Franchise Detours

As the end of our Child's Play/Chucky mega-series draws near, we gear up to talk Evil Dead. But how do you segue into a movie series about a dark supernatural force that maims, kills, and destroys everything it touches? With a stage musical, of course! In this bonus episode, I'll briefly discuss my experience checking out Evil Dead: The Musical at the local Stageworks Theatre here in Tampa, Florid...

It's not uncommon for a horror film franchise to eventually find its way into direct-to-DVD or on-demand territory. But what makes 2013's Curse of Chucky is how it not only endures but thrives from that point on. Nearly a decade after Seed of Chucky fell short of most fans' expectations, writer-director Don Mancini reinvented his signature character yet again. In the penultimate episode of our Chi...

Bride of Chucky introduced the first major detour in the Child's Play franchise. Adding Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany Valentine injected more comedy and self-awareness to series writer Don Mancini's macabre tale. But as audiences discovered in 2004, Chucky's world would get a lot wilder. In Mancini's directorial debut, Seed of Chucky, the killer duo become parents. In the fifth episode of our Child's...

After seven years, 1998's Bride of Chucky revived the Child's Play franchise in a most surprising way. But is the movie the series' apex or a weird step in the wrong direction. In any case, director Ronny Yu's film notably unites Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) with his blushing bride, Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly). In the fourth episode of our Child's Play/Chucky mega-series, Pablo Saldana he...

Franchise Detours partly kicked off with a Chucky-centric mini-series because of how the horror franchise continually mutates over time. And with this episode, we bid farewell to the first permutation of the killer doll's wild exploits. It's time for one last chapter of the Chucky and Andy story as we discuss 1991's Child's Play 3. In the third episode of our Child's Play/Chucky mega-series, Brand...

Child's Play is the simple story of a boy and his favorite doll, albeit one imbued with the soul of a notorious serial killer. But with Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) destroyed, where could a sequel go? 1990's Child's Play 2 answers that question with a more traditional approach to continuing the original film's story. But does it keep the series' momentum going? In the second episode of our Child...

Only seven years before Pixar would introduce a young boy named Andy and his room full of living toys, Chucky was born. The killer doll, of course, made his debut in 1988's Child's Play, voiced to perfection by Brad Dourif. And for more than 30 years, Dourif and writer-turned-director Don Mancini have kept the horror icon alive. But how does Charles Lee Ray's story start? In this first episode of...

Test your might with episode 2 of Franchise Detours. From the 1992 debut of the video game series, Mortal Kombat has given fans the over-the-top violence, wild characters, and button-mashing gameplay they crave. Oh, yeah, and Hollywood made a few movies based on it too. This episode, David Rosen of Piecing It Together helps us break down the Mortal Kombat movie franchise. We'll discuss how the gam...

He's not just the best there is. He's the only one there is. But who, really is Ace Ventura? In a pair of 1990s comedies, Jim Carrey introduced the world to the famed pet detective. But those two films present seemingly completely different takes on the character. What do they each teach us about the popular comedy lead, and how do they hold up in 2021? On Franchise Detours episode 1, guest Lauren...

​​Crooked Table Productions is back with a brand-new podcast! Franchise Detours -- a whole-new show focused on movie franchises -- is right around the corner. And in this introductory episode, host Robert Yaniz Jr. will lay out the inspiration behind the show, what listeners can expect in the coming months, and tease the first two "mega-series" on the way. We believe no movie series travels in a s...