Summary:
A single mother gives her son the latest toy craze- a Good Guys doll- for his birthday, only to find out that her particular doll has been possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
My Thoughts:
Last night was the first time that I had ever watched any Chucky movie, and after seeing it, you know, I can’t say I feel like I was missing out on much for the first twenty-eight years of my life. Chucky the killer doll has so infected popular culture that I’d have had to have been living in a nuclear bunker not to know of the doll’s character. I’d seen clips here and there, but I never honestly felt the need to go out of the way to watch it, until, of course, the 2019 remake (“Child’s Play”) came out starring Mark Hamill as Chucky. Figuring that I probably shouldn’t review the remake before watching the original, I decided I’d finally give the original a go. While I certainly laughed my fair share, I can’t say this is a good movie. Alternatively, just because a movie is subpar, doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy myself.
“Child’s Play” falls in that narrow strip between good and bad where I can somewhat ironically enjoy this film just because the plot is so farfetched, and the violence is so gleefully bonkers that the film starts to be self-deprecating to its own seriousness. The movie is kind of a mess, but the concept is so ridiculous that I actually don’t mind. I’m actually looking forward to at least watching the first five movies in the series, because I guess John Waters (director of “Female Trouble” and “Multiple Maniacs”) and Billy Boyd (Pippin from “LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring”) have appearances in “Seed of Chucky”. If that means I have to wade through four more movies of farfetched plots and graphic doll violence just to get to two cameos for people I kind of like… well, then, I guess that’s what my life has come to…
“Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?”
After police officer Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon, “The Princess Bride”) shoots serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif, “Blue Velvet”) in a toy store, Ray uses witchcraft to put his soul inside a Good Guys Doll. Later, single mother Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks, “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”) buys her son Andy (Alex Vincent, “Child’s Play 2”) one of the dolls, but after Chucky kills Andy’s babysitter Maggie (Dinah Manoff, “Ordinary People”), police suspect that Andy killed her, and Karen must rush to find the true culprit.
This movie shines most when it knows how freaking stupid and ridiculous this plot is. We all know where the film is leading, so the ‘mystery’ part at the beginning seems totally pointless and drawn out; even worse, the characters make stupid decisions just to move the plot forward towards the point of revealing that Chucky is alive. They don’t make decisions logically; they just do whatever it is they need to do to move the story along, and as a result, it feels like our adult characters are wildly inept.
I guess I can’t really expect too much from a killer doll movie but I did expect a little more than this. Much like the first entry in another popular killer toy franchise, “Puppet Master”, I felt as if the first forty minutes of this film were pretty slow (overall, however, the original “Child’s Play” blows the original “Puppet Master” out of the water). Nothing. Freaking. Happens. We just watch low POV shots looking around near floor level, or watch Andy whisper in his dolls ear. This movie comes painfully close to be being flat out boring for that first half; I almost turned it off… and then, Chucky throws a hammer at the babysitter’s head and she falls out a window… At that moment I start laughing so loud my dog woke up from a nap; at that moment the movie totally had me.
I want more of Chucky shoving knives through the car seats and messing with Chris Sarandon’s breaks and gas; I want more Chucky getting blown to bits, set on fire, and chopped up… That’s the kind of crap I want in a killer doll movie. I could’ve honestly cared less about any of the characters in this film- it’s a slasher film- I’m not supposed to form connections, I’m supposed to sort of be rooting for the killer.
There are some rather inventive doll attack parts in this film, and that’s why I’m (sort of) looking forward to watching the sequels. Toys attacking adults isn’t anything new (remember Talking Tina from the original Twilight Zone?), but in this film they weren’t afraid to turn Chucky into a profanely-mouthed pulp of melted plastic and stuffing. I find that kind of lack of restraint to be freaking hysterical, and the horror fanatic inside me is itching to see more.
Verdict:
This movie is not good, but it’s still funny enough to make me want to see the sequels (much like “Godzilla: King of Monsters” was in no way good, but I’m still looking forward to “Godzilla vs Kong” in 2020). This movie is just short of a trainwreck in terms of story and character development, but while it’s not a great film, it’s certainly a fun watch.
Review Written By: