of Chucky, Glen uses a Heart of Damballa to help him revive both Chucky and Tiffany back into their refurbished bodies. The Damballa chant is inscribed on the back of the amulet which is how Glen is able to learn it without help.

As we saw in Bride of Chucky, Tiffany was able to revive Chucky’s Lost Soul and return it to his Good Guy doll Form without the amulet since she had no knowledge of its existence. In Seed of Chucky, Glen uses it to bring back Tiffany and Chucky simultaneously and it would make sense that this would require more magic. The use of the amulet seems to supercharge the spell.

Spoken Rule 5/Unspoken Rule 7: The progeny Form resulting from the sexual reproduction of two Forms can have unpredictable issues

Source: Tiffany and Chucky meet their child Glen who reveals to his parents (and the camera) that their Form has no genitals whatsoever like a traditional baby doll. Glen was born physically sexless allowing his parents to each project a different gender onto their kid. Eventually, we find that their child’s body is inhabited by the submissive personality of Glen (claiming cis male) and the aggressive and homicidal personality of Glenda (claiming cis female). This all seems to be a result of the supernatural conception and birth of Glen/Glenda which caused the Form to be physically sexless and contain two different Lost Souls.

Of course, we only have one example but clearly Glen/Glenda’s status is caused by the unstable magic of their parentage.

Spoken Rule 6: A Form can impregnate a human body

Source: Chucky provides a sperm sample and (thankfully) a turkey baster is used to impregnate actress Jennifer Tilly. The magical pregnancy is accelerated and the time between conception and birth is only give or take 24 hours. The babies born of this are two intact human babies and do not have any doll parts. All of this is spoken of and expected by Chucky and Tiffany.

Unspoken Rule 8: If two Lost Souls possess a Form, they can be transferred into two different human bodies

At the end of the movie, we see that Glen and Glenda have each been transferred into one of the twins born from Jennifer Tilly’s womb. This seems to have resolved the internal conflict for Glen/Glenda which allows Glen to be nice and sweet and Glenda to be a terror.

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My Favorite Horror Villain

Candyman (Candyman 1 through 3, Candyman 2021)  – The spirit of a wronged man who will take vengeance on society.

The Fisherman (I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise) – A man who is nearly killed by a group of teens tries to stalk and kill all of them.

Lord Summerisle (The Wicker Man) – The leader and manipulator of an isolated pagan community on an island off of the United Kingdom.

Leland Gaunt (Needful Things) – A demon who manipulates people by giving them their heart’s desire but taking their souls.

Damien (The Omen franchise) – The son of Satan and the antichrist, born to take over the Earth.

The Blair Witch (The Blair Witch Project) – The ghost of a witch out in Western Maryland who possesses those who seek her out.

Angela Baker (Sleepaway Camp 1 through 3) – A summer camper driven crazy by body dysphoria and trauma to become a serial killer.

Tiffany Valentine (Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, Cult of Chucky)  – The serial killer girlfriend of serial killer Charles Lee Ray. She and Chucky were turned into killer dolls.

Count Orlok (Nosferatu) – One of the original horror villains. A reclusive vampire count with a thirst for blood.

Jerry Dandridge (Fright Night) – A dapper vampire with a habit of playing with his food.

Ghostface (The Scream franchise) – One of many killers who taunts their victims and kills based on the “rules” of horror.

Gabriel May (Malignant)  – The psychic twin of the hapless Emily who is upset at what the doctors did to him.

Mary Lou Mahoney (Prom Night 2 and 3) – The vengeful ghost of a prom queen turned into a powerful succubus.

Stitches the Clown (Stitches) – An undead clown out for revenge against the little shits who accidentally killed him.

Seth Brundle (The Fly) – A scientist who accidentally merged his cells with that of a housefly, triggering a terrifying transformation.

Dr. Edward Pretorius (From Beyond) – A sadistic mad scientist who has been merged with an otherworldly creature to become as monstrous outside as he was inside.

The Hitcher (The Hitcher) – A sociopathic hitchhiker who terrorizes those who pick him up by torturing and killing.

The Collector (The Collector, The Collection) – An expert kidnapper and creator of intricate traps that kill all who might escape or interfere with his collection

Art the Clown (All Hallow’s Eve, Terrifier 1 and 2) – An absolutely silent clown who murders people indiscriminately.

Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) – A sociopathic daytrader whose desire for status and excess lead him to bloody ends.

Killjoy the Clown (Killjoy, Killjoy 2, Killjoy 3, Killjoy in Hell, Killjoy Psycho Circus) – A demonic clown often summoned in vengeance rituals.

Evil Ash (Army of Darkness)  – The undead mystical clone of the prophecizsed hero Ashley Williams.

Billy Murphy (The Final Girls) – A young man who was the victim of a cruel prank gone too far who is disfigured and now kills anybody who has sex.

Jennifer Check (Jennifer’s Body) – A demon in the body of a hot high school girl who is out to take revenge on all of the men in her life.

Pennywise/ IT (IT Chapters 1 and 2) – An eldritch entity that feeds on the fears of the lost and tortured and especially children.

Krampus (Krampus) – The anti-Santa Claus, a demon who punishes the naughty at Christmas.

Paimon (Hereditary) – One of the nine kings of Hell who seeks dominion on Earth in a human body.

Annabelle (The Conjuring and Annabelle franchises) – A doll inhabited by a very nasty demon.

Pamela Voorhees (Friday the 13th) – A grieving mother out for revenge against all teenage camp counselors like the ones who failed to save her son who drowned.

Jack Torrance (The Shining) – An alcoholic writer driven over the edge by the past and the ghosts around him.

The Thing (The Thing) – A creature from beyond Earth that assimilates whatever it touches.

Belial Bradley (Basket Case 1 through 3)  – A deformed creature who cooperates with his twin Duane, the formerly conjoined brothers exacting revenge on the doctors who separated them.

David Powers (The Lost Boys) – The main runner in a vampiric gang that hunts in a small tourist town.

Officer Matt Cordell (Maniac Cop 1 through 3) – The undead police officer brought back to wreak havoc across New York City.

The Beast (Poltergeist)- A powerful spirit that draws upon the energy of lost spirits to terrorize and torment the living.

Mary Shaw (Dead Silence) – An undead witch obsessed with ventriliquist puppets and getting revenge on the bloodline of a heckler.

Michael Myers/ The Shape (Halloween. All of them except for 3) – Evil in the shape of a man who stalks Haddonfield.

Pumpkinhead (Pumpkinhead 1 through 4) – A creature created for vengeance by a backwoods satanic witch.

Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) –  A murderer and child molester who became a dream demon in death.

Horace Pinker (Shocker) – A serial killer who merges with electricity itself through the electric chair used in his execution. 

The Djinn (Wishmaster 1 through 4) – A demon who grants wishes with deadly twists and wishes to unleash Hell on Earth.

Pinhead (Every Hellraiser movie) – A demon of pain and torture who seeks to capture humans to convert them to Hell’s cause.

Richard Chapman  (Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 and 3) – The psychotic younger brother of the original killer Santa Claus who took up his brother’s mantle.

Norman Bates (The Psycho franchise) – A lonely motel proprietor who has been driven crazy by his mother.

Charles Lee Ray aka Chucky (The Child’s Play franchise) – The serial killer whose soul now inhabits a child’s doll.

Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise) – An inbred cannibalistic hillbilly with a penchant for using a chainsaw)

Sadako Yamamura (The Ringu franchise) – The ghost of a young girl who wants the world to suffer as she did.

The Babadook (The Babadook) – A spirit that preys on children and feeds off of the negative emotions of parents.

Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice) – A ghost who is a self-described “bio-exorcist” with a desire to torment the living and gain power over the living world.

Jack Frost (Jack Frost 1 and 2)  – A serial killer in the body of a snowman.

Dr. Anton Phibes (The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again)  – A disfigured doctor of music and theology who murders based on the 10 Deadly Plagues.

Jigsaw (The Saw franchise) – A man who makes deadly traps designed to teach people lessons, primarily how to be thankful for their life.

Dracula (So many Draculas) – The charming and dangerous vampire of all vampires.

Red (Us) – A subterranean dwelling doppelganger who leads a rebellion to kill people on the surface.

Sam (Trick R. Treat) – The childlike spirit of Halloween who will take vengeance on those who do not honor the holiday correctly.

Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal) – A charming psychologist turned cannibalistic serial killer who hates rude people.

The Tall Man (Phantasm 1 through 5) – A physically imposing extradimensional invader who uses dead bodies and robots to attack Earth.

Pazuzu (The Exorcist) – A grand demon who possesses an unfortunate young girl in order to walk the Earth and shatter the faith of mortals.

The Leprechaun (The Leprechaun franchise) – A magical imp with a deadly sense of humor and a wicked temper when somebody steals his gold.

Imhotep (The Mummy franchise) – An undead sorcerer cursed to walk the Earth unless he can regain his humanity.

Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th franchise) – The undead form of a neglected summer camper who now kills anybody in his territory near Crystal Lake.

Blade (The Puppet Master franchise) – A bladed puppet given life by a secret formula.

Guan Di (My Name is Bruce) – A Chinese deity out to kill the white inhabitants of a town in revenge for the deaths of Chinese railroad workers. 

Jumbo Klown (Killer Klowns from Outer Space) – One of many alien klowns who come to Earth to feed on the populace.

The Rules of the Spell in Child’s Play

I thought I would lay out the rules of the first 3 Child’s Play movies for Chucky’s magic spell that started off the whole franchise. The rules continually change and evolve as the franchise continues but I thought I would start with the first three.

The magic used is specifically stated to be Voodoo. Charles Lee Ray was a disciple of John Bishop, a voodoo priest once known as “Doctor Death”. The chant used specifically invokes the loa of Damballa. It is viewed as an abomination of the faith and an unacceptable act in voodoo.

The text of the chant is specifically “Ade due damballa. Give me the power I beg of you. Secoise entienne mais pois de morte. Morteisma lieu de vocuier de mieu vochette. Endonline pour de boisette damballa! Secoise entienne mais pois de morte. Endelieu pour de boisette damballa!!! (x4)”

For the purposes of this article:
“Lost Soul” refers to the soul of the person who casts the spell to transfer their soul.
“Form” refers to the inanimate object the Lost Soul is possessing

Unspoken Rule 1: The Lost Soul can manipulate the shape and properties of the Form to some degree.

Source: All three movies. Chucky can move his face and speak in a manner unintended by Good Guy Dolls. He is somehow able to project his voice from life from his doll body. He is also able to utilize the doll’s original voice chip technology to trigger the original voice lines for camouflage purposes. He also has the proportionate strength of an adult human man in doll form. He can also still operate parts of his body when separated.

Spoken Rule 1: The Lost Soul that possesesses the Form must transfer his soul into a human body or risk getting trapped in the Form forever.

Source: In Child’s Play, Chucky’s voodoo teacher John tells him this directly.

Reiterated by Andy as he talks to his therapist in Child’s Play 2. He tells his therapist that Chucky told him there was a time limit and if he did not succeed, he would be trapped in the doll forever. Also reiterated by Chucky to Kyle later in Child’s Play 2.

Spoken Rule 2: The Form that the Lost Soul possesses slowly turns “human” and the Lost Soul can no longer transfer into another form.

Source: In Child’s Play, Chucky’s voodoo teacher John tells him this directly.

Reiterated by Chucky near the end of Child’s Play 2 when the transfer fails, causing him to realize the time limit has passed. This sends Chucky into a berzerker rage. During the franchise we see Chucky bleed seemingly human blood and his insides are replaced with realistic gore.

Reiterated again in the third movie when Chucky once again bleeds when injured.

Spoken Rule 2a: The time limit for the Form turning human starts over if the Form is “killed” and rebuilt.

Source: Chucky in Child’s Play 2 when he gets a nosebleed after being thrown down the stairs by Andy’s foster father. He says “I’m turning human again!”

Spoken Rule 3: The Lost Soul can be only be transferred to the first human that learns the identity of the Lost Soul.

Reiterated by Andy as he talks to his therapist in Child’s Play 2. He tells his therapist that he was the first person to learn that Chucky was actually Charles Lee Ray. That marked him for soul transferrence.

Reiterated again by Chucky when he meets Ronald in Child’s Play 3 and is talking to himself. He chooses to tell Ronald his identity and make him the new target.

Unspoken Rule #2: If the form that one is inhabiting is destroyed, pieces can be replaced. If these new pieces are attached to a possessed piece, the new pieces are possessed.

Shown at the beginning of Child’s Play 2. We witness in detail the toy factory laboratory technicians rebuilding the burned husk of Chucky after he was shot and burned at the end of Child’s Play. We see him being stripped down to a metal exoskeleton before all external parts are replaced as good as new. He then takes control of the whole of the doll again.

This is reiterated at the beginning of Child’s Play 3 when Chucky’s blood (from his messy death at the end of 2) is mixed in with melted plastic to make a new doll.

So, we see that the way that Chucky is beaten in each movie makes sense. Wait until he becomes “human” and vulnerable and then kill him.

Top 11 Favorite Horror Villains

The following villains are my favorite horror villains mostly from film franchises. There are three that were also in books and one that was also in a play. These guys are my favorite villains and, on a sidenote, I wish there was more than one woman on the list. However, instead of talking about them generally, I wanted to talk about their motivations and how I identify with them somewhat. No matter what I say, I cannot condone or excuse anything these characters did. You should not respond to personal tragedy with violence or supernatural terror.

11 Jack Torrance

Jack is a great example of how the human mind can break if you apply enough of the right kind of pressure. He is arguably one of the most sympathetic characters on this list while still being incredibly sadistic and violent. He is a writer who just wanted to get some work done before his inner demons came out to play. It is hard to fight against that anger and resentment inside even if it is for the sake of people you love. When you lose yourself, anything can happen in the midst of that rage. Added to that, he was being egged on by a vortex of murderous ghosts. I definitely understand how powerful that anger is.

10 Hannibal Lecter

Lecter was a cannibal and a serial killer and you really can’t get past that. However, Dr. Lecter was also incredibly intelligent and had a personal code of honor he adhered to. More often than not, the people he killed or maimed were rude or jerks. They were assholes. Dr. Lecter had a clear picture in his head of what a good, useful person is. Personally, I can’t stand a bully. I would never kill or even physically harm anyone, though. I definitely have a lot of things that people can do that cause me to instantly lose respect for them. I wish a lot of the people who commit these things could disappear from my world but I would never actually act on that.

9 The Woman in Black

Regrettably, she is the only woman on this list and she might just have the saddest story of anybody here. She was not always a homicidal ghost. She was once a trying to get back to her baby when she drowned in the swampy land within a stone’s throw of her child. Now, anyone who sees her loses their child to the Grim Reaper’s bony hands usually by some impossible accident. It is horrible to feel cheated. That feeling gets even worse if being cheated hurts both you and your loved ones. You just want to burn the world down for daring to be so unfair. It is hard to accept the bad places we are put in.

8 Jason

When you take away all of the dead teenagers, Jason is hard not to feel sympathy for. He feels slighted for dying while those who were responsible for his safety neglected him. He wants revenge for this slight but cannot really go to a lawyer and file a wrongful death suit. Eventually, he just doesn’t want people in his territory and yet they keep invading his space over and over despite the danger. On top of all of that, they killed his mother. Sure she was murdering teenagers but you just don’t kill a guy’s mother. Really, he combines the motivations of Dr. Phibes and Jerry Dandridge strangely enough.

7 Pennywise

While Pennywise is probably the least scary clown in the history of horror clowns, I still like him. Pennywise is a great example of turning symbols of childhood into symbols of hate and fear. Pennywise just does not like kids. I often feel uncomfortable around children and sometimes I joke that I ‘hate’ children but they’re alright in small doses. Still, as uncomfortable as I can be around them, I really like some of the stuff that kids like. It is kind of a weird feeling sometimes to like all ages material but not really get along with all ages. Of course, Pennywise hates adults too so maybe we are pretty much alike.

6 The Leprechaun

The Leprechaun is a happy little fellow who lived with anger issues in Ireland. The trouble starts and the whole franchise is pretty much put into motion by people taking his gold. Unfortunately, he does not call the authorities to track down his stolen property and instead decides to kill for it. Unfortunately, I understand that impulse. I am fiercely territorial when it comes to my property. I get really upset when people enter my bedroom without asking. I get antsy when people handle my phone or go near my car. So I understand that impulse to get people away from my stuff. I do not believe that violence is the answer, though.

5 Dr. Anton Phibes

Phibes was undoubtedly a very smart person who suffered a horrible tragedy. He loved his wife and only wanted to hurt the people who had hurt her. I can understand that instinct. I don’t like it when people hurt me but I really don’t like when people hurt the ones I love. It can be too easy to lash out to protect or avenge the people you love even if it won’t actually help you. I don’t actually take action against those perpetrators but I find it nearly impossible to forgive. It is really hard to let go of that anger because letting it go feels like somebody is getting away with something.

4 Jerry Dandridge

He is possibly the most Eighties-tastic horror villain in film history. Jerry Dandridge moves into a peaceful Iowan suburb. He’s got a great big house, great furnishings and his buddy Billy Cole who lives with him. The only problem is that Jerry is a vampire and Billy is a… something else. They are killing people but they are really discreet about it. As far as we knew, he did not want to rule the world or anything. They just wanted to be left alone to do their own thing. While Jerry was indeed evil, I can definitely identify with that hunger for privacy. Thankfully, I do not also share his hunger for blood. I think a lot of us just want to be left alone.  I also wish I was as smooth and confident as Jerry Dandridge and of course I am talking about Chris Sarandon.

3 Evil Ash

In the entirety of the Evil Dead franchise, it is hard to pinpoint many actual villains with names and faces but the biggest one is Evil Ash. Evil Ash, for lack of a better name, is born two different times during the franchise when Deadite magic gets into Ash’s body. He literally splits from Ash’s body like an amoeba and looks and sounds just like him. He is a fairly intelligent deadite (undead) creature. Really, when he is born, he is stuck on the side of the Evil Dead. As with all deadites (except Sam), Evil Ash is immediately drafted into the dark side and is tasked with fighting for the Deadite army. Throughout his appearances, he is only playing the cards he is dealt. To a certain extent, it is hard to blame him for being evil since that is the way he was made. He has all of Ash’s positive and negative qualities, he just ends up on the wrong side of the fight.

2 Chucky aka Charles Lee Ray

Sometimes, I think that Charles Lee Ray is my spirit animal. By that, I don’t mean that I am confessing to being a killer doll who dabbles in voodoo and wisecracks. Well, I do like a good wisecrack. What I mean is that I think Chucky and I might share a similar trait in our brain chemistry. I was born with Attention Deficit Disorder and I think Chucky has it too. He has a lot of the symptoms, at least. During the Child’s Play films Chucky usually has one goal and that is to transfer his soul into a human body. Sure, he makes a lot of assumptions about how or why he can do that but it is still his stated goal. However, he is constantly diverting from his task to kill somebody else. Hell, in Child’s Play 2 he takes the time to murder a non-sentient doll and then buries it. He has a deadline but he just loves killing too much to get it done.

1 Freddy Krueger

Imagination is why I love and identify with Freddy Krueger. He puts so much thought and work into each and everything he does. It is not just the killing either. His taunting is so well laid out that it’s a good thing the dead don’t sleep or else he would never get it all done. He tailors each death individually like some weird boutique/concierge murderer. Usually, his only audience for these morbid art projects are the victims themselves who are going to be dead in a minute anyway. That shows dedication. He must have files on everyone in Springwood because he almost automatically knows how to kill just about anybody he meets in the most poetic way.

Top 11 Horror Movie Connections

So, I whipped this up because I love imagining what’s beyond the limits of a film. I readily admit that this is barely researched. I also admit that I know there’s a simpler story for a lot of these examples. I also admit that these were fun to write. These are the top eleven horror movie connections with greater story implications.

11 Xenomorph Skull (Predator 2)

Alright, we start with a well-known easter egg in the background of the lesser-liked sequel to a great, yet cheesy Schwarzenegger film. This crossover is actually happened so it’s not the most exciting on the list to me. However, back when Predator 2 was released it took a quick eye to pick this out. It was casual confirmation that the two awesome franchises might share the same world. It opened up a lot of possibilities where we could have (and still could see) some awesome stuff. An interesting side note: the xenomorph skull looks an awful lot like the xenomorphs in Alien and Aliens which are set centuries after Predator 2. Does this mean that there were no advances in xenomorph evolution for centuries? Considering that xenomorphs use other species as incubators, they must have some dominant genes. Maybe, they’re a genetically manufactured species?

10 Max Schreck (Batman Returns, Shadow of the Vampire)

Batman Returns is a pretty good Batman movie (Catwoman is great though) and it has some very memorable characters. You have your Batman, your Penguin, your Catwoman (rowr!) and you have the corporate villain who doesn’t really have a comic book counterpart. Max Schreck is the tycoon who isn’t above manipulation, fraud and even murder to earn money. He’s pretty much an unrepentant evil monster who easily out-evils the other two villains put together. The thing is, he started out with the last name Schreck and his parents called him Max. Max Schreck is a little known film actor who worked in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Of course, the one movie of his you might have a snowball’s chance in Hell of knowing is Nosferatu in which he plays the vampiric Graf Orlok. Not only that but in Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional telling of the making of Nosferatu, it’s revealed that Schreck himself was a vampire. Am I saying that Max Schreck (Batman Begins) is a vampire? Well, definitely figuratively as a sort of financial vampire. A bit of a stretch but it makes me smile.

9 Bachman (Sons of Anarchy)

Alright, Sons of Anarchy isn’t a horror movie or even a horror television show. Instead it was a long-running show about a motorcycle club’s politics and crimes and the personal lives of the members. It’s a great show (at least as far as I am in it) but it definitely has its dark moments. Without giving away too much, during Season Three of the show a couple of main characters need a body to completely disappear. They call in a guy they know and a character played by Stephen King shows up and claims that his name is Bachman and that he is a cleaner. He plays his scenes pretty low key but there’s definitely a creep factor to his lines and delivery. So, “Richard Bachman” is an alias that King has used freely to publish a few of his books (The Regulators for example). What if Sons of Anarchy’s Bachman is supposed to be Stephen King? What if that’s what he does in his spare time? He travels around and makes bodies disappear for some extra cash but mostly for the fun of it.

8 Midwich Elementary (Silent Hill, Village of the Damned)

Village of the Damned is a B Horror movie where weird albino children appear who have psychic death powers that they use to hold adults hostage and get what they want. It capitalizes on how creepy kids can be without even trying. It takes place in the Midwich, England and therefore the creepy kids all attend Midwich Elementary as the adults try to figure out how to survive their predicament. In the Silent Hill video game series (and the first movie) characters encounter a Midwich Elementary where the kids of Silent Hill attend school apparently. It’s situated on Midwich Road but I would still think it would be called Silent Hill Elementary because it’s in Silent Hill. Of course, many places in America are named after places in England but I have a more fun theory. What if the supernatural forces that swirl through Silent Hill were attracted the residual psychic resonance of Midwich Elementary. What if the town wanted to possess such power and somehow transported the school to Silent Hill and then cannibalized it to create its own school?

7 The Chalk Portal (Beetlejuice, Pan’s Labyrinth)

In Beetlejuice, Barbara and Adam Maitland find a spell to access the Netherworld. The spell has them draw a door and knock three times and the wall opens to expose a portal to a world beyond our own. The book they get their spell from is readable by mortals who aren’t deceased and later in the film a spell is even successfully performed by a mortal man. Granted, the spell that is used isn’t the chalk door spell but there’s nothing to say it couldn’t be done by a mortal. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the main character Ofelia is given magic chalk by a seriously untrustworthy faun who instructs her to use it to form a door. She does and is transported to a dark, twisted version of a faery lair of sorts in order to further her weird faery scavenger hunt. (Seriously, just go watch the movie. It’s amazing.) It’s almost the same dang spell! It involves the drawing of something in chalk that ritual makes real. It’s almost like the spell relies on the user’s imagination to work. Could these two spellbooks overlap? It’s interesting to think about.

6 “Deadites and Evil Molesting Tree” (Cabin in the Woods)

Cabin in the Woods is an interesting dark comedy/horror movie because it tears horror movies apart while paying so much tribute to them. I could sit here and list dozens of little homages to a lot of horror franchises that range from subtle to brilliant. However, the main thing about these homages and easter eggs is that most of them look like knockoffs of the originals. They’re close but no cigar. Early in the movie, when certain characters are cataloguing supernatural threats, you actually see the words “Deadites” and “Angry Molesting Tree” very close together. These are very specific words that only relate to one movie which is Evil Dead 2 (basically a gorier remake of Evil Dead). Deadites are practically a registered trademark of the Evil Dead movie and video game series and the Angry Molesting Tree is a pretty infamous part of the second movie. What I’m saying is that those words really don’t apply to anything else. Now, I don’t want to give away the premise of an awesome movie by saying this but could “they” be responsible for the events of Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2?

5 Striped Shirt (Nightmare Before Christmas, The Addams Family)

In the Addams Family movie from 1991, there’s a very clear art direction which includes brilliant costumes that fit the tone of the movie exactly. One of the prominent costume pieces is Pugsley’s shirt which is a distinctive black and white horizontal striped shirt. The actor playing Pugsley is a young man and is more than a bit chubby, mostly as a visual counterpoint to his thin sister Wednesday. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, there is a little zombie boy who participates in all of the shenanigans of the movie as one of many good-hearted yet misunderstood characters. He wears a shirt with black and white horizontal stripes and he is pretty portly himself. Granted, he’s a little more plump than Pugsley but he’s dead and sometimes dead bodies bloat. If anyone on Earth would have access to Halloweentown, it would probably end up being the Addams Family. So is the dead little boy Pugsley? I don’t think so but they may have shared some fashion tips. Alternately, Pugsley may have shipped some hand-me-downs to Halloweentown.

4 “Chucky on Crack” (Leprechaun in the Hood)

This next one is just a little bit of evidence but the idea excited me too much to put it lower on the list. I am a sucker for both the Leprechaun and Child’s Play franchises. In Leprechaun in the Hood (Leprechaun 5), two gang members are startled by their first meeting with the Leprechaun. (As we probably all would be). One of them calls the Leprechaun “Chucky on Crack”, not being familiar with the little demon in front of them. There are many similarities between Chucky and the Leprechaun. They’re both vertically challenged and they both rely on ancient magics. Chucky is fueled by Voodoo magic which somehow keeps his little doll body mobile and able to swing melee weapons. The Leprechaun relies on some sort of ancient Irish magic of his own which allows him to basically break reality. Maybe, just maybe, these gang members called him “Chucky on Crack” because Chucky is a well known urban legend. I want a Chucky vs. Leprechaun movie so bad.

3 Santa Mira (Halloween 3, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

I have a soft spot in my heart for Halloween 3: Season of the Witch mostly because it’s a good movie but also because a lot of people don’t like it. One of the most eerie parts of Halloween 3 is how ordinary people are replaced by unfeeling automatons who serve Silver Shamrock with undying loyalty. This all took place in the town of Santa Mira, California which was also the site of another famous horror movie. Invasion of the Body Snatchers features Santa Mira getting slowly taken over by aliens who replace human beings with emotionless copies. Both plots are only discovered because one man infiltrates the situation and flees to warn the world. It’s definitely too much similarity to simply be a coincidence. Imagine you’re Conal Cochran and you need guards for your big, magical terrorist plot. You think of androids and then you do your research about the Body Snatchers incident. Maybe you get a hold of info from Body Snatcher technology and you use it to perfect your android copy technology in the same town the original incident it went down.

2 Necronomicon (Jason Goes to Hell)

The Necronomicon was an important object and an intesely detailed prop created for the Evil Dead series. In Army of Darkness we see it in great detail in a time lapse sequence that explains exactly what it is. It’s a book written in blood and bound in human skin and it contains information and dark spells relating to the deadites and the great magical force of the Evil Dead. Somehow such an important book often finds itself lost and in clear sight of people who could stumble onto its evil. First a cabin and now strewn among a whole lot of other magical items in a Friday the 13th movie. Among the many items in the Voorhees house, the Necronomicon is clearly visible as not many books have a face with a gaping mouth on them. This is another one that needs no speculation because the prop was confirmed by Sam Raimi. Later, in the comic books, Ash has to ride to the rescue to take out Jason and Freddy when Freddy gets a hold of the Necronomicon.

1 Freddy’s Claw in Evil Dead 2

Speaking of unmistakeable props, Freddy Kruegger is a vicious killer/dream demon who takes out his victims in very creative ways. However, one of the most iconic parts of Freddy’s image is that unique clawed glove that has drawn the blood of so many teen victims. In Evil Dead 2 you can pretty easily spot Freddy’s glove hanging in the barn. Ash apparently doesn’t notice it but it is a clear sign that Freddy has entered his world. Now, I’ve already covered how Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash became a thing when it was published in the comic books. However, there’s something else in play here. In New Nightmare we are introduced to the concept that Freddy Kruegger is a real dream demon originally from our world aka the world you’re sitting in right now. He was only tamed by making movies about him which trapped him in the film world where he harmlessly killed fictional characters. What if, between Nightmare movies, they desperately wrote Freddy into Evil Dead 2 to keep him at bay for a little while?

Halloween Briefs

I was running out of time this Halloween season and I wanted to comment on more Halloween-y content so here’s a quick look on some random good entertainment!
Seed of Chucky (2004)
I saw this movie again (along with Bride of Chucy and Child’s Play 3) on AMC last weekend and it pretty much holds up as a Chucky movie.  The great thing about all of the Chucky movies is basically Brad Dourif and later Jennifer Tilly.  The murders are strangely incidental as the two dolls are somehow enough charisma to watch for hours.  It’s as if they consumed the flesh and stole the charisma from Freddy Krueger and the Leprechaun.  I’ve seen some chatter on the internet bemoaning how the movies started to skew more towards comedy as they continued making them.  I always thought the movies were funny though from movie one.  It’s about an idiot serial killer in a doll’s body so it’s bound to be funny and it is.  A definite plus is that Baltimore legend (and former neighbor of mine) John Waters was in this one as a great, sleazy character.
Tremors (1990)
The Tremors movies are another series that I always thought skewed more towards comedy and action than horror. However, it has some pretty scary monsters in it even if Graboid is not a name that strikes fear into the hearts of humanity.  A creature who may as well be anywhere under your next footstep is paranoia inducing but it also leaves the characters sitting around on walks or cement, as if they are looking for sharks from a life raft.  Thankfully I actually like the poor, unfortunate souls who are trapped so I don’t mind the lulls between action or horror sequences.  Aside from that, the first movie has some pretty grisly deaths but that kind of fades away as the series continues.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
This movie is kind of a muddled mess.  The movie starts with the premise that Jason is dead so everything is going to be A-OK now.  Well, unfortunately we know that there’s a threat and that this isn’t going to be like Halloween 3 (Unfortunately).  So we’re looking for a guy in a hockey mask to show up and start up with the teens again.   You know, that old chestnut.  If you’re looking for cardboard cut out characters to be murdered by various sharp implements then you are in luck.  The movie isn’t even set around Crystal Lake and is a loose cash-in on the movie series.   It’s still worth keeping on in the background during October.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
This was a favorite of mine growing up, long before I even knew who Joss Whedon was.  Kristy Swanson is dead on, Clueless three years before Alicia Silverstone but with more attitude.  The real breakout in this movie is Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens who cracked me and my brothers up as Amilyn, the goofy/creepy vampire sidekick.  This movie was so much fun that I was actually put off when I first tuned in to the BTVS TV show.  Granted, the first episode I saw was about the Preying Mantis Woman so not the ideal starting point.  This movie was the rough blue print that started a phenomenon.  Do yourself a favor and watch it (it’s a little dated but whatever) and pick it up in comic book form which more closely follows Joss’ original script and dovetails a little better into the show.
Ticks (1993)
I had completely forgotten this movie until I remembered it this week.  It is a B-Monster-Movie in all of its glory about a group of troubled teens who are attacked in the woods by mutated ticks.  The whole movie sounded like if somebody read the wikipedia article on deer ticks and wondered what it would be like if they were bigger.  It kind of works and they definitely hit me in a weak spot in that I’m afraid of blood and blood being taken.  Strangely, I’m not too afraid of vampires but needles scare the hell out of me.  I don’t usually review or talk too much about B-movies on here because there’s not much you can add by talking about movies like Sharknado, Ghost Shark, Sharktopus or Sharkalanche.  I really enjoy them a lot but I probably won’t be reviewing them but I may do a rundown like this post.  If you see it, try it on for size but don’t go out of your way to see a movie like this.  Oh and Seth Green and Clint Howard are in it.
The Frighteners (1996)
Peter Jackson is a brilliant director and it was fun to go back and see this after I had started watching the Lord of the Rings movies.  It’s a much smaller movie with a less epic scope.  It’s so different from pretty much everything he’s done lately (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong) probably because it’s less polished.  Less polished is not meant as an insult here.  Not every movie has to be a masterpiece and you can hang something from the painter at the fair on your wall at the same height as a Da Vinci.  This movie has all of the fun of a movie like Beetlejuice without the intensity that Tim Burton brings.  The movie is a lot of fun and, to date, is Michael J Fox’s last appearance on the silver screen. It was also John Astin’s last movie released in theaters.  It is definitely worth a look and I’m always thrilled when people tell me they’ve seen it too.