TR Reviews horror franchises: "Child's Play"

[Lick Ness Monster]

Child's Play
1988
Director: Tom Holland

In the late '80s, Universal pictures received a screenplay from Don Mancini, concerning a serial killer, a voodoo chant...and a killer doll. Even more, a killer doll with a personality. Believing that the public was thoroughly burnt out on Freddy Kruger on the "monsters with a personality" ticket, they were skeptical - but they saw something in the screenplay about a kid and the evil secret he seems to share with the strange doll, and went with it.
It paid off. The original "Child's Play" is a movie that seems to play on one of our most innate fears - dolls. Maybe it's just me, but I have noticed that many people are afraid of dolls for some strange reason. And when we see children with their dolls, it becomes even creepier, as the lifelike figures grow into lifelike friends for the kids - and strangely, the kids always seem to share some evil secret with them...
Of course, much like the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, this movie shares a simple setup for the "killer doll" scenario. Charles Lee Ray (the incomparable Brad Dourif), voodoo-practicing serial killer extraordinaire, is finally cornered, shot by police, and left for dead...only with his last breath, he uses a voodoo incantation to transfer his soul into the thing that is most close to him...a Good Guys Doll.
From here ensues classic horror. Of course, the child who ends up with the cursed doll, Andy (Alex Vincent, doing about as good of an acting job as you could possibly expect) is thrilled to have the brand-new, state-of-the-art doll in his possession, and the mother (Catherine Hicks), who can't believe that she was able to find it so cheap. And from here the horror and madness ensues, as Mr. Chucky comes home with the single-parent family...
"Child's Play" is a different kind of horror film for the time it came from. Unlike "Friday" or "Nightmare," these movies (and especially the first) depended heavily on the acting, even moreso as it depends on the tried and true "the kid knows the doll is evil, but who will believe him?" storyline. And indeed, this film is even more effective because you don't actually SEE any of Chucky's malice firsthand until more than an hour into the film. Indeed, when Hicks finally realizes that the doll talks while the batteries are out, the moment that Chucky comes to life in her arms is very shocking for those who haven't seen the film before.
Of course, as the first in a long series of films, this film covers the backstory of the Charles Lee Ray character and the voodoo storyline excellently. It boasts some good, creative special effects for the times, the unbelievable voice acting of Mr. Dourif, and excellent performances from Hicks and Vincent.

*** 1/2 / ****

[Corporate H]

Everything kinda went downhill after the original.

[Deleted]

Wow, this just made me realize that it's been years since i've seen the first one. And did Chucky remind anyone else of those old My Buddy dolls? I think I wanted one after seeing Child's Play. ;D

[Corporate H]

conspiracyvictim said:

Wow, this just made me realize that it's been years since i've seen the first one. And did Chucky remind anyone else of those old My Buddy dolls? I think I wanted one after seeing Child's Play. ;D

I think it was meant to be a play on them anyhow.

[Lick Ness Monster]

conspiracyvictim said:

Wow, this just made me realize that it's been years since i've seen the first one. And did Chucky remind anyone else of those old My Buddy dolls? I think I wanted one after seeing Child's Play. ;D

The Good Guys dolls were based on My Buddy dolls.

[Dr. Marzvon Zombie M.D.]

All I know is that second one was a STINKER!!!!

[Jiren]

I loved 1, 2 & 3 but Bride & Seed of chucky sucked balls

[boiledewokthe3rd]

I thought Seed of Chucky was really good fun!

[Lick Ness Monster]

boiledewokthe3rd said:

I thought Seed of Chucky was really good fun!

I'm a huge fan of pretty much this entire series. I think this might be my only franchise review with no negative reviews - every movie in this series has a lot going for it.

[Mozenrath]

I could never really buy him as a serious threat. I never got why they didn't dismember him but keep him alive. He couldn't come back that way, could he?

[Silent Brad]

the first one is good, but i dont really get the series. its a doll, STEP ON IT.

[Deleted]

conspiracyvictim said:

Wow, this just made me realize that it's been years since i've seen the first one. And did Chucky remind anyone else of those old My Buddy dolls? I think I wanted one after seeing Child's Play. ;D

Im not gonna lie...I thoroughly beat the living hell out of my "My Buddy Doll" and buried him in my back yard right after seeing this movie for the first time...After that I was scared to go near the spot I buried him in for months afraid id get the little hand out of the ground or worried id find the spot dug back up...

[Dean-o]

I've always been a big fan of the first, and the 2nd/3rd used to play on the USA Network so many weekends that I memorized them both.

Never saw 4 or 5, and have no plans to.

[MCMGM]

cropsy13 said:

I loved 1, 2 & 3 but Bride & Seed of chucky sucked balls

[Nr1Humanoid]

I made the mistake of showing this to a ten year old I was watching once. He liked Jaws so I thought what the hell.

He asked me to turn it off after Chucky came to life on screen. Poor kid had nightmares for weeks. He's 13 now and loves the movies but I felt guilty about that for years.

[jzbadblood]

I taped a marathon of the 1, 2, 3, and Bride of Chucky off of Encore a few years ago. I love the series. Seed of Chucky was great too.

[Lick Ness Monster]

CHILD'S PLAY 2
1990
Director: John Lafia

I love continuity in horror films, and even more, I love it when the continuity actually makes sense. Rather than just hodgepodging together some vague "resurrection" (as even my favorite series, ANOES, is very guilty of in the later installments), I have to commend the Child's Play franchise for always bringing back Chucky in a logical manner - despite how illogical some of the people's decisions seem to make.
So yeah - evil Good Guy executive decides to rebuild the EXACT SAME DOLL that was possessed by Charles Lee Ray in the first film, leading to all the ensuing madness in this film...
Alex Vincent continues his excellent (by child acting standards) work as Andy Barkley, the kid who originally befriended Chucky in the first film. In this film, Andy is an orphan, his mother from the first film being in an insane asylum for her refusal to go against Andy's story that the doll was alive. So we've got a whole new crop of victims in this film...
The supporting characters aren't quite as good in this one, though Christine Elise does a game job as the older sister in Andy's new foster house. By the way, Andy's foster mother is played by Jenny Agutter, a sophisticated Austrailian actress noted for her role in the film "Walkabout." And now she's a mother in a cheesy slasher flick - I kind of like that.
So, Chucky finds young Andy, as he still needs a body to possess...and then the fun begins.
This is the film where Chucky would truly find a personality, joining Freddy Kruger in the ranks of monsters with fun attitudes (if you want to call it that). The special Chucky effects for the film were coming along swimmingly, leading to much more fluid motion for our beloved villain. And once again, the filmmakers succeed in creating a truly malevolent doll, and someone we can buy as a threat specifically because the small size leads to more hiding places - and even some genuine scares in places in this film...
While the ending is a little illogical (was there some specific reason that Chucky needed to be taken back to the Good Guys factory other than just to lead to more possibilities for wacky, zany things to be done to him in his death scenes?), this is a worthy follow-up to the first film, and a good bridge for the Chucky character into the more comedic turns he would take in following sequels.

*** / ****

[Lick Ness Monster]

Wow - no comments on Child's Play 2?

[Deleted]

Child's Play 2 is actually my favorite of the series. I always loved the scene where Chucky kills Andy's teacher. Seriously, Chucky just looked so damn cool walking towards her with the yardstick in hand.

[Jiren]

The death of Miss Kettlewell was awesome

Stabbed with a ball pump and then beaten with a metrestick