Child's Play

1988’s “Child’s Play”, directed by Tom Holland.

Starring Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Dinah Manoff, and Brad Dourif.

What is it about?

Serial killer Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray (a perfectly cast Brad Dourif) is pursued by Chicago police officer (Chris Sarandon, a real Humperdick). Cornered and wounded inside of a toy store, Dourif (who knows Voodoo) recites a ritual that embeds his soul into the body of a popular Good Guys doll, which results in a store blowout. The next day on his birthday, 6 year old spoiled brat Alex Vincent wants his widowed mother (Catherine Hicks) to get him a Good Guys doll. After his first round of gifts fails to produce one, his whining eventually has Hicks meeting up with a peddler to sell her one. The entitled Vincent bonds with the doll, but he also claims that Chucky speaks to him, and not just with the catch phrases that accompany the model. Murderous accidents start to happen, and the family unit has to reconcile about the fact that their corporate doll is homicidal. Chucky himself realizes that his transformation has a limited time line, and sets his sights on transferring his soul into Vincent’s young body. With no one prepared to believe their story, and no receipt, will Hicks, Vincent, and Sarandon be able to survive the ultimate sticker shock?

Why is it worth seeing?

“CP” is a deliriously clever and campy concept, generated for anybody who has ever felt stirrings of pediophobia (fear of dolls). Lifelike but fake, possessing a realness that could never be considered real, I know I’ve looked at them in outdated china cabinets and cluttered shelves at thrift stores and waited for them to awkwardly blink their glass eyes or turn their lifeless heads at me.  

Written at least partially as a satire of the Reagan era’s greedy lust for selfish material consumption, particularly through obnoxiously pandering child manipulation, “CP” takes the fear of dolls and creates the perfect pint sized killer in Chucky. After watching 1984’s “Gremlins”, director and co-writer Tom Holland saw that animatronics had advanced to a state where he could create the iconic figure of Chucky. Part of what makes the figure work so well, is it’s whirring artificiality- while it sounds like Brad Dourif.

Holland creates some great scenes of tension, with him slow building to the doll character running amok. Part of the fun is how immobile the character initially is, with him waiting for his moment before striking. Once Chucky tires of waiting, we get to watch various characters grapple with the fact that this unbelievable concept is very real, and then knowing that they’re in a life and death situation while nobody will believe them. This goes double for the 6 year old Vincent. The film also starts off nice and fast with it’s chase sequence, and the “Sam-Ram-A-Cam” inspired POV shots are great.

However, “CP” can only get so much mileage out of it’s clever concept and satirical edge. There remains a nagging feeling that it’s hard to believe a rag doll sized chunk of hardened voodoo plastic would be so formidable as a fighting machine. Even with misdirection, his lurking underneath furniture, and patiently striking at the right moment, can’t somebody ward off this toy’s attacks? And watching characters wrestle with this prop shows why Spielberg went to such great lengths to show as little of the shark as possible in “Jaws”.
As well, there’s not much to the movie beyond it’s antagonist’s plans. Sarandon at times can be so wooden you wish he was a doll too, and the car scene where Chucky shows up to play whack-a-mole with his testicles makes you wonder if his car came with functional brakes. Finally, while we feel sorry for child actor Vincent’s plight, it’s tough to like him.

Reservations aside, “CP”’s success at the box office (making almost 5X it’s $9 million budget) combined with it’s franchise friendly confines (the unkillable killer doll), made for a number of sequels. It’s definitely a campy horror classic worth seeing, but with it’s antagonist’s sinister plans, you can’t help but wonder: can’t we just bury all of these things in landfills?

Rating:

3.5/ 5

Trailer: Click Here.