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Child's Play (1988 film)

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For other uses, see Child's Play (1988 film) (disambiguation).
Child's Play
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed byTom Holland
Written byScreenplay:
Don Mancini
John Lafia
Tom Holland
Story:
Don Mancini
Produced byDavid Kirschner
StarringCatherine Hicks
Chris Sarandon
Alex Vincent
Brad Dourif
Dinah Manoff
Tommy Swerdlow
Jack Colvin
CinematographyBill Butler
Edited byRoy E. Peterson
Music byJoe Renzetti
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
November 9, 1988
Running time
87 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9,000,000 (est.)
Box office$33,244,684

Child's Play is a Template:Fy American horror film written by Don Mancini and directed by Tom Holland. It was released on November 9, 1988. The film met with moderate success upon its release, and has since developed a cult following among fans of the horror genre. The film is the first in the Child's Play film series.

Plot

The story begins on November 9, 1988. While being chased by detective Mike Norris, Charles Lee Ray ("Chucky"), the notorious "Lakeshore Strangler", is shot and mortally wounded by Norris. Before dying, Charles takes cover inside a toy-store finding boxes of Good Guy dolls, and uses a voodoo ritual that will transfer his soul into one of the dolls. The store is then struck by lightning, and it burns to the ground.

Later that morning, Andy Barclay and his mother, Karen are introduced to the audience. It is Andy's sixth birthday and he wants a Good Guy doll he has seen in television commercials. However, his mother cannot afford the doll, it being very expensive, and instead buys a different toy. Realizing her son's deep disappointment, she later buys a Good Guy from a homeless peddler, the doll purchased being the recipient of the voodoo ritual.

That night, as Andy is playing with the doll (who's revealed himself as Chucky via the talking feature of the doll), Karen's friend Maggie, who is babysitting, takes the doll away when Andy is insubordinate in going to bed. The audience then sees a first-person perspective of a small figure taking a hammer and striking Maggie with it. She falls out of the apartment window, tumbling several stories to her death. The killer's identity (either Andy or Chucky) is left ambiguous. Andy, when questioned, insists that Chucky has revealed himself to be alive and that he killed Maggie, though he defends Chucky's decision by stating that Chucky told him "Maggie was a real bitch" and that she "got what she deserved".

The next day, Andy, apparently upon Chucky's request, visits the house of Eddie, Chucky's accomplice who had betrayed him which led him to his death. As Andy urinates outside of the house, Chucky is revealed as being alive. He sneaks into Eddie's house and blows out the pilot light on the stove and turns up the gas; Eddie, in panicked self-defense, fires his gun and the house explodes, killing him.

Later, authorities place Andy in a psychiatric ward after he is found near the crime scene and suspected for murders. Karen believes the doll to be the culprit after she finds that his battery compartment is empty and threatens to throw him into the fireplace. Chucky comes alive in her hands, bites her and runs out of the apartment. She contacts Mike Norris, who is now investigating Maggie's death. Although he initially doubts her story, the homeless man who sold Karen the doll confirms that he retrieved it from the burnt down toy-store where Charles Lee Ray was killed. Norris becomes a firm believer after he is attacked by Chucky in his car and survives only by shooting the doll.

Chucky later meets with John (credited as Dr. Death), his voodoo instructor from years past, and asks why his gunshot wound bled. John, under torture via voodoo doll, informs him that his body is slowly conforming to that of a human's, and that he will soon be trapped in the body if he does not transfer his soul into the body of the first person he revealed himself to, which is Andy. Offhandedly remarking that he will "get to be six years old again", Chucky stabs a voodoo doll in the chest and leaves John to die. Karen and Detective Norris, following leads from Charles Lee Ray's case file, find John as he lay dying and receive instructions on how to kill Chucky; although Chucky is a doll, his heart is fully human and vulnerable to fatal injury.

Andy escapes from the psychiatric unit, Chucky brutally kills the head doctor (a cameo appearance by Jack Colvin) in the process. The authorities believed Andy killed the doctor while escaping. Mike and Karen rush back to the apartment hoping that Andy is there. They confront Chucky in the apartment just as he is preparing to transfer his soul into Andy's body. After a prolonged struggle, Chucky is thrown into the fireplace and as Andy prepares to light him on fire. Chucky says, "Andy, no, please! We're friends to the end, remember?" Andy replies, "This is the end, friend!" and throws the match in the fireplace. Andy and Karen, thinking Chucky is dead, go to help the injured Mike Norris. After Andy gets the first aid kit from under the sink, he discovers Chucky is gone. Chucky chases after Andy and Karen; Karen shoots him several times, missing his heart, but scattering his head, an arm, and a leg in the hallway. After Norris' partner arrives, the scattered doll parts attempt to attack at the instructions of Chucky's screaming, severed head, but Norris finally shoots Chucky in the heart, rendering Chucky dead. As Norris, his partner, and Mrs. Barclay walk out (with Andy in hand) of the room, Andy stares on at Chucky's lifeless body.

Casting


Production

Child's Play was filmed at the following locations:

  • Chicago, Illinois (on location) The Chicago landmark the Brewster Apartments located at Diversey and Pine Grove served as the location of the apartment where Andy and Karen lived. It is pictured on the movie poster. Silent filmstar Charlie Chaplin occupied the penthouse of this building when he lived in Chicago.
  • Culver City, California (in studio)

Writing

It is rumored that the "Good Guy Dolls" were based on the My Buddy dolls created by Hasbro. However, during an airing of the movie on the morning of 7 January 2007, AMC claimed the creator modeled the doll after the Cabbage Patch Kids; he was tired of seeing commercials for the dolls. This was confirmed by an interview with the creator, Don Mancini, which was featured on the Seed of Chucky DVD. Don Mancini has stated that his original script toyed with the audience a bit longer, making them wonder if young Andy was the killer rather than Chucky. The actual film does make the viewer wonder for more than a few minutes, although it grows increasingly obvious that Chucky is the murderer. Chucky's full name, Charles Lee Ray, is derived from the names of notorious killers Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray. Maggie's death was originally going to be by electrocution while taking a bath. The idea was later used in Bride of Chucky.

Box office/Reception

Child's Play had a budget worth $9,000,000 and was released in 1,377 theaters, having an opening weekend of $6,583,963. The domestic gross was $33,244,684 with it making $10,952,000 overseas. Worldwide, the film made $44,196,684.

Critical reviews were surprisingly positive, with Roger Ebert calling it "an effective horror film." The film earned a 67% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1] Areas of the film that were commonly praised were the original concept, the special effects (which were at the time effective) and the acting. The young Alex Vincent, who played Andy Barclay, was said to have played a generally convincing role as a terrified boy. Brad Dourif, however, was singled out for his creepy and realistic voice-acting of Chucky.

Promotion

Soundtrack listing

  1. "Chucky's Animated Theme" by Mike Piccirillo
  2. "I'm Hanging" by D.B Boyle
  3. "Is It Really Love" by Michael Lanning
  4. "Grass" by African Suite
  5. "Second Sight" by David Darling
  6. - Dramatic Music - Score" Joe Renzetti

Comics

It has been adapted in comics a couple of times:

DVD releases

The film was first released on DVD by MGM in 1999. The film was presented in an open-matte full screen presentation and included a theatrical trailer and a "Making Of" booklet. However the Australian DVD release by MGM featured the film in non anamorphic widescreen transfer. The DVD was re-released in 2007 with a lenticular cover.

A 20th Anniversary DVD was released by MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on September 9, 2008. The film is presented in it's original 1.85:1 Widescreen format (for the first time in the U.S. in 20 years) enhanced for 16x9 monitors and includes an English 5.1 surround track and English, French, and Spanish 2.0 surround tracks. Special features include two audio commentaries with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks, Kevin Yagher, producer David Kirschner and screenwriter Don Mancini, " a "Selected Scene Chucky Commentary," "Evil Comes in Small Packages" featurettes," a "Vintage Featurette: Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child's Play," and "Chucky: Building A Nightmare" feature, "Theatrical Trailer" and a "Photo Gallery."


References

  1. ^ http://www.devilsdue.net/chucky

Sources

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