Child's Play. The case of the killer doll.

Please note – Although in Ciao this film is listed under the name “Chucky” the actual title of the film is “Childs Play” featuring the doll Chucky.

The film storyline, although fairly simple, has a lot of depth. It all starts off when the “strangler” Charles Le Ray is caught in a gun heist in a toy shop, and is shot in the heart. The wound is killing him, and being an expert at voodoo Charles (who likes to be called Chucky) transports his soul into a “Good Guy Doll” in a last desperate attempt to stay alive. It works. Several weeks later it is little Andy’s birthday and his mom cannot afford a Good Guy Doll, even though he is desperate for the damn thing. However, his mum comes across a street peddler selling a seemingly brand new Good Guy Doll, and at $30 instead of $100 she can afford it and she buys it for her son. You’ve guessed, the doll she buys is the one with Chucky’s soul inside. When she gets the dolls home Andy complains of Chucky the doll speaking to him, and after the murders start they realize Chucky is alive and is getting revenge on his enemies, including Andy and his mom!

The actors and actress for this film are for the main part good. The child who plays Andy (Alex Vincent) is very convincing especially considering he was only about 8 or 9 during the shooting of this film. He delivers all his lines convincingly and with plenty of emotions, especially during one scene where he is locked in a room and can see Chucky coming to kill, during this scene he delivers a truly chilling act of crying and begging for his life. In my opinion he is one of the best child actors to grace the screens of a horror film since the girl (Linda Blair) in the Exorcist in 1979.
Andy’s mum (Catherine Hicks) is also a good actress, you she here transformation from a rational mother to a scared women superbly. She displays her emotions fairly well throughout the film, especially towards the end when she is fighting for her sons and her life. The only downside to her character is that it is fairly one dimensional, with no real character to it other than the stereotypical single mum who will do anything for her perfect little son.
The cop who helps the family (like most horror films the family rely on a cop to help them out) plays a large role in the second half and opening moments of the film. Played by Chris Sarandon he is responsible for killing Charles Le Ray, and so indirectly responsible for Chucky’s creation. Chucky is out for revenge on him, for obvious reasons, and so the cop is drawn into the action. His character is less one dimensional than Andy or his mum, but at the end of the day he is the stereotypical cop who is sceptical and then suddenly gets attacked and joins their fight with the menacing doll. Sarandon portrays his character well, delivering lines well and executing the action as you’d expect.

Child’s Play is directed by Tom Holland, not a famous director but he was responsible for other cult horror movies such as Stephen King’s Thinner, Fright Night, Psycho 2, and The Beast Within. He only directed the first Child’s Play movie, not bothering with the sequels, and he does it well. The film is well directed, with the production of the film having very little fault (especially considering this was an ‘80s flick) and it has aged REALLY well which is always a sign of a good director.

The locations in the film are impressive ranging from toy shops to apartments to asylums, this film covers it all. The budget for this film obviously wasn’t minute as the locations look their part and not like some crummy studio back lot. My favourite location is probably the asylum with it’s feeling of entrapment being conveyed to the viewer effectively, and making you feel as stuck as young Andy does as he waits to die. The locations on this film are very professional, and make you realise that the producers of this film pumped a lot of money into the project and hoped it paid off (in my opinion it sure did).

The film is certificate 15, because of its horror themes and violent moments (Chucky also drops the F bomb a couple of times, that’s right a child’s doll with a potty mouth!). The film returns for a full 1 hour 23 minutes, which in my opinion is perfect as there nothing worse than a film that drags out for too long unnecessarily. The film is available on both DVD and VHS, although they are quite hard to track down offline. I got my copy from e-bay for £16 with all the other Childs Play films (obviously apart from Seed of Chucky), however that deal doesn’t come with a box so be warned! The film was released in 1988, and so is fairly old but doesn’t look very dated at all.

Thanks for taking the time out to read my review!