Nica Pierce

Films

In Curse of Chucky, Nica Pierce is a paraplegic woman that lives with her mother Sarah. One afternoon Nica receives a package that contains Chucky. Later that night she finds her mother dead and her death is ruled a suicide. She is later visited by her sister Barb, her sister's husband Ian, her niece Alice, their live-in nanny Jill and Father Frank. That night, Nica begins to investigate the doll she received on the internet, and discovers the doll's link to serial killer Charles Lee Ray. Chucky soon begins killing off Nica's guests and when she hears Barb's screams, Nica crawls upstairs, not being able to take the elevator due to the electricity being out. When she gets up there, Barb is dead, and she discovers that Chucky is alive. Chucky flees and Nica wakes up Ian, who then takes Nica to the garage and restrains her believing that she is the killer. After Nica says that Chucky is responsible for the murders, Ian looks at footage from a camera he placed on Chucky to see if his wife was having an affair on him with Jill. Realizing that Chucky is in fact alive, he is murdered by Chucky with an axe. Nica manages to break the restraints and attack Chucky but is pushed over the balcony. When Nica asks Chucky what his motive is, he reveals that he was a family friend that was secretly in love with Nica's mother Sarah. He killed her father and kidnapped Sarah. When Sarah contacted the police and staged his arrest, he stabbed on her in the stomach causing Nica's impairment. Nica fights off Chucky before he can kill her but when a police officer walks in and sees Barb's corpse with Nica holding a bloody knife, she is placed into a mental hospital.

It has been revealed that Nica will return in the upcoming seventh installment with Fiona Dourif reprising her role.

Reception

Nica has been regarded as one of the greatest contemporary heroines. Joey Keogh noted how she's different from other final girls stating that "she is confined to a wheelchair throughout and thus completely unable to revert to typical Final Girl conventions, like running around, screaming her head off. Nica is a remarkably resourceful young woman, who is more than a match for Chucky, even though his main focus is on a younger, more vulnerable charge entirely." Clark Douglas praised Dourif's performance saying:

Most of the performances aren't worth writing home about, but Fiona Dourif (Brad's daughter) does a fine job as the disabled Nica. While some of the other supporting players suffer from the sort of overacting or stiffness that often plagues low-budget horror films, Dourif delivers a consistently convincing – and even affecting – piece of work. Her dad continues to bring gleeful menace in his voiceover work as Chucky, but gets the opportunity to do some memorable live-action work in the film's third act (which features a terrific black-and-white sequence that elegantly ties this film to Child's Play in a strikingly direct way).

Matt Molgaard praised the character saying "Handicapped, forever wheelchair-bound, Dourif’s character, Nica, doesn’t look too imposing or powerful. In fact, initially she looks a bit fragile. And then shit gets crazy in the film and Nica’s defensive mindset spins 180 degrees. Survival instinct takes over, and whether handicapped or not, she’s not going down without a fight for the ages." Adam Frazier who gave the film a mixed review praised Fiona's performance stating "Aside from Fiona Dourif, who makes a solid Final Girl, many of the performances are amateurish."