When it comes to icons of the ‘Slasher’ genre, there are your immediate ‘Go to’s’, your ‘Freddy’s’, Your ‘Jasons’, your ‘Michaels’…and then theres the edge of that limelight, a place occupied by franchises like ‘Hellraiser’, ‘The Exorcist’ or to a lesser extent the ‘Leprachaun’ franchise. But probably the strongest contender to make the jump from the edge of the limelight to a full blown A-grade icon, is non other than Charles Lee Ray, better known as ‘Chucky’.
The ‘Childs Play’/’Chucky’ franchise is a bit of an oddity of the genre, with 7 films and 3 tv series almost entirely masterminded by one man, Don Mancini. and here, in the first entry in the franchise, he does a pretty decent job of dressing the table for what was to come.
The plot is centered around a notorious mass killer ‘Charles Lee Ray’ who ends up caught up in a botched heist that ends in a showdown at a toy store where he’s taken out by a detective hot on his trail. Moments before he dies however, Charles appears to use some kind of dark magic on a doll, ending his life and blowing up the toy store in the process.
From there we’re introduced to Karen and her son Andy. Karen is a single parent desperately making ends meet at a convenience store in a tough working environment. Andy is OBSESSED with the hot toy trend of 1988 the ‘Good Guy’ doll, think ‘My Buddy’ and your not a million miles off.
The toy is a scarce commodity, but when one of Karens friends gets a tip that a hobo in the back ally behind the store has a good guy doll for sale at a discount, Karen leaps to the chance to secure the doll as a birthday gift for Andy, making up for a somewhat tepid birthday present opening session earlier.
Little do the pair know that the doll in question is quite possibly more than it seems, and when bodies start turning up, the question becomes, is Andy a killer, or could a doll REALLY be comitting murders? Well…unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 36 years, you’ll probably figure this one out before the titles even end.
But in a way, thats part of the charm of the first ‘Childs Play’ its not ‘Who’s the killer?’ it’s ‘How long is it until Karen and the crew realise Chucky is a killer doll?’ and the film REALLY goes to great lengths in relishing the fact that we as the audience KNOW whats happening, but the cast dont. it takes great pleasure in playing out scenes in such a way that we KNOW whats going to happen, and the enjoyment doesnt come from the gore or excessive swearing (though that does certainly help things), It comes from how intense and atmospheric Tom Hollands direction work is, and how suspensful Mancini’s writing compliments proceedings.
While later entries in this franchise would soften Chucky into a border horror comedy figure, this film is really more a horror thriller with a sprinkle of dark comedy added in for spice. the pacing is semi slow burn, with quick rushes of action liberally applied throughout and I think that really was the best way to do this, it really helps amp up the tensions and when the reveal that Chucky IS in fact a ‘real boy’ actually happens, it feels like a very satisfying payoff rather than something cheap and undercut.
The tone is quite different too from latter entries, being the only film in the series produced by MGM (almost all the later entries would be handled by Universal) this one has a significantly grittier, darker tone. it contrasts lighter drama and comedy elements with some genuinely unpleasent moments, and while some of the script is quite farfetched…this is a film about a killer doll, if you can suspend your disbelief on that, you can believe a single mother can afford a nice semi-luxury 6th floor apartment.
Its amazing really also just how well fleshed out most of the cast are here, key figures from this film will continue to reappear across the entirity of the film and TV franchise, but even this early on, so many elements of their personalities, mannerisms and tones are essentially hard baked in…and while I will say that some of the plot and continuity elements in this entry dont *100%* line up with the rest of the franchise, theres enough going into this that you *could* forgive it for maybe getting a bit ahead of itself on its intentions and where it wants to be.
Overall? I think this is a fun introductory story, not exactly an ‘origianl’ plot at this point in film and media history, but then? what is. its a tight, witty, clever and well made script that really hits the ground running and delivers on every punch right up until the end credits.
as for the direction? Gorgeous. This is probably the 2nd nicest looking film in the ‘Childs Play’ series. a grungey and grim picture that gave me strong ‘Candy Man’ vibes at times. theres a real keen creative eye for this picture and between the stunt doubles dressed as chucky, the animatronics and the props. Holland becomes probably the first director to really, truely ‘nail’ the killer doll genre. which…given before this most killer doll movies either had the doll not move at all, or it was just a dwarf in a costume…It wasnt exactly a *high* bar…but he smashed it out of the park all the same.
DIrection of the cast too is pretty much faultless, they all hit there marks perfectly, they work exceptionally well with the set space, there physical perforamances and line deliveries feel very solidly crafted. Its about as well as it could have gone for a production like this…there are maybe a couple of deliveries that I felt could have maybe gone in a different direction, but otherwise. they nailed it.
The cine too is fabulous, largely soft and colourful, composition is great, they really work with the locations to get the maximum return on what they’re working with. Id argue this again is probably the 2nd prettiest looking entry in the franchise and a strong ‘top 5’ contender for nicest shot mainstream ‘slasher’ period. its a rock solid production that really looks great.
Perforamance wise, cue the broken record, but Brad Douriff is an unstoppable force. This is his role, he owns it so entirely that I dont feel like it can be handed off to anyone other than him. He IS Chucky. his live action scenes at the beginning are superbly handled and his line delivery as the killer doll are equally superlative.
Catherine Hicks is also great as Karen, giving a well rounded performance that lets her work a decent range, she hits every cue and lands almost every line. as was Alex Vincent as ‘Andy’, I dont really like to talk about child actors, but I will make an exception here somewhat in saying that even at this stage in his career, he nailed what was needed for this and really knocked it out of the park, with the best still to come!
In fact, one of the only things that kind of let this down was the score…or rather, the lack of it…there are some incidental pieces…but they’re all kind of unremarkable to me…the more contemporary music is treated as incidental and equally didnt really do much, it all feels too buried in the sound mix for me to leave a lasting impact. I feel like this needed something a little more ‘defining’ for it to really truely win me over.
All in all? the first ‘Childs Play’ film really hit the ground running, while it hadnt quite nailed the tone it was going to end up working with for the next 35+ years, whats presented here is a bit remarkable honestly, a fully formed world and idea, ready to go right out of the gate. while im still on the fence about its rewatch value in terms of how frequently i’ll revisit this one, I cant deny that I had a lot of fun with this one, its a solid production delivering something a little bit different for a franchise that from here on in, is going to go on quite the strange and exotic odyssy. Reccommended.
TYTD Reviews 