Child's Play

Child’s Play (1988)

On Demand, Seattle, WA

October 15, 2007

*** / ****

A two foot tall doll with a foul mouth and a penchant for stabbing victims in the calf with a kitchen knife before he bites them in the neck: It must be the 1980s.

Aside from its one twist on your average slasher film, Child’s Play is a very typical horror movie. That twist however, making a children’s toy into a very frightening and psychotic mass murderer, is done so well that the unlikely result is a bona fide horror classic from an otherwise typical picture.

Child’s Play tells the story of mass murderer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif). Trapped in a toy store while bleeding to death, Ray desperately snatches a red-headed children’s toy, chants some voodoo magic, lightning strikes and presto, the man’s soul embodies the funny looking doll. One thing leads to another and the possessed doll eventually winds up in the hands of Andy (Alex Vincent), a sweet little boy and the son of single mom, Karen (Catherine Hicks). Disgusted by his situation and bent on finding a way out of his unusual body, Ray, as Chucky the Good Guy Doll, confides in Andy his predicament as he plots revenge on his killers and a way back to human form.

Now this may seem a bit silly, and it easily could have been, but director Tom Holland and writer Don Mancini make it anything but by carefully following the essential rules of good horror action filmmaking guaranteeing Chucky is no laughing stock. Like all good monster pics, evil Chucky is kept out of audience view as long as possible. While his mischievous acts pile up, we are slowly shown more and more of the little freak until the heat rises in the final third of the film and Chucky finally outs himself. While the participants in Chucky’s story continually doubt Andy’s claims that his doll is alive, the body count rises until there can be no other explanation and seeing becomes believing. This is quintessential Monster Movie 101 and works like a charm. Throw in the added benefit of a bizarre and unlikely villain and to this day you’ve got a horror icon unlike any other.

Overall, Child’s Play is a fast moving and very watchable film, especially as a ‘80s horror flick. The acting is good, the story satisfying, and aside from a little incongruity with a few of the special effects (a charred Chucky suddenly doesn’t look so charred when the situation calls for it) the visuals are convincing and cheerfully warped and entertaining. All this makes for a very pleasing film that has earned its place as a horror classic.