Serial killer Charles Lee Ray uses a voodoo spell to transfer his soul into the body of a children’s toy that causes havoc for a little boy and his mother.
HORROR
|
Child's Play (1988)Directed by Tom Holland
Written by Don Mancini, John Lafia, Tom Holland Starring Brad Dourif, Catherine Hicks, Alex Vincent, Chris Sarandon, Dinah Manoff |
The one that started it all. A franchise which lasted over 30 years and began nightmares for young kids everywhere, including myself. I can still remember when my dad first let me watch this movie since it was on TV and all the bad stuff was edited out. Well, even then, it didn’t exactly go well. After spending the entirety of the film behind my father’s back, I proceeded to go to bed. Cue a nightmare and screaming awake in terror and, well, my mom wasn’t actually happy to find out what I had just seen. And there were also the numerous times I spent hopping over door frames because of one specific scene in this film. And now, here I am years later, both a massive fan of this franchise and the horror genre in general.
The first Child’s Play works so well because it takes a much more straightforward horror approach. Keep in mind people, this was before the sequels came out, so they couldn’t exactly embrace the camp just yet. Instead, the film goes out of its way to make you wonder if Andy is telling the truth or lying. All the way until the moment which Chucky reveals himself to Catherine Hicks’s character. And, in turn, the audience. Which leads to the next best part of this film, Brad Dourif. He completely owns the role of Chucky. The voice, mannerisms, and one liners are perfectly done by him. He is awesome. And I hope he continues to play this character until the day he dies. Child’s Play is a classic. And for good reason. The character of Chucky is perfectly done by Brad Dourif, the horror angle works extremely well, and it’s just a constant joy to watch. While it’s understandable the later sequels would adopt a campier approach, this is still one of the first horror films that truly scared me as a kid. And just remember: “Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” |
As a film student Don Mancini was inspired by the Cabbage Patch Kids craze of the 80's that saw parents beating each other up just to get one for their children. His story follows the serial killer Charles Lee Ray (a role now synonymous with Brad Dourif) as he escapes a Chicago detective played by Chris Sarandon after his getaway driver deserts him. A shootout results in Charles Lee Ray being mortally wounded and his dying moments are spent transferring his soul into the popular toy of the day, the Good Guy Doll. Chucky has a new life and he’s going to use his new body to its fullest.
This franchise has endured for seven films thus far (a reboot has been made and a TV series, helmed by Mancini, is also in production) and has kept Don Mancini involved as a writer and/or director since the beginning; a feat worthy of praise given how fickle and unforgiving the movie business can be. The first film introduces us to Chucky, a slasher legend in kid-size shoes, and his friend to the end, Andy (played by Alex Vincent as recently as 2018's Cult of Chucky). Like most kids of the 80's, he is after the latest craze, the Good Guy Doll. There is a scene showing how saturated it is in society with a cartoon playing, Andy pouring Good Guy cereal for his mom, and Andy wearing a Good Guy onesie. This was something Mancini wanted to include because of the Cabbage Patch hysteria and how it permeated pop culture. Karen (Hicks), Andy’s mother, is desperate to get her hands on one because her son wants it for his birthday. This desperation leads to Karen crossing paths, unsuspectingly, with Chucky in his new body. A mystery unfolds centered on whether or not Andy is telling the truth about Chucky. As the bodies begin to pile up in increasingly brutal ways, one death can only be described with Joe Bob Briggs phrasing as ‘voodoo fu’, the adults are forced to face an unlikely truth: the doll is alive. Chucky is out for revenge against those who left him to die and anyone who stands in his way will meet a gruesome end. In later sequels, the mythology of Chucky set up in this film is largely abandoned to fully serve the premise of a killer doll on a murder spree. Here it leads to a frightening showdown between Chucky and Andy with the boy’s body on the line. It is played straight for scares and it works pretty well in creating that tense atmosphere as Chucky kills those around Andy. Like any good horror villain, Chucky is hard to keep down and his relationship with Andy has endured because they are friends to the end. |