Child's Play (1988) Review

It's about the soul of a serial killer who possesses a popular doll as a way to dodge death.

Child's Play was directed by Tom Holland (who also directed Rock Paper Dead and Thinner) and stars Catherine Hicks (from Death Valley), Chris Sarandon (from Reaper and Bordello Of Blood) and Alex Vincent (from Cult Of Chucky and Child's Play 2).

Chucky did it!

Good 'ol Chucky, the legendary horror villain. The doll possessed by the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (a combo of notorious killers Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray) AKA the Lakeshore Strangler. Child's Play is the movie that introduced him to the world. 

"Hi, I'm Chucky and I'm your friend till the end. Hi-de-ho! Ha, Ha, Ha!"

Child's Play starts off with serial killer Charles Lee Ray running from the cops, trying to make it to his getaway van. Things go sideways and Charle's gets shot and the cops close in. This spooks his driver, Eddie, who ditches him. Charles breaks into a toy store where he gets shot again and finds himself with no means to escape, other than possessing a cute little Good Guy doll by using some crazy voodoo spell he picked up from a witch doctor named Dr. Death.

"You hear this, you son of a bitch! I'm gonna get you for this! I'm gonna get you and I'm gonna get Eddie, no matter what!"

The very next day a homeless guy finds and sells the possessed doll to a mom desperate to buy it for her son Andy's birthday. The kid is a Good Guy fanatic and does backflips when he unwraps it. Of course, his excitement is short lived because Charles has no intention of just hanging around being some snot nosed kid's best friend. He has to get out of the doll so he can exact some sweet revenge on Eddie and the cop who killed him.

Child's Play started out as a serious horror movie and nothing about this movie is funny the way later sequels became. Chucky doesn't crack jokes or make pop culture references. He's a killer. Hell, the first thing he says to Andy's modest mom is "You stupid bitch, you filthy slut, I'll teach you to fuck with me!" Not exactly something you expect to hear from a cute little kid's doll.

"Goodnight, asshole!"

Child's Play is a lot like A Nightmare on Elm Street in this way. Freddy started out serious as a heart attack and only later turned into a clown, then returned to a serious villain. Chucky was serious for the first three movies, then became a clown, then became serious again for the last three movies.

Chucky manages to rack up an impressive body count for being trapped in a toy. He throws a woman out of a 5th story window, he explodes a guy, he strangles a cop, he smashes a guy's bones and even electro shocks a doctor. Not bad for an introduction to what will become a face of the horror genre.

"This IS the end, friend!"

Worth Watching?

Absolutely. You have to see Chucky just as you have to see Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, Pinhead, Jigsaw and Michael Myers.

Child's Play Review (1988) Worth Watching? - ALL HORROR Tweet it