Franchises: Child's Play. Child's Play (1988)

I always thought this was a very strange poster,
although it does help keep the initial mystery,
unlike that other one that has Chuky front and
center.

As a little kid, I remember being absolutely terrified of Chucky, particularly because of two older cousins of mine who loved to scare and torment me back then. One day, they, along with a couple of my real friends, put in the third Child's Play movie and even though I didn't make it past the first fifteen minutes, that proved to be my first real exposure to it. I think part of my being so scared was because I didn't quite understand it. I kind of understood that Chucky was some sort of evil, living toy or something but I didn't understand whether he was a doll, a dummy, or what. Remember, I was only like five or six at the time, so my mindset wasn't that clear. In any case, as the years since that first little glimpse of it passed, I didn't think much about the series except for when I would see and read the back of the VHS boxes for the movies at my video rental shop, and yet, ironically, the original Child's Play would be the movie that would get me interested in "contemporary" horror films. Before Halloween of 1999, I watched few horror films that were more recent than the 60's because they did genuinely scare me. But, on the day before Halloween that year when I was twelve years old, I came across the original Child's Play while flipping through channels and ended up watching it. While my initial reaction upon seeing it was fright, I stuck with it and actually enjoyed myself, although my mom couldn't believe that I was watching Chucky since she herself was still freaked out by it at that time (now, we both really like Chucky). So, I have the first Child's Play to thank for opening me up to all horror films rather than just those from the old days. Anyway, getting to the film itself, as anyone who's a fan of this series knows, the original film is a very serious, dark horror film that takes a story that could have and should have been really stupid and actually does it well. While I do enjoy most of the other films, as you'll see, it's a shame that the series strayed from that concept (although I'm glad they went back to it with Curse of Chucky) because this one is the best of the bunch by far.

Serial killer Charles Lee Ray, who has been terrorizing Chicago for some time now, is chased into a toy store by Detective Mike Norris. Norris fatally shoots Ray but, before he dies, he speaks a type of chant over a brand of doll known as a Good Guy, which causes a roaring thundercloud to form above the store, despite it being the middle of winter, and strike it, destroying most of the interior and almost killing Norris. The next day is little Andy Barclay's sixth birthday and he's hoping for a Good Guy doll as a present but his mother, Karen, hasn't had time to save up the money needed for the expensive toy. While at her job in a department store that day, though, she meets a peddler who sells a Good Guy to her for half the price. Naturally, Andy is overjoyed when he receives his doll but, later that night, his birthday turns tragic when his babysitter, Karen's friend Maggie Petersen, mysteriously falls out of the apartment window to her death. Andy also begins saying his new doll, Chucky, is alive and talking to him... and what he claims the plaything has been saying to him is quite disturbing to Karen, especially in regards to her dead friend. When another murder happens the next day, Andy, who was picked up nearby, is taken to an institution, believed to be the killer, although he continues to insist that Chucky is behind everything. Not long after that, though, Karen discovers that the Good Chucky is indeed alive, inhabited by the soul of Charles Lee Ray, who used some voodoo that he knew to pass his soul into the doll. Now, she must try to prove her son's innocence and stop Chucky from accomplishing his ultimate, disturbing goal: pass his soul into the first person he revealed his true identity to, which happens to be Andy!

Let's face it, making a killer doll movie scary is a hard task because the idea is so inherently laughable. In fact, except for the Twilight Zone episode, Living Doll (which was an inspiration for this film), and some obscure horror films here and there, like Stuart Gordon's film, Dolls, the original Child's Play has to be the best this concept has ever gotten. Unfortunately, though, there are a lot of people who still don't appreciate it. There really is no middle-ground with Chucky: you either have people who find him scary or others who, especially after seeing the latter films, snicker when they think of him. I can understand why some do laugh at because, again, the idea is so silly, but if you watch this first film, you can see that they do indeed pull it off very well, and the main reason for that is because you have a great director: Tom Holland. One of the most woefully underrated horror directors ever, Holland had proved his chops before this film by writing and directing the 1985 vampire classic Fright Night and also wrote the screenplay for the surprisingly awesome sequel, Psycho II. It's a shame that the guy, at this point, hasn't directed a movie since Thinner in 1996 (mainly because he became ill during the making of that film) and, instead, has been relegated to directing episodes of television shows like Masters of Horror and Twisted Tales as well as some short film, because he's a very capable director. The reason this movie works as well as it does is because, again, he doesn't make a joke out of it but rather, does it completely straightforward and turns it into a dark and fairly scary horror film that has just a touch of dark humor to it as well.

It's also interesting to note that Holland's revision of the original script by Don Mancini is the reason why Chucky became the character he is today. Mancini's story, which was initially called Blood Buddy, had an idea where the doll had synthetic blood and that Andy, in a blood brother pact, cut himself and mixed his own blood with that of the doll, which is what brings it to life. It was also more psychological, with Chucky being a representation of Andy's anger and frustration out of being so lonely all the time due to his mother's constant working and his father's absence and, as a result, the victims were people who were mean to Andy. When Holland was brought on as director, however, he rewrote the script and streamlined it into more of a straightforward horror film, coming up with the voodoo concept and the doll being possessed by the soul of a serial killer. Mancini has always expressed mixed feelings about the rewrite, sometimes seeming okay with it and other times blatantly calling the voodoo concept stupid (which must doubly suck for him since, as he's stuck with the series ever since, he's been forever saddled with this tinkering of his original idea) but one thing's for sure: to this day, there's still a lot of friction between him and Holland. He claims that, in an interview made around the time of the film's production, Holland said that the film was based on an original script by him and that Mancini and John Lafia, another writer who worked on the script, really did nothing. Mancini and Lafia then attempted to sue Holland over that and they then found themselves barred from the set. Mancini was only able to contribute to the final film when Holland had a falling out with David Kirschner, the producer of all the movies, during editing and Kirschner began bring him in and asking for his opinion on things. As a result, Holland is nowhere to be found on the film's special features, save for an archival interview made during filming. This whole thing is really strange to me since, from everything I've ever heard of Holland, he doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would be this difficult. I even once heard an audio interview with him where he had nothing but nice things to say about Mancini's original script, although he could have just been trying to save face. As for my personal opinion on the matter, while Mancini's original idea does sound interesting and, given the right director, could have made for a really good horror film, I think Holland created a more enduring character in Chucky with his rewrite. But, that said, if he really did make that comment about the story, that's really not cool and he should be ashamed of himself for it.

One thing that makes this film feel very different from a typical slasher movie is the cast: there are no teenage characters and, except for Andy, all the actors are over thirty, something that the sequels would sort of follow as well, with very few, if any, teenage actors (Child's Play 3 being the biggest exception). Catherine Hicks plays Karen Barclay and comes across as a very convincing single, working mother (they never say what happened to Andy's father but something Andy says implies that he's dead) who does everything she can to make ends meet and provide for her son. Like any mother would, she immediately rejects the idea that Andy would have had anything to do with the death of Maggie and also believes that Andy's insistence that Chucky is alive is just a fantasy, becoming quite horrified when he refuses to admit it, no matter what happens, and begins telling her some of the stuff he claims Chucky has been saying. After Andy is taken to a psychiatric ward, you can see that she's beginning to wonder if Andy is indeed insane and, although she still doesn't believe that Chucky is alive, she does blame the doll for what's happened to Andy, becoming quite resentful and angry towards him after she brings home. Of course, she finds out the hard way that the doll is indeed alive and responsible for the murders and, from that moment on, she's a mother who's determined to prove her son isn't insane, making herself look nutty in the process, and also to save his soul. It's too bad that they wrote her out of the sequels because she's a great mother and is played with a lot of warmth and likability by Hicks.

Chris Sarandon plays Mike Norris, the homicide detective in charge of the investigation, and he's portrayed as a very likable guy rather than a typical, hard-ass cop. He does logically think that Andy could be the one who killed Maggie due to the small footprints of flour found on the kitchen counter but he doesn't out and out point the finger at the kid. He just does what any policeman would. He also does sympathize with Karen and when Andy continues insisting that Chucky is alive, unknowingly doing so as a child psychiatrist watches through a two-way mirror, he shakes his head in frustration and despair, knowing that the kid has just doomed himself. Naturally, he thinks that Karen suddenly starts saying that Chucky is indeed alive and is behind the murders because she wants to help her son and, again, he does sympathize, going as far as to help her find out where the peddler found Chucky, but doesn't believe her. Like Karen, though, he finds out the truth the hard way when he's attacked and nearly killed by Chucky. I like the interesting dynamic in that since Norris already killed Charles Lee Ray but now, has to deal with him again. I wished they had expanded on that a little more. He also proves what a really decent guy he is when he follows Karen on her search for the peddler, knowing that part of the city is dangerous at night, and he's right to do so because he saves her from being raped. And finally when he finds out that Chucky is alive and what he plans to do to Andy, he's determined to help Karen save her son.

Alex Vincent plays little Andy, and as I've said many times before, I must have a high tolerance for child actors because I rarely ever find kids in movies annoying and Vincent is no exception. He's a generally likable, cute little kid, exuding pure innocence and going along with what Chucky tells him to do, thinking he's his friend, too naive to know that he's just using him as well as to understand that adults won't believe him when he says that his doll is alive. Some say that the way he delivers dialogue is stilted and unnatural but I don't see that; to me, it just sounds like a typical, six-year old who honestly believes everything that's going on around him and thinks that others will too. It's also heart-wrenching when you stop and think about how Chucky has not only manipulated but also basically framed this kid and, as Andy himself says, threatened to kill him if he tries to tell anyone the truth. In the scene where Andy is locked in a cell in the institution and sees Chucky coming up the stairs outside, the way he whimpers and cries is heartbreaking because he's absolutely sure that the doll is going to kill him for telling his secret. As a result, I just can't help but cheer inside when Chucky tries to keep him from setting him on fire, saying, "We're friends to the end, remember?" and Andy says, "This is the end, friend!", showing that he's not falling for that little monster's lies anymore! Finally, when it's all over, you know that this poor kid is going to be scarred for life by what's happened. That last shot that freezes with Andy looking back at what's left of Chucky, with that haunted look on his face, in particular shows that he'll never completely put this behind him. Even if there never were any sequels, it still makes you feel so bad for this little kid, whose innocent, make-believe fantasies got turned into something so frightening and nightmarish.

There are some nice side characters in the film as well. Dinah Manoff as Maggie Peterson, Karen's friend and Andy's ill-fated babysitter, doesn't have much to do since she dies so quickly but you are able to get the sense that she's a spunky, slightly acid-tongued, woman and good friend to Karen, going out of her way to help her get the Good Guy doll for Andy and attempting to cover for her when she has to come back to work later that night. I especially love her reaction towards the trashy peddler who sells Karen the Good Guy doll when he makes an obscene gesture towards her: "I think I dated him." Tommy Swerdlow, as brief as his screentime as Norris' partner and friend Jack is, manages to come across as a rather funny, jokey kind of guy, albeit serious when he has to be (he helped Norris during his pursuit of Charles Lee Ray at the very beginning of the film). One part that cracks my dad up is at the end when he's initially skeptical of Chucky being alive and is then attacked by the doll's headless body. When Norris asks, "You believe me now?" he simply says, "Yeah... but who's gonna believe me?" My dad always laughs at that. I also have to mention Jack Colvin as Dr. Ardmore, the head of the institution (if you're a fan of the Incredible Hulk TV series, like me, you'll remember him as Jack McGee, the reporter who dogged David Banner at every turn). Here, he doesn't have much of anything to do but he brings his general professionalism to his brief role and he also has what's probably the nastiest death in the film when Chucky shocks him to death with the electroshock therapy machine. Finally, I have to mention Eddie Caputo (Neil Giuntoli), Ray's accomplice who abandons him during the opening scene and gets killed by Chucky out of revenge for it. There's not much to say about him as a character since his only lines are saying, "Oh, shit," twice at the beginning but there's a curiosity about him since, one, it's kind of odd that a serial killer would have an accomplice, and two, he's not mentioned at all in Curse of Chucky, which flashes back to right before this film's opening and changes the circumstances around it (possibly another way for Don Mancini to get back at Tom Holland for messing with his script).

Okay, enough beating around the bush: let's talk about the awesome Brad Dourif's performance as Charles Lee Ray and the voice of Chucky. Until Curse of Chucky, playing Ray in the opening of this film was the only piece of physical acting Dourif got to play in this series but, as brief as it is, he manages to come across as very wild-looking and threatening, especially during that moment in the toy store when he swears to get even with Detective Norris and his former partner Eddie Caputo for abandoning him. As for his performance as the voice of Chucky (which, weirdly enough, was not even going to be him at first), while he would become primarily known for spouting one-liners in the later films, he plays the role here with very little humor, instead coming across as a cold-blooded, sadistic killer who's intent on both exacting his aforementioned revenge and getting his soul out of the doll. He doesn't really start saying anything that funny until the third act, where he's saying stuff like, "I have a date with a six-year old boy," and, "Batter up!" before knocking Andy out with a baseball bat, but it's not as overly jokey and silly as it would become. There's also his constant laughing, which he does quite a bit of from the middle of the film on and even in the case of that, it's not the over-the-top, Joker-like cackle that it would later become. His funniest moment by far is when an old couple spots him laying in the corner of an elevator and the woman says, "Ugly doll," to which, when she's out of earshot, he responds, "Fuck you." But other than those few moments, not only is Chucky generally not funny here, he's downright loathsome in his manipulation of Andy during the first half. What's really low is when Andy says that Chucky told him that his father sent him from heaven to play with him, which not only makes it very clear to me that Andy's father is dead but also that Andy probably told Chucky that and he used it to get his hooks into him even further. I also mentioned how he threatened to kill Andy if he tried to tell anyone the truth and he does also seem to take enjoyment in freaking the kid out. Plus, the idea of him having to possess the little kid's body is, again, just creepy.

While I do love the film, the major flaw that I think it has is its mystery of who's doing the killing during the first third. In Don Mancini's original script, you were kept in dark as to whether Chucky is actually alive or if Andy is the one doing the killing for much longer and they did try to keep it to some extent when the script was rewritten by Tom Holland. Even the movie's trailer kept what was going on unclear (save for Karen's line about the doll coming alive in her hands, which should have been removed) but I don't think the mystery works as well in the finished film because, even if you know nothing about Chucky or the series and came into this film completely cold, there's no doubt at all that there's something sinister going on with the doll because of the opening with Charles Lee Ray. And even if you didn't completely understand it, you'd still get tipped off very early on when you get a first-persion view of Chucky rushing into Eddie Caputo's house to murder him. Before that, the mystery works rather well, since you only get POV shots and a very quick glimpse of a small figure running in the background before Maggie's killed, the latter of which is all the more misdirecting since Chucky and Andy kind of look and dress alike. It's also not too far-fetched to think that, along with imagining that the doll is alive, Andy put Chucky in the chair in front of the TV, like Maggie accused him of doing, and imagined the flour on the bottom of Chucky's shoes and his eyes closing by themselves when they're in bed that night, but the scenes that follow, as well as DVD covers and posters, spoil the surprise big time. Ultimately, that's the downside of something like this becoming a franchise because things become too familiar in popular culture to be surprising anymore.

The animatronic effects by Kevin Yagher and his crew are still awe-inspiring to this day. It really does look like Chucky is alive and walking around, talking, and attacking. To me, the scene where Chucky comes alive in Karen's arms and attacks her is still a shocking and freaky one, with how he's screaming and flailing around as he smacks and even bites her. (I've heard some say that they can't tell the difference between the actual doll and the animatronic one but you can spot the subtle differences if you look very closely.) Something that Yagher and others pointed out on the special features on the DVD and Blu-Ray that I find very interesting is that, because he's slowly turning human, throughout the film Chucky's look changes. His skin goes from being shiny plastic to more flesh-colored, as well as with more details like pores and moles, his eyes go from being doll-like to looking more like Brad Dourif's piercing blue eyes and also become more sunken in to the face, and his hair goes from looking synthetic to more real-looking and even sweaty. In fact, during the climax in Karen and Andy's apartment, Chucky is beginning to look like Charles Lee Ray! I always subconsciously noticed the change before but I never really thought about it until I heard them talk about it, mainly because it was done subtlely. He also looks really creepy when he's burnt to a crisp at the end and continues to attack, with the scene where his head and limbs get blown off adding to the nightmarish feel of it. Speaking of his look, as a little kid I always felt that Chucky was ugly and unsettling even when he was just acting like a normal doll. There's just something about the way that doll looks that's always rubbed me the wrong way and felt sinister to me. Finally, one other technique that they used to bring Chucky to life was a midget in a suit wearing a fake head and, even though they used him in either far-off or quick shots, I could always spot the difference because, no matter how much the actor tried to imitate the animatronics, the movement looked a lot smoother and more fluent (although he does look better when he's playing Chucky when he's been burnt as well as when does the actual fire gag beforehand). They would never use this method as blatantly in the sequels but here, I think they showed the stand-in Chucky way too much.

It's interesting that, even though this series is about a killer toy, this is the only one that takes place anywhere near Christmastime and even then, it's set in November. Still, the time of year and the setting being the city of Chicago makes for some nice atmosphere, which is something about the film that I never hear anyone talk about. You can tell it's cold as hell, especially during the many night scenes, with snow everywhere and the actors' breath being very prominent when they speak (Chris Sarandon said that during one scene, he tried to say his lines and his vocal cords froze up because it was so cold!), and as a result, the city itself becomes something of a character as well. While you have nice, welcoming environments like Karen and Andy's apartment, the department store Karen works at, and the toy store at the beginning, you also see the seedier, more rundown side of the city, like the slums that Chucky has Andy take him to at one point, the nasty-looking house Eddie Caputo takes refuge in that's filled with rats, and the backalleys at night, with all the homeless people and the fire-barrels. It just feels unsafe, and Norris' warning to Karen that it's not a good place to be late at night proves to be justified when the peddler that sold Chucky to her, who already seemed really scummy, tries to rape her, with Norris saving her just in time. Like I said, Karen and Andy's apartment looks nice, but the building itself, however, looks more than a little imposing when you see it on the outside, which is often at night. I also feel bad that Andy gets put in this old, ugly-looking asylum that looks like it hasn't been remodeled since the 40's and exudes unpleasantness. The most skin-crawling location, though, is Charles Lee Ray's old apartment, which looks not only rundown but downright creepy due to all the disturbing, voodoo-inspired paintings on the wall, as well as the idea that Chucky came around at one point and wrote a message on the wall that thanked Damballa for life after death.

This movie has some really impressive and exciting sequences, some you wouldn't expect to see in a movie about a killer doll, like the toy store getting struck by lightning and exploding at the beginning and Chucky tricking Eddie Caputo into shooting a gas stove, blowing his entire house up. My favorite part of the entire film is when Chucky attacks Detective Norris in his car and he has to try not to crash while also avoiding being stabbed. That sequence is unbelievably well shot and gives you a great adrenaline rush due to its sheer frantic pace, with Norris crashing the car into burning barrels on the sidewalk, hitting the walls of a tunnel, and such, all while Chucky's trying to put a butcher knife into him, even after they crash (the moment where the blade comes up through the seat, very close to his crotch, always makes me wince). I also really like the climax in the Barclays' apartment because that's when Chucky shows how he just won't go down. They set him on fire, blow his head off, blow an arm and leg off, and he's still kicking, making it feel like the nightmare won't end. Only a shot to his now fully human heart is what finally puts him down. I always find it weird, though, how Chucky's body develops a life of his own when his head is blown off and he starts shouting orders at it, telling it to kill them all. I know it's dumb to say something is weird in a movie about a killer doll but that last part is so over-the-top that it feels like something Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson would have done with it back then. Plus, I kind of doubt that a body with only one arm and one leg would be able to kill them all. One scene that I have issues with as a whole is when Chucky visits the man who taught him the art of voodoo. While it is necessary in that it tells you that Chucky's doll body is slowly becoming human and that he must pass his soul into another body, but my biggest complaint is how Chucky forces the guy to tell him by using a voodoo doll of himself that he actually made. Why the hell would you make one of those things of yourself? Not only does it make no sense but it's also really stupid because something like this might happen, which even Chucky himself comments on. It would have made a lot more sense if Chucky had just injured the guy and held him at knife-point to tell him.

The movie also benefits from having one of the best paces ever. It's already a short movie, being only 87 minutes long, but it doesn't even feel that long. It hits the ground running, opening with Charles Lee Ray being chased by the cops, and just goes from there, not wasting one bit of momentum. Not one part of it feels slow or tacked on, which is amazing since the first cut of the film was apparently two and a half hours long or so (I would like to see the material that was cut since some of it sounds interesting from what I've heard but, unfortunately, it doesn't exist anymore). What also helps give the film its excitement is Joe Renzetti's awesome score. Like the film itself, the score doesn't waste any time getting started, opening with a blasting, threatening cue over the credits and then just goes on throughout the entire film. The main theme is a really creepy melody that you first hear when the title comes on the screen and reoccurs throughout the movie, playing on the very last shot of the movie to punctuate what's happened to Andy and what I was talking about earlier about the effect this will forever have on him. The slow suspenseful scenes are also very creepily scored and the music for the more exciting moments, particularly during the sequence in Norris' car, is what makes them so thrilling. Finally, there's an eerie, child-like song with a woman's voice vocalizing that plays over the ending credits, which is a kind of strange, slightly sinister-sounding take on the theme for a kids' TV show, which is what the Good Guy doll was a tie-in to. There are some songs on the soundtrack, although the only two I remember from the movie itself are Second Sight by David Darling (I'm guessing that's what that was since none of the other songs on the track-listing sound like it) and Is It Really Love? by Michael Lanning, neither of which left much of an impression since you only hear a little bit of them. What's really funny is that Renzetti and Simon Stokes also wrote and recorded a sort of rapping theme song for Chucky himself that they intended to be played over the ending credits but it was vetoed because it was felt that it made Chucky seem less scary (how ironic given what came later). Good thing, too, because the song was played on other trailers and TV spots for the film and... wow. Look up those advertisements yourself on YouTube to see what I mean.

While the series itself may have eventually become something of a joke, the original Child's Play is a very serious, dark, and well-made 1980's horror film. It has a great director who takes the material seriously, a stellar cast, awesome animatronic effects that instantly help to make Chuchy a memorable character, one of the best paces of any film that I've seen, and a nicely eerie and tense music score. Other than some less than effective handling of the film's mystery about what's going on during the first third and some small aspects of the story that are rather contrived and downright dumb in some cases, for a killer doll movie, you couldn't ask for anything better and it's too bad the other films in the series don't have the same successful mixture of elements that this first one does. If you're one of those who finds Chucky ridiculous and are unsure whether to see this or not, I'd recommend checking it out. You might just be surprised at how well made this kind of movie can be.