A serial killer inside the body of a doll results in a dark comedy slasher with a amazingly made doll who became a cult character. 

• Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
• Slasher factor: ★★★★☆
• Occult factor: ★★★★☆
• Creepy doll factor: ★★★★★
• Gore factor: ★★★☆☆

Child’s Play is a dark supernatural comedy slasher with a doll who does the slashing, possessed by a serial killer. Chucky spawned a lot of other films, gets married and even has a doll child and a tv series. It stars Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif. It was directed by Tom Holland and written by Don Mancini, John Lafia, Tom Holland. 

Duration: 1h 27m

Plot

Charles Lee Ray, also known as the Lakeshore Strangler is being chased by Detective Mike Norris. When he gets shot his partner in crime Eddie Caputo drives off. Charles hides inside a toy store when Norris shoots him again, this time fatally. But before Charles dies he manages to transfer his soul into a Good Guy Doll with a voodoo chant. Before he dies he swears revenge on Norris and Eddie. 

It’s Andy’s birthday and he loves the Good Guy cartoon and even wears the pajamas. When he sees that there are now Good Guy Dolls available who can talk, he desperately wants one. He is disappointed that he only got the tool kit. When his mother Karen is at work her friend Maggie says there’s a guy in the alley selling a Good Guy Doll. She buys it and takes it home. Andy is delighted. Even more so when Chucky can really talk. And not just the three programmed sentences. 

That night Maggie is watching Andy but when she accidentally sees Chucky walking through the house, he kills her by hitting her with a hammer and she falls out of the window. When Karen gets home, the police is there with Norris. Andy claims that Chucky did it but nobody believes him.

The following day Chucky tells Andy to take the subway and go to Eddie’s house, where Chucky kills him. Andy is sent to a mental hospital for observation. At home Karen wants to force Chucky to talk and when he does he immediately attacks her. Now she does believe him and goes to Norris, who also gets attacked by Chucky. After that Chucky pays John from whom he learned voodoo a visit and learns he is turning human. He has to transfer his soul into the first person to whom he revealed himself to: Andy.

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Short Review

In the eighties the supernatural slasher was the new slasher sub-genre that followed the gritty human serial killer that killed for revenge, survival or because he was just a psychopath in the seventies. This tone continued in the eighties but during the eighties supernatural slashers like A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) became popular. 

In Child’s Play this slasher is combined with dark humor and an occult ritual where the serial killer Charles Lee Ray possesses the body of a Good Guy Doll. This contrast makes it a fun slasher. While he might look adorable, when Chucky comes into action he is immediately a mean ugly doll, his face representing his soul. 

It takes some time before Chucky reveals himself on screen. He talks to Andy, but we don’t hear him talk, and we only see his head move and his eyes. Even the first kill he is kept off screen to keep that creepy slasher vibe. But when he finally gets threatened by Karen he shows his true nature. And his face goes from cute and neutral into a mean evil doll face in a flash. 

The way Chucky comes to life is amazingly done. He’s walking and wielding his favorite weapon, a knife. But his voice and his facial features are just bringing him to life in a great way. He was made as a mechanical doll, to move his face, head and limbs. A little person actor did the stunts and a child actor did the running bits. This combination of practical effects and actors are typical eighties effects instead of computer generated effects. This results in a fun and realistic old school vibe, when you watch it now. Back then it was just how they made things. 

But there’s more about Chucky. When Karen and Norris go inside Charles’ apartment he seems obsessed with dolls in an arty creepy way and he is obsessed with the occult painted on a mural. It’s only at the background and not given much attention but there are dolls everywhere, even the table has doll limbs. When you watch the series Chucky, Jake who is an artist and makes art with dolls and doll parts you see it’s a fun nod to Charles’ apartment and suggests a connection to him. But that’s another story. 

While the story revolves around Chucky, don’t underestimate Karen and Andy who are both brave, decisive and determined. Luckily Norris gets attacked and lives so he finally believes them. Although it’s a slasher, there are not many kills. Maggie, Eddie, John, and the psychiatrist are killed, in four different ways, some bloody, some nasty and some very explosive. The main focus therefore doesn’t lie on how many kills or how gruesome they are, but that they are done by a serial killer in the body of a doll, which is a fun and original concept and even feels a bit absurd. It results in a creative slasher where Chucky himself steels the show. 

Child’s Play is a fun slasher with an original killer who becomes the main character of his franchise, resulting in a total of seven great films and an amazing series.