Make a Play-date With Chucky

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

This weeks pick for my old horror movie was Child’s Play. In case you live under a rock, and have never heard of it, the classic, and franchise inspiring, movie follows a six-year-old boy and his single mother as his doll named Chucky (ringing a bell now?) transforms from innocent plaything, into a serial killer. Sounds cheesy, right? Maybe now it would be, but back in 1988 when it was released it was a pretty creepy scene. However, I digress. 

The opening scene has nothing to do with little Andy Barclay, and everything to do with the man who’s soul winds up in his doll. The chase is underway for notorious serial killer Charles Lee Ray (played by horror legend Brad Dourif). Ray finds himself shot, bleeding to death, and trapped in a toy store with no way out. Naturally, he is a voodoo expert, and can save himself if only there is a nearby body to transport his soul into. With the police closing in, Ray makes a last ditch effort, and with a prayer, performs the ritual with a doll. Luckily his gamble payed off, and with a bang of lightning, seen through the toy store’s glass ceiling for dramatic effect, Charles Lee Ray is gone, and Chucky is born.

The next time we see Chucky, he’s in an ironically named “Good Guys” doll box in a homeless peddler's cart, being sold to the highest bidder. Since the “Good Guys” dolls cost a small fortune, and Andy’s mom is desperate to make him happy for his birthday, she wheels and deals and ends up taking the doll home to her unsuspecting son. You can guess what happens from there on. Chucky terrorizes the family, and of course, no one is going to believe them that a doll is actually an evil serial killer incarnate.

However, for a good portion of the movie, I, like the police in the movie, was a little skeptical about Chucky really being alive. For a while the audience never sees Chucky move, or talk in any way but his pre-recorded doll phrases. I was almost expecting a twist. Part of me was convinced that Andy was really a mini psychopath. I know that the Child’s Play movies are known as the “Chucky” movies, but the Friday the 13^th movies are known as the “Jason” movies, and the machete wielding wannabe hockey goalie isn’t the killer in the first of those (sorry to ruin the surprise). I thought maybe Child’s Play  would play out similarly, with the first movie being a bit more on the realistic side (as any ‘80’s horror movie can be), and then progress into the supernatural villain for the sequels. However, my idea was shot once Chucky started to show his true colors.

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

The movie ends with another lightning fueled showdown that was also displayed by a glass ceiling in the Barclay’s apartment building. This threw me off a little. I mean, c’mon, how many toy stores and low rent apartment buildings really have glass ceilings? I know it was for dramatic effect, but I couldn’t help be a little bothered.

However, in the end, I actually enjoyed the movie. Yes, it was a little cheesy, but it was the ‘80s. The movie went by at a good pace, and I can see how an audience more than 20 years ago would be freaked out. Our generation watched movies about supernatural entities coming through our cell phones, or Internet connections. Child’s Play is a similar concept, one that was contemporary for the times. The movie also met the expectations I had. I didn’t expect some grandeur horror movie centered around a knife-weilding doll. I would recommend the film to anyone who hasn’t seen it. And, even if you have, it would be worth a second watch.