Child's Play Review

Child’s Play (1988) review.

The slasher genre began to run out of gas…again…in the late 1980’s. With 1988’s Child’s Play, Don Mancini created a miniature killer who is still going strong today. Chucky, a foul-mouthed psychotic killer doll possessed by a serial killer, has provided a unique brand of horror fun for over three decades. Before all the big twists, turns and evolving lore of Chucky…there was Child’s Play. Which you probably knew given you are reading a Child’s Play review.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.

Child’s Play

Directed by Tom Holland

Written by Don Mancini, John Lafia and Tom Holland

Starring Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent and Brad Dourif

Child’s Play Review

Slasher movies have a reputation for punishing teens for having sex and using drugs. Just as prevalent is another message that somehow hasn’t been picked up on in the same way. Listen to the damn kids. Whether there is a man stalking them in their nightmares, the boogeyman is across the street, or a doll is alive and killing people…these kids are not lying to you. Child’s Play (1988) is about the last one.

Serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a doll before he dies. The doll ends up in the possession of Andy (Alex Vincent). When bad things start to happen, no one believes Andy when he tells them that the doll is alive. Charles Lee Ray, now Chucky, discovers that he must possess Andy to free himself from his doll prison.

It takes 45 minutes for us to finally meet the real Chucky. Child’s Play shows incredible restraint in withholding the psychotic serial killer side of the doll from us. We do get some mayhem and murder, including a tremendous fall from a high story window for a babysitter. But the foul-mouthed crazy Chuck the series is known for hides his true identity until the halfway point of the story.

Up to this point the movie is a classic case of a parent failing to listen to their child. Andy begs his mother (Catherine Hicks) to listen to him, but she dismisses him repeatedly. In fairness, “my doll is alive and is killing people” is a tough ask for anyone to believe. When we get to the scene where Chucky reveals himself to the mother…she at least shows that she is open to the possibility by confronting the doll before thinking she’s gone mad. When she discovers the doll’s batteries are still in the box…the real fun of Child’s Play begins.

Of course, now no one will believe the mother either. The police officer (Chris Sarandon) who shot Charles Lee Ray doesn’t believe either of them until Chucky attacks him in his car. This is a real highlight sequence of Child’s Play. Chucky is in top form as he tries to strangle and stab the officer while he’s driving the car.

After he has no choice but to accept that Chucky is alive, Child’s Play turns into a good old fashioned investigative horror movie for a while. We get all the voodoo background and Charles Lee Ray lore we can handle as the movie does its best to make the completely ridiculous situation seem plausible. And you know what? It does a damn fine job of it.

Eventually we reach the thrilling climax with one of the best lines in horror history (“This is the end, friend”). We are treated to the doll being burned, beheaded and repeatedly shot before someone finally remembers they were explicitly told they had to shoot his heart. Look, if these characters were smart, they wouldn’t be in grave danger from a beheaded doll who has been burned to a crisp. They’d also have just listened to the kid from the start.

Child’s Play features a solid, patient and intriguing first half of set-up…but it truly takes flight in the second half when Chucky is running loose. The story is ridiculous…but it’s also ridiculously entertaining. What’s interesting is how fully formed the Chucky character is right from the start. Dourif is incredibly entertaining as the voice of the psychotic serial killer doll. You understand immediately how this franchise remains relevant so long after Charles Lee Ray first spoke the Damballa chant and possessed a cheerful children’s toy.

Scare Value

Given how insane (in mostly positive ways) the Chucky series has become it is refreshing to revisit it in simpler times. Child’s Play is a confident entry into the slasher genre. The movie withholds the goods long enough that you have a real blast when it finally goes balls out. Chucky is a great character from the moment he reveals himself. A simple, but effective story to launch a long, and continuing franchise. Just listen to your kids, people.

4/5