31 Days of Horror: Child’s Play

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 6, 2009

31daysofhorror-reckoning

Child’s Play (1988)

ChildsPlaySynopsis: When a voodoo obsessed killer is facing the end of his life, he does the only logical thing he can – transfers his vicious soul into the plastic husk of a “Good Guys” doll. A little thing like being little can’t keep a good killer down and soon he’s back to his old ways, slicing and dicing and trying to transfer his body to the first person he revealed his new self to – a young child named Andy.

Killer Scene: In the climax of the film, several special effects methods were used to show Chucky pursuing Andy and his mom Karen through the apartment in an effective scene. Plus, there is some serious human on doll violence about to go down.

KillSheet

skulls-15Violence: This classic slasher is pretty light on violence with only five people catching the murderball. There are some stabbings, gunshots, broken bones, and an awesome electrocution.

skulls-0Sex: Karen is played by Catherine Hicks, who is a good looking woman. That is all.

skulls-15Scares: This film is probably most effective at scaring kids and Cole Abaius, who still sleeps with a doll. There are some spooky scenes that can get a rise out of you and before Chucky morphed into the non-stop wise-cracking asshole he is now, he was a genuinely creepy little bastard.

Final Thoughts: Chucky today is a little monster none of us saw coming. Sure, in this movie he’s a bit of a dickhead, but he wasn’t quite the hellion he would later become. This is the first movie in a successful series that offers up a cool presence and an original villain, which is nice. Chucky is often overlooked when you start talking about the big guns of horror – Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, et al. And that’s a shame, because this pintsized guy grows up (errr…) into quite the awesome villain. His humble origins start here and while the film isn’t all that scary or all that violent, it is well made and filled with some creepy tension. If you’ve never seen this sometimes over-looked classic origin, catch up on it. Besides, Brad Douriff does some amazing voice work as the little demon doll.


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  • tylerdurden1681
    I heard they are remaking this movie, still using Brad to do the voice. I am just curious how they are going to improve this series. Unless Rob Zombie is hired to make it a slashfest/foul languagefest/rapefest/child abusefest/seeing a magical white horsefest. Then I could see them making it "different" from its original film.
  • Maybe it will just be a reboot. Using the Brad is a good step, but basically every major franchise has already been relaunched so why not join the circus?
  • Cole_Abaius
    I could never get into this movie or the franchise because the villain is too drop-kickable. We see horror films where people are running from and confronting vicious super-zombies and these losers couldn't snap the head off a doll? Seriously.
  • Chucky is an ambush predator Cole. By the time you know he's there, he's wearing your ballsack as flight goggles.
  • Chucky is an ambush predator Cole. By the time you know he's there, he's wearing your ballsack as flight goggles.
  • EDog
    Child's Play is a great "horror" movie. While Chucky doesn't look as formidable as Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers - this first movie works great because Chucky was masterful at using his unassuming presence to kill. His origin is cool and the fact that the movie starts off as a cop cat & mouse game makes it different than a lot of horror movies out there. Even his motive for gunning for Andy totally makes sense. They were never able to capture the originality, smarts, and fun of the first movie.
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