Horror Origins: Child's Play

Upon seeing all the most disturbing horror films I could get my hands on, I have thought long and hard about my next long term Wednesday series.  I’ve enjoyed my recent dabbling.  I’ve offered opinions on different genres, talked about a few individuals and even thrown in my first Notflix review.  Yet this urge to watch more silly/scary/stupid/horrific films hasn’t quite gone away. 

            Therefore, it is my pleasure to announce a new series of writings dedicated to exploring horror origin films.  Over the next few months, I’m going to dedicate my Wednesdays to movies that ‘started it all.’  This means I get to watch the first Friday the 13^th, Critters, and Nightmare on Elm Street movies and talk about how effective they were as horrors.  Plus, I’ll offer my thoughts on how they hold up in light of their age and the filmmaking limitations of the time.

            First up?  Child’s Play.

            On to the review!

            Right off the bat you’ll notice that 1988 Brad Dourif looks like 2003 Tommy Wiseau.  Once that strange observation is complete, the next one was that this serial killer has a convenient escape route: die while pushing his soul into that of a good guy doll named Chucky.  Not only is it a good way to start a horror movie, but the doll in question is pretty dang creepy even before the later-film animatronics.  The unkempt red hair, the dull blue eyes and the half-smile all combine to make the perfect mockery of a child’s toy.  Even before the murders start, it’s obvious that the filmmakers have a little more up their sleeves than just ‘crazed killer becomes a doll and murders people.’

            Of course, once you’re suitably creeped out by the ‘normal’ Chucky doll, it then starts to murder people.  On the off chance that you haven’t seen any Child’s Play films, let me just point out that the killer never changes.  We won’t get an avenging mother or a copycat killer.  The ability to move your soul into inanimate objects is one that’s easily taken advantage of.

            While the later Child’s Play movies inevitably delved into a mockery of itself (see also A Nightmare on Elm Street 6 and Jason X) this one managed to offer up a perfect serving of the horrors of everyday items.  The only part of any other movie that comes would be the scene in Poltergeist when the clown comes to life.  You know exactly what I’m talking about.

            As far as the acting goes, I have to give it high praise.  For a film that nobody knew was going to become such a long-lasting (though not necessarily beloved) horror franchise, there was some genuinely good acting from everyone involved.  Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) is a single mom who can barely make ends meet but desperately wants to give her son some genuine joy and happiness in his life.  The kid, Andy (Alex Vincent) does a fantastic job of being...well, just a kid.  He actually pulls off the perfect amount of innocent, confused and horrified throughout the movie.  Especially compared to today’s standards, it’s rare to see the kid in a horror film play the innocent all the way through.

            Seeing Chris Sarandon play the cop, Mike Norris, threw me for a bit of a loop, because I’ll always remember him from The Princess Bride (something Cary Elwes also must deal with, but strangely enough not Mandy Patinkin.  Weird.)  Anyhow, he plays a cop.  He does a perfectly serviceable job, considering he’s only there for the action sequences.  Finally, and most importantly, Brad Dourif brings the perfect amount of psychopathy to the role of Chucky, adding genuine craziness, anger, and creepy to all of the doll’s lines.  He’s much better as Chucky than he is as Tommy…err…Charles Lee Ray.

            As far as the film itself goes, it’s pretty much all ‘80’s all the time.  The clothing and scenery all scream out the decade to anyone watching.  Everything about this film is dated, even the Chucky doll.  Sorry, but overalls and a long-sleeve shirt?  That’s, like, sooooo passé.

Considering other movies of its time, especially the wonderfully terrible glut of late-‘80’s teens-getting-killed-by-things glut of horror movies, the special effects put into Chucky are actually pretty dang good.  Sure, you can totally tell when it’s someone dressed in a suit.  But when the doll starts getting beat up towards the end of the movie, the mechanical guts are impressive.  (Ignoring, of course, the fact that the doll isn’t supposed to have mechanical guts.)  That they made such a damn creepy robot doll at all is cool, that they made a two-foot doll genuinely creepy and intimidating is a revelation.

            As a horror movie, I think Child’s Play definitely holds up, and it could still scare the shit out of a younger person who hasn’t seen a whole lot of horrors, or anyone who really hates those lifelike dolls.  It’s not the best ‘first film in a series’ by a long shot, but it’s certainly not the worst.  I doubt I’ll be going out of my way to watch it again anytime soon, but I think it’s a great starter film for this project.

            Next week I’ll check out Friday the 13^th, a movie I have actually NEVER SEEN.  I am excited.

P.S.  I miss the days when kid's toys were genuinely dangerous and could actually be used to cause harm.  Steel hammer for a 6 year old?  Sure!