With Cult of Chucky right around the corner, we're looking back to some unused marketing materials for Child's Play 3. While Chucky wasn't the first killer doll to ever grace the horror genre, it could be argued that he's easily the most iconic of his type, and is to sinister dolls what Michael Myers is to masked slashers. When Child's Play first introduced the Chucky character back in 1988, it's unlikely anyone involved could have predicted just how long-lasting a franchise would follow, with 6 films to date and a boatload of merchandise. Fans even came close to seeing a Chucky video game, but it was pulled after the idea proved controversial with some.

In a landscape where Robert Englund is no longer Freddy, Warwick Davis is no longer the Leprechaun, and even Doug Bradley is no longer Pinhead, the Child's Play/Chucky series is the last major horror franchise standing to still feature the original villain, operating within the original continuity, and played by the original actor. That actor is of course Brad Dourif, who traveled the odd path of being nominated for an Oscar for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, then later becoming best known for voicing a murderous doll. One can't say it hasn't worked for him though.

Recently, the buzz around Chucky has reignited, thanks to the impending release of latest sequel Cult of Chucky this October. The gore-soaked Cult of Chucky trailer made its way online last week, and it promises another round of deranged kills from the diminutive death dealer. With Chucky on the brain, franchise fan Stephen Snowdon recently took to Facebook to share a batch of rare unused poster concepts for 1991's Child's Play 3. Some are fairly standard, while others are outright weird. Surf's up dude, indeed. Check them out below:

[vn_gallery name="Child’s Play 3 Unused Posters" id="1007761"]

Considering the actual plot of Child's Play 3 - Chucky pursues his now-teenage nemesis Andy Barclay to a military academy - some of those potential poster designs seem quite odd, to put it mildly. That said, Child's Play 3 was a famously rushed production, hitting theaters less than a year after Child's Play 2. Arguably, that has a lot to do with 3 being many fan's least favorite installment. Either way, one assumes that some of the above posters were designed before Child's Play 3 even had a finalized script, so perhaps Chucky killing people on a beach was considered for the premise at some point.

As for Cult of Chucky itself, the sequel will take Chucky into an environment he's never killed in before: a mental hospital. To be more specific, it's the mental hospital that Nica (played by Brad's daughter Fiona) has been confined to after Chucky framed her for murdering her family in 2013's Curse of Chucky. Back to throw a wrench into his devious plan is an adult Andy Barclay, played by original Child's Play actor Alex Vincent. Luckily, Chucky's bride Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) has his back.

NEXT: Looking Back at the History of the Child's Play Franchise

Cult of Chucky hits Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on October 20.

Source: Stephen Snowdon (via Bloody Disgusting)