Yeah, I’m finally going to do the Child’s Play franchise starring Chucky, the killer doll. I have considered doing it for the past 5 years but never did. I was a fan of 3 of the 4 films initially, but it has been years since I sat down and watched any of these films. Some of them I have never seen, I hope that going back and watching these films rejuvenates my love for these films. I own the original 7 on blu ray and digital. I never bothered with the new one because I haven’t seen it and it wasn’t part of the set when I purchased it
Killer or evil dolls is nothing new in the world of horror. I remember Talking Tina and the ventriloquist dummy in The Twilight Zone. I am sure it probably goes back even farther in time. But none of them were ever as popular as Chucky. Today’s generation may recognize Annabelle more than Chucky, and that is a topic and a blog for another day. Hmmm, I have never blogged about the Annabelle franchise and I happen to own them all. That gives me an idea. I definitely need to blog about The Nun!!
The cast here is fine for an ’80s horror flick. The great Bard Dourif is the voice of Chucky. If you aren’t familiar with Brad’s work, stop reading this and go watch some of his stuff, especially One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. We also get Chris Sarandon who has been in the Princess Bride, Fright Night, Dog Day Afternoon, and Bordello of Blood. Catherine Hicks plays the mom and while her name sounds familiar, I am not familiar with most of her work. She was the leading lady in 7th Heaven and also in the classic film, The Dog Who Saved Easter starring Dean Cain and Mario Lopez. Yeah, I’m not familiar with her work. Alex Vincent plays Andy and 4 of his 12 current IMDB credits that aren’t shorts are tied to this franchise and are clearly the high points. No shame in that. Dinah Manoff is in this and she has done quite a lot of well-known stuff, and she plays Maggie in this one.
With all that being said, let’s start this.
Start Film
The first 6 and a half minutes does not fuck around and is the basis for the whole franchise. Homicide Detective Mike Norris is chasing down Charles Lee Ray and refers to him as The Strangler. They are having a gunfight out on the streets, as is tradition. Charles got stuck with having 3 first names. Is that good or bad? I guess good because you can always mix it up and not really be wrong. Anyway, Charles, played by Dourif, has been shot. His getaway driver, Eddie, got chased off by a cop car. So Charles is all kinds of pissed off and vengeful. He goes into a toy store. Do toy stores exist anymore? That is a legitimate question. I never got bored of KB Toys or Toys R Us and other toy stores in malls, even as a teen or adult. So much fun. Anyway, Charles grabs a Good Guys doll, think something like a Cabbage Patch Doll, and he does some voodoo curse and then the store is struck by lightning and the place basically explodes. When a toy store gets struck by lightning, does it normally explode? I’m very curious. Mike finds Charles, and he is dead. There you go, we have 8 films because of those 6 and a half minutes.
the ’80s was so good at using cartoons to push merchandise. And then there was Andy. Read that in Morgan Freeman’s voice. Andy is 6 years old and tries to make his mom some breakfast in bed. I know that I can’t go back in time and prove this, but under no circumstances would I have made breakfast that poorly. The only thing that he got right was that he poured orange juice. He burned the toast and I don’t blame him for that because whoever the last person to use the toaster must have had it set to black. But had I seen the toast burn, I would have either not served it, or I would have tried making more toast. I feel like a 6-year old knows this. But the worst thing was the cereal. He overfills the bowl with cereal, and I get that. We’ve all been there, right? But then to just watch TV while pouring the milk and obviously putting too much in, no. A kid would know after the overflowing mound of cereal that at least they need to pay attention to the milk. That would go off in your brain. But then he put 3 huge scoops of sugar on this bowl of Good Guys cereal, which looks delicious. Oh, and he used the spoon to also put this huge piece of butter on the toast, which was funny, but a kid knows to try to spread the butter, right? I get what they were trying to do and in a movie about a killer doll, I am supposed to suspend my disbelief, but c’mon!
Oh, it’s Andy’s birthday. He gets clothes and a Good Guys Toolset. Andy is sad, he wanted a Good Guy. At work, Karen’s friend, Maggie, tells her that there’s a dude behind the building selling a Good Guy. She irresponsibly leaves work to buy it. Why is the box so huge? What else is in the box aside from the doll? Like the box is twice as big as the doll. Each doll has its own name, and this one is Chucky. Did I really have to explain that?
On the news, they say that Eddie escaped from jail and that caught Chucky’s attention. It’s Andy’s bedtime, but Chucky wants to watch the 9 o’clock news, naturally. Andy is brushing his teeth and the TV is turned back on and Chucky is sitting there watching. Maggie is not happy. You know she’s gonna blame Andy. Oh, she is giving him the business. Andy denies it, but Maggie knows better, clearly.
Maggie’s just trying to read a book and there’s some running and some thuds. Andy’s bedroom door is open. Time for the slow walk. Gotta build up some tension,. There’s more noise. The pacing is great and the camerawork is good. The sugar bowl is tipped over, but then the phone rings and startles Maggie. Karen is calling to make sure that everything is okay. That’s never a good sign. Ohhh, somebody just picked up the Good Guy’s hammer. She just took a hammer to the face. This caused her to stagger back 10 feet and fall out of the window and die. Okay, that was silly, but everything else was perfect.
Karen comes home to find the police. Det. Mike is there and a lot of police. There are some tiny footprints in the sugar on the table. Mike thinks that they are Andy’s after confirming his pajama sneaker. Were pajama sneakers ever a thing? Andy notices that Chucky has white on the bottom of his shoes. Karen ain’t having it but Mike is definitely interested, but he and the cops all get the boot. Man, Cookie Crisp cereal is still really good. Apparently, Chucky told Andy his real name and that he was sent down from heaven by his father. Chucky supposedly said that Maggie was a bitch and deserved it. Karen is really losing her patience. Andy apologizes for making up stories.
Was this film originally advertised with you not knowing if Chucky was the killer? I have often wondered about this. And thanks to the power of the internet, I watched the trailer. This was the late ’80s and they were no longer trying to have a twist where maybe it was Chucky or maybe it was Andy. Nope, the trailer tells you that Chucky is a killer doll. The trailer is actually quite awesome.
Andy decides to skip school and ride a train with Chucky. No adults are at all curious bout this? Not a single one? Really? Now that I am watching this, a psycho kid who thinks a doll is talking to him is a cool ass story. Chucky has brought Andy to Eddie’s place. Andy has to piss and Chucky uses this opening to find Eddie. Chucky is making noises and Eddie is on the prowl. You and I both know how this ends for Eddie. Eddie hears Andy looking for Chucky. Chucky left the gas on in the oven. Eddie opens the door and fires his gun. We have a huge ass explosion. Would that explosion have been that huge? That’s a legit question.
Karen is at the police station and talking to Mike. Karen tells Andy that nobody believes him about Chucky and that they will take him away from his mom. Andy is going to spend a few days at the hospital because he is clearly insane. Chucky should lay low until Andy is cleared. I bet he shows no patience. Karen picks up the Good Guys box and the batteries fall out. But..but….how could the doll talk without batteries?
She opens up his battery compartment and it is empty. His head spins and asks her if she wants to play and then rolls under the couch. Now she goes and reaches under the couch to get him. That’s just foolish. I see no machetes in her house, so how is she supposed to defend herself? She starts the fireplace and is gonna burn him. Then we get Chucky’s real voice, and the fight is on!!! They tussle and then he leaves. He bit her pretty good. Chucky has escaped.
Karen finds Mike and tells him that Chucky is really alive. She tells him about the batteries and that Chucky is really alive. She shows him the bite mark, but he doesn’t believe her. She’s going to try to find Chucky and visit the guy that sold her the doll. This is a bad part of town, clearly. She finally finds him. The guy wants payment to know where he got the doll. He doesn’t want money, he wants pussy. Mike stops him before he can rape her. It’s 2020 and I am no longer allowed to make a joke about rape or else I will be forced to go to sensitivity training. I want to make a bum cum or cum bum joke here, but nope. They find out that he got the doll at the toy store and Mike reveals the story. She wants to know where Charles Lee Ray lived. She is a raving lunatic and she won’t get out of his car.
Mike stops at the station and gets Charles’ folder and files. Then he gets back in his car and listens to some mediocre music. Chucky is in the backseat. He is strangling Mike with some thick cable. Mike drives erratically, Chucky has a good laugh. Mike gets the cigarette lighter and burns Chucky. Why are those still in every vehicle? Chucky starts stabbing through the seat. Mike has yet to hit the brakes. Chucky starts to stab from underneath and almost gets Mike in the balls. Mike finally hits the brakes only for Chucky to slam on the gas like he was Vanilla Ice. The car eventually flips and Mike fires his gun at Chucky. The car is upside down and Chucky is running around and he creeps up behind him. Chucky makes his attack but gets shot.
Karen visits Charles’ place. Some cool paintings on the wall. Some awesome voodoo shit. Where’s Papa Legba? Mike creeps up and reveals that Charles’ nickname was Chucky. He also spent time with John Aelsop Bishop. Time to find him before Chucky can. Too late. Chucky reveals that he can be hurt and the bullet even caused him to bleed. The more time that he spends in the doll’s body, the more human it becomes. John is pissed and tells him that he has to be stopped. Chucky grabs John’s voodoo doll and fucks him up. The only solution is that his soul can be transferred into the first being that Charles revealed himself to, Andy. Chucky then stabs the voodoo doll and fatally wounds him. Mike and Karen get there shortly thereafter and John reveals to them what he told Charles. You have to kill him before Chucky can finish the chant. Must kill him in the heart.
At the hospital, Andy sees Chucky outside. Andy calls for help. The doctor sees nobody aside from Andy and dismisses the situation. Chucky gets the keys to the room. Now he’s in Andy’s room. But Andy’s body is replaced with a pillow. Andy escapes with the keys and the doctor Sees this. Chucky finds Andy. Oh, it’s on. Andy has a scalpel. The doctor takes the scalpel from Andy and he plans on sedating Andy. Chucky attacks the doctor before he can sedate Andy. Foolish move. But then he puts the head shock treatment device on the doctor’s head and gives him the ole shocker. That’s right.
Mike and Karen show up at the hospital. Karen says that Andy would go home if he was in trouble. Andy starts barricading the front door and Chucky is taking a ride in an elevator with old people. That was a funny scene. And Andy is now hiding in his closet. And it’s always the closets with the slats in them to build up the suspense. ALWAYS. I have never had that type of closet in my life, always solid doors. That way when I get stalked by a killer, I won’t be able to see shit. Also, I can’t fit in my closet because I always have too much shit in them.
We are in the final stretch of this movie. Expect plenty of ridiculous things. Andy has a baseball bat and swings at Chucky but misses. I love the Chucky’s perspective with the stalking. The camerawork has been great this whole time. Chucky hits Andy upside the head with the bat. Time to perform the ritual. The apartment building even has a scary look to it and there’s lightning. Karen and Mike interrupt. Chucky bites Karen and slices Mike’s leg. We gonna end it just like we began it, Charles vs Mike. Where’s Bruce Buffer when you need him?
Mike gets hit twice by the bat. Karen shoots Chucky once, but the gun jams. Chucky bites Karen after she hell. She puts him in the fireplace. Andy is awake. She asks Andy to give a match. He strikes the match and Chucky is burning up in the living room like Freedy in the first nightmare. Chucky is charred and stops flailing. Do they not have smoke detectors? Karen checks on Mike and tells Andy to get the first aid kit. Chucky is missing again. Andy runs and gets tripped by Chucky. He’s a pretty strong doll. Chucky is stabbing at Karen through the door, gets her hand once but gives up. Chucky tries the other door. Karen gets the gun and shoots him twice taking his head off. The third one takes off his right arm. The fourth takes off the left leg. She stands over the body and fires twice and the gun is out of ammo. But did she get his heart?.
Mike’s partner shows up and still doesn’t believe Make about a living doll. His name must be Jack. Jack plays with Chucky’s head. Jack mocks the head and the body reaches through a vent and grabs Jack by the throat. Karen tells Mike to shoot him in the heart. Mike takes the shot. He only needed one because two are for pussies. That’s a Deer Hunter reference.
The cops show up. Karen and Jack walk Mike out of the room but Andy is fixated on the doll. That’s how it ends, Andy staring.
End Film
That was a lot of fun. I know that there were a lot of silly scenes, but this was really good. I had forgotten how good this was. To go back to these original films, you often find better stories, but the kills are mundane, it’s not as gory, and it’s more about storytelling. The plot is absurd, but so is Nightmare on Elm Street. Hallow and Friday the 13th had stores that weren’t as supernatural. This film knew what it was and wasn’t sorry for it. The acting was fine. They didn’t really go for sex appeal here. Most importantly, Chucky hadn’t gone funny yet. And with a story like this, it really is difficult to do much creative with a sequel. But I will give them credit later on. The music, the mood, the look were all very ’80s but nothing bad. You can show this to a millennial and it should feel fine.
Rating: 7.3- This didn’t do anything truly bad. Most things were on point. No real complaints. I highly recommend it to anybody who hasn’t seen it in many years, like I hadn’t. I gave it extra points for the great camerawork.
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