Child’s Play
Awww the 80’s. Who doesn’t love horror in the 80’s? I know, a lot of people don’t but they are missing out. We get slashers (which are the best in my opinion) and we get a killer doll named Chucky. At this point who would think a cute Good Guy doll could scare you? After Chucky, I didn’t look at dolls the same way.
PLOT
A single mother gives her son a Good Guy doll for his birthday, only to discover that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
Photo Credit: United Artist
Released: Nov 9, 1988
Runtime: 87 mins
Director: Tom Holland
Writer: Don Mancini, John Lafia, Tom Holland
Actors: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent
MY THOUGHTS
Hi, I'm Chucky, and I'm your friend till the end. Hidey-ho!--Buffy
We get about 6 kills (counting Chucky at the end, which as we know he comes back. But for this movie I’m counting it). Nothing too gory or graphic, but we do get a voodoo doll kill which is kind of interesting. Plus, Maggie (Dinah Manoff) is the very first kill from Chucky in the franchise.
There’s a good set of actors in Child’s Play. We get Catherine Hicks as Karen the mom. Chris Sarandon (from Fright Night, Jack Skellington of Nightmare before Christmas, and The Princess Bride of course.) as Detective Mike Norris. And finally Brad Dourif (from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Blue Velvet, and Exorcist III) as Charles Lee Ray/Chucky. Even Alex Vincent as Andy was believable.
This is a story of a single mom who buys her son a Good Guy doll he’s been wishing for. Unknowingly giving him one that is possessed by serial killer Charles Lee Ray. When Charles was dying he transfers his soul, through voodoo, into the doll. Now Chucky wants revenge on his ex-partners and the cop who kills him. Meanwhile, innocent people are dying and everyone thinks little Andy is the killer.
I like how the movements of Chucky were done. It doesn’t look cheesy (I’m looking at you Puppet Master and Charles Band). Even the parts where someone is dressed as Chucky were pretty good. The scene where Chucky runs behind Maggie in the hallway, Chucky was actually played by Alex Vincent's younger sister. Ed Gale, who was hired to play as Chucky for the fire scene, was taller than the doll. So they created a living room stage that was bigger and actually set him on fire.
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I wanted to take a quick break to let you know I found these great deals on Amazon for Child’s Play merchandise. I’ve applied to Amazon’s affiliate program and if I can get three purchases I will be accepted into the program. This will be of tremendous help with starting my small business.
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Overall, a good movie, especially for the 80’s. Child’s Play is so successful it has several sequels, a reboot, and a TV show. Even though later on the sequels get a bit too silly and comedic, it’s still a decent scary movie. If you don’t like dolls, especially talking dolls, you should watch this movie.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
Catherine Hicks (Karen) and Kevin Yagher (Chucky's creator) met on set and were married a year later.
Originally the studio billed Chris Sarandon as the top star over Catherine Hicks, but Sarandon requested that Hicks be top billed, since he felt she carried the picture.
Despite their long-running collaborative effort to bring Chucky to life, voice actor Brad Dourif and special effects wizard Kevin Yagher never met in person until they were both guests at a horror convention in May 2018.
All of Brad Dourif's voiceover work for Chucky was recorded in advance so they could match up Chucky's mouth with the words. Because of this, Dourif rarely ever appeared on set during the "doll" scenes.
One of the inspirations for the Good Guys dolls was the interactive doll, Corky. Corky's voice actor Edan Gross was even used as Chucky's "normal" voice.
Director Tom Holland has some cameos in the movie. He is the voice of the costumed host of the Good Guys program Andy is watching as well as Andy's father who is pictured in several photographs around the apartment.
Despite his reputation as a hater of all things horror, Roger Ebert gave a positive review to this film.
The name of the TV channel announcing the death of Charles Lee Ray at the beginning of the movie is W-DOL.
Chucky loses his right hand in each installment from the original trilogy.
The Chucky films have always been accused of inspiring violence in children. One case linked to the series was a gang in Manchester kidnapping and murdering a 16-year-old girl. While they tortured her, they forced her to listen to recordings of the gang leader repeating the catchphrase "I'm Chucky, wanna play?"
Chucky's eyes were re-used by special effects technician Kevin Yagher for building the Crypt Keeper puppet in Tales from the Crypt.
Have you seen the other Child’s Play movies? Check out my other reviews here: Child’s Play Franchise.
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 3.5/5
Sex/Nudity: 0/5
Scare factor: 4/5
Enjoyment factor: 9/10
My Rank: 4.1/5
IMDB: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 7.1/10 audience: 6.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.3/5
