Child’s Play
Certainly a film that electrified horror fans upon its initial release in 1988, Tom Holland’s original killer doll opus is really the tale of two (good) movies: the first being a creepy, atmospheric tale of a boy and his doll where at times you’re just not sure if the boy is telling the truth or is really a little raving psycho. The second half though(anyone who’s seen the film can tell you its turning point), is what it is, a fun goofy horror with an entertaining villain in Chucky and some pretty good stalk and kill scenes. Sadly, it was the harbinger of things to come for the series, when Chucky became “cool” and the films became campy horror outings. I absolutely loved how at the beginning the film hits the ground running, with Brad Dourif’s Charles Lee Ray running from and shooting it out with the cops. Dourif is only given about five minutes to make an impression with the human side of his character and he makes the most of it. From that point on it’s really the subtlety of the film and its story (sadly missing from the sequels) that makes it so damm effective. The rest of the cast is fine: Alex Vincent in the key role of Andy has a few too many cutesy-boo moments, but is still appealing enough that you come to root for him; Catherine Hicks brings that late-thirties sex appeal to the role of his mom, it’s touching the way she fights to prove her son is telling the truth, crazy as it is; and Chris Sarandon makes a convincing hero as the cop on the case, even if his role is responsible for the film’s biggest flaw: the way it seems to take him FOREVER to figure out what’s going on, and take the appropriate steps to deal with it. If not for the character being so dense at times, the human interaction in dealing with this unreal scenario would play out better. But regardless, this film will remain timeless for the imaginative way it introduced one of horror’s biggest (and most unlikely) icons…
9/10