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Child’s Play (1988)

Synopsis: 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

Violence: 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.

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

Scares: 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.