Best known for his pint sized horror Chucky. Don Mancini is one of the horrors genres best living queer creators.
After starting off with the little known monster movie, Cellar Dwellar, Mancini quickly began work on his magnum opus, Childs Play.
Childs Play was a success around the world almost instantaneously. Giving children a deep fear of their dolls.
But, Chucky isn’t a one note character, and neither is Don Mancini.
Living with Chucky
Don Mancini has stuck with his monster since 1988. After almost 40 years of life, Chucky and Mancini are still terrifying audiences to this day.
A lot of creators tend to jump between project, but Mancini has kept Chucky and has used him to explore different genres and approaches to horror.
Part of what has kept Chucky so alive in pop culture is Mancini’s familial team and his use of queer characters.
Starting with 1998’s Bride of Chucky, Mancini introduced the world to the queer icon, and Chucky’s bride to be, Tiffany Valentine.
Played by Jennifer Tilly, Mancini allowed Tilly to insert her bi-sexuality into the character and this was only the begining for the franchise.
Don Mancini is a gay man, and he is very proud of that fact. Through multiple films and a tv show, Mancini has injected hi experience into his creations.
When thinking of how the character of Chucky works and what he does, theirs an inherent queerness to his evil.
Chucky hops between bodies, constantly experimenting with different genders.
ameMancini was ahead of his time when it comes to positive representation. When gay jokes were normalised, Mancini found a way to write believable queer people within the bounds of a franchise full of killer dolls.
Every member of the Chucky family is some form of queer.
Chucky has already been mentioned, Tiffany is bisexual and their child is genderfluid.
Mancini further established his hold on LGTBQ horror with Seed of Chucky in 2004.
A film was written off upon it’s release for it’s more comedic tone and how different it was to the previous Chucky films.
The film focuses on Chucky and Tiffany’s child, Glen/Glenda. A genderqueer child who attempts to find themselves whilst their parents push them to be either a boy or a girl.
It’s a genuinely touching story that many genderfluid people are all to familiar with.
A representation that is touching and genuinely impactful is still difficult to find, but even twenty years ago, Mancini was able to make it work.
Chucky isn’t a monster
The break between Chucky movies lasted almost a decade, from Seed to Curse of Chucky.
Curse is a gothic horror take on the killer doll that strips back the comedy and brings back the terror of Childs Play.
Mancini uses his queer monster to explore other genres and stories that both furthers the wider story, and keeps things fresh.
The recent Chucky films are focused on horror and introducing a new protaganist, Nika Pierce.
Nika is played by Fiona Douriff, the daughter of Chucky’s voice actor, Brad Douriff.
Many of the cast and crew that work on Chucky are families. Some heave worked with Mancini since the original Childs Play.
The closes of Mancini’s crew is obvious within the projects. From Curse and Cult, to the Chuky tv series.
In an industry that’s full of dangerious people and sour experineces. Mancini and Chucky act as beacons of light.
In 2021, Mancini created the Chucky Tv series. A continuation of the story that adds more characters and a high school twist.
It’s clear Jake Wheeler is a kind of stand in for Mancini. A young queer artist that is looked down for embracing his sexuality.
Jake is emotionally and physically abused by his homophobic father, before Chucky swoops in.
Chucky and Jakes relationship becomes one of abusive manipulation soon after this moment.
The most touching scene of show and one that is telling of Mancinis positive representation. Chucky and Jake have a heated discussion before Chucky tells Jake about his gender-fluid0 child, finishing his point by saying, “I’m not a monster Jake.”
It’s a moment that resonated with many of Chucky’s queer audience and defies how supportive Mancini is of queer people.
Mancini and the doll
There’s no queer creative quiet like Don Mancini.
A man who is proud of his queerness and someone who loves his creation more than most others.
His commitment to Chucky is beautiful and he continues to improve and surprise audiences everytime a new project is released.
Childs Play was one of the first horror films I fell in love with, after discovering more about Don Mancini, my love was only strengethend.
If you haven’t watched a Chucky film or the show, it’s well worth it this pride month.
Featured image credit: Don Mancini
Third year Film and journalism student
Gaming and Tech editor
Horror fanatic
