Child’s Play

(Blood Buddy)

(Batteries Not Included)

DVD Release Company: MGM / 20th Century Fox (http://www.mgm.com / 20th Century Fox)
Language: English
Length: 87 Minutes
Image: Color
Year: 1988
Rated: R (Violence and Language)
Release Date: September 15, 2009

“This is the end, friend.” – Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent)

MOVIE REVIEW

Children are creepy. Dolls made to resemble children are creepier. This is what makes Child’s Play a frighteningly bold movie. It makes the childlike doll an actual character, giving it life, a voice, a persona and a motive to kill. Child’s Play introduces a madness that topples over our notion of precious innocence and it cuts deep into our childhood to where we can never look at a doll the same ever again.

All young Andy Barclay ever wanted for his birthday was a Good Guy doll. When he finally gets one of the red headed, “hi-di ho” Good Guys, he can’t wait to get rid of it. The doll is possessed with the soul of a notorious Chicago serial strangler, Charles Lee Ray, played by one of the genre’s most recognizable character actors Brad Dourif. Andy and his mom Karen, played by Catherine Hicks, must try and convince detective Mike Norris (Fright Night’s Chris Sarandon) that the doll is alive and killing without batteries.

I can see where some casual movie folks may watch this late 80s classic and say, “What is so scary about a doll?” Chucky is no ordinary doll, in fact, Chucky is only a doll on the outside. On the inside, he is a monster; a madman who will stop at nothing to get what he wants even if he is only 4 feet tall. An instant successful film that has a doll with the same or, perhaps even more, screen time than the main characters.

Sarandon chases Dourif

One of the reasons this film does so well is for its remarkable casting choices. I want to start with Chris Sarandon. His performance in Fright Night still chills the spine as the vampire next door neighbor Jerry Dandridge. Here, he is the hard working, honest cop looking for the truth and tying up the loose ends. He is Charles Lee Ray’s nemesis to the end, friend! Catherine Hicks has that wholesome appeal and that ability to make you believe if something unreal is going down then it must be real. You have to give most of the film’s credit to the next two actors: Alex Vincent and Brad Dourif. Vincent plays Andy Barclay, the six year old kid who knows Chucky’s alive and nobody believes him. His performance is flawless, making him one of my favorite child actors. The adorable factor helps because you want to sympathize with this kid so much yet nobody wants to believe him. Brad Dourif is Chucky. His voice is powerful, making the persona of Chucky powerful and, also, evil to the stuffing. Dourif’s voice dubbing makes you forget Chucky is made of shiny plastic – or made of animatronic mechanisms for that matter.

The doll itself is revolutionary. For the creators, it was a succeed or fail scenario. Good Guy doll Chucky is a pioneer of the new wave of animatronics that were steadily being implemented into movies in the late 80s. Kevin Yagher showed up with his A game and made director Tom Holland, and I’m sure the pockets of studio execs as well, very pleased. Though these techniques were relatively freshmen in the college of special effects, they hold such a high bar over any computer generated images in realism. Chucky had various moving parts in his face (mouth, eye brows, cheeks and eyes), he had a robotic skeleton, he had hydraulic forces, he had drill motors, etc. Of course, there were many different kinds of Chucky dolls each made for each of those qualities I listed above and you really have to look at a movie like that; you have to look behind the scenes and see the work that goes into it. Child’s Play is a phenomenal movie by itself but it would not be as successful if it wasn’t for the efforts of Yagher and the rest of the effects crew. Let me not forget to mention, the little person in the Chucky suit and making the sets 3 times larger so it seems Chucky is still small. Brilliant idea, first of all, and, secondly, brilliantly well executed. There were a few cinematic “ooo and awe” scenes with this technique. After Chucky is basically burnt toast, he slowly creeps upon Andy with his knife raised high, smoking and disfigured from the remnants of fire, and taking one slow step after step toward Andy almost tauntingly awaiting for the kid to scream. Well, done, little person Ed Gale, well done.

On the rampage!

As I revert back to the idea about children and their innocence and their innocent toys, I’d like to ask a question to all the readers. Were you ever afraid of dolls? Didn’t they creep you out with their side curl plastic grins, their realistic stringy hair, their awkward comments about being happy and their jerky movements? Using children in horror movies is nothing new, of course. Children have their own world and as we grow up, we fear the unknown which is their world. When Andy starts to reveal that Chucky is alive, mother Karen and detective Mike fear this theory. Their minds aren’t open to the possibility of a doll coming to life and committing acts of violence or even murder. It is insane and we fear the insane because the insane can end up like Charles Manson. Yes, I made a connection with a movie and crazy Charlie.

The portrait of innocence

If I had to mention one forgettable aspect of Child’s Play, it would have to be the score. It just didn’t stick with me. I know that it fits the movie; it coincides with the scenes but there is no reason for it to stick to your mind like a parasite. What I’m trying to say is that there is nothing the score does to hinder the film but there is nothing that makes it appealing; I wouldn’t upload it to my iPod.

The overall review of Child’s Play is very high. The unique storyline has been the spawn of many sequels and conjures up thoughts on how the way we look our childhood toys. It has had us face our own fears of dolls and it has the name Chucky become a household name in the horror genre. There is really nothing more to say about a twenty one year old film. Its been reviewed before and, I’ve briefly, revisited it again for the sake of what I’m about to review next – it’s new playable format and features on the Blu-ray.

DVD REVIEW

The MGM and 20th Century Fox collaboration on the Child’s Play Blu-ray image transfer is remarkable. The picture is so clear at 1080i that it feels like I’m watching a movie that was just released yesterday. The sound is booming out of every single surround speaker and sub woofer that I have. So, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the format. Special features are just as impressive. They include four featurettes which mainly focuses on the creation of Chucky and the assembling of the cast. You also have very entertaining commentary by Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks, Kevin Yagher, producer David Kirschner, screenwriter Don Mancini and, also, Chucky – yes, Chucky. Also, look for the Easter egg of Chucky saying he is “fucking back.” I won’t spoil where that Easter egg is hidden. If you don’t have a Blu-ray player just yet, no worries. This release has the DVD copy as well.

The overall review of the special features for this release is off the charts! Hours of special features to view and to enjoy. There wasn’t any lengthy, uninteresting bonus material. The animated menu reminds me of a first person shooter video game with very creepy background music. Genuinely dark artwork on the front cover can grab anyone’s attention. Nicely done.