Child's Play (1988)

1988
Directed by Tom Holland
Starring Catherine Hicks, Alex Vincent, Chris Sarandon and Brad Dourif

Add this one to the "I can't believe I haven't reviewed this movie yet" file.  Child's Play is one of those movies that it seems like damn near just about everyone has seen an interation of - either this original flick or one of the many sequels, all of which are always crop up in the regular rotation of October AMC fare.  If you grew up in the early '90s like me, watching Chucky films were virtually a rite of passage; much like HBO's Tales From the Crypt, watching one of these films granted you a cool card for the upcoming school day. 

Released in 1988, the movie was nothing short of a gargantuan hit for United Artists, grossing more than $44 million off of an initial $9 million investment and prompting a long series of sequels that continues to this day.  Now, before we get started, I'll wholeheartedly admit that I'm well aware of the criticisms that I've read of these movies online.  That the villain is lame, that nobody would ever take Chucky seriously as a villain, and that all you'd have to do is kick the damn thing.  All valid criticisms, mind you.  It really doesn't matter all that much, because the presence of Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky in this movie trumps all of that.  To this reporter, anyway.  When this guy drops the word "fuck," it was as much of a crowd-pleasing moment to the eight-year-old version of me as Motley Crue's "Smokin' in the Boys Room" was.  Stand up and cheer, kids.  Such is this guy's ability to project bad intent with his mere voice that he actually manages to sell the threat of the stupid Good Guys doll as a menacing presence.  With that, the movie.

It is my belief that Don Mancini, the scriptwriter here and the guy who would direct (I believe) every sequel, knew that his laugh-worthy premise would have lasting appeal when he crafted the origin story for Chucky, because this origin story ranks right up there with Jason and Freddy in the eyes of this reporter.  Meet vicious serial killer Charles Lee Ray, played in human form by Dourif, chased into a toy store by the police.  It isn't long before he is shot and nearly killed, and, again, it isn't long before he unleashes the now-trademark voodoo incantation (that I can still recite from memory, by the way) that transmits his soul into the nearby Good Guys doll.  It is also worth noting that the cop who shoots him is played by Chris Sarandon.  So +10 points to the movie there.

In a move that won't surprise any horror fan or anyone reading this review, the doll is soon snatched up by Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks, who was smokin' hot here and later went on to marry make-up artist Kevin Yagher), single mother desperate to find a cheap copy of the Good Guys doll for her son Andy (Alex Vincent, who actually does a very good acting job considering his age here).  Both characters are fleshed out pretty well, with Hicks projecting as a hard-working mother and Vincent doing his best in the precocious kid moments. 

A good portion of the middle of this movie falls into the "build suspense" M.O. that sadly is missing from a lot of modern horror films.  Much of the time, we're looking at Chucky putting on his best poker face, doing little other than standing still in Andy's arms.  We see him spring to life on a couple occasions during death scenes; the best of these bits occur during Chucky's battles with Andy's babysitter, who does her best to come between Chucky's attempt to find a new human vehicle for his soul.  Granting the movie some bouts of melodrama, the authorities blame Andy for the deaths, and seem to be looking at Karen as an even bigger nutjob for supporting her son throughout all this.  As such, the movie is firmly in the "three act structure" camp of films that I've grown to love so much since it seems to be so rare these days, making this also - by far - the most conventional horror film in this entire series.  First act, establish threat.  Second, build suspense.  Third, all shit hits the fan.  I love it.

Everything in this movie builds up to Karen finding out the true identity of Chucky.  The scene where she does this, almost ready to throw the doll into a fireplace, is one of the best-executed jump scares in movie history.  It really is something that Dourif's movies boast two of the best couch jumpers in motion picture history (the other being Exorcist III - youtube it).  These attributes, combined with the acting, make this movie worth watching, even as it occasionally sheds into dopey territory.

Make no mistake, there are some things and moments in Child's Play that WILL make you shake your head.  The people online who gripe about a doll being so damn badass are correct, something made even more clear here since the Chucky animatronics/stop-motion photography hadn't quite come along yet.  The logistics of how this dude is able to get around so well is also something admittedly headscratching - at times, it seems as if he's moving around at light speed, especially in the third act chase-and-slash scenes.  There are also some issues with pacing, as the middle sections get to be a little "choppy" in the mixing and matching between Andy's melodrama, suspense, and the sporadic kill scenes.

All of the above would be fatal sins for any other movie, but it doesn't make a difference here.  Folks, Brad Dourif in all of his sadistic, evil-laughing glory covers up a multitude of sins, and it's his presence that carries this movie from the Z-grade aisle and made this the launching point of a franchise.  That, combined with some good invention by Mancini from the screenwriting end, make this worth watching, no matter how much head-nodding is required to make it through.

*** out of ****.  A minor classic, check it out.