Child's Play (1988 film)

Child's Play is a 1988 American supernatural slasher film directed and co-written by Tom Holland, and produced by David Kirschner from a story by Don Mancini.[4] It is the first film in the Child's Play series and the first installment to feature the character Chucky. It stars Brad Dourif, Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent and Dinah Manoff. Hicks plays a widowed mother who gives a doll to her son played by Vincent, unaware that the doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer played by Dourif.

Child's Play
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Holland
Produced byDavid Kirschner
Screenplay by
Story byDon Mancini
Starring
Music byJoe Renzetti
CinematographyBill Butler
Edited by
  • Edward Warschilka
  • Roy E. Peterson
Production
company
Distributed byMGM/UA Communications Co.
Release date
  • November 9, 1988 (1988-11-09)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9 million[2]
Box office$44.2 million[3]

Child's Play was released in the United States on November 9, 1988, by MGM/UA Communications Co. It grossed more than $44 million against a production budget of $9 million.[5][6][7]

Along with the film gaining a cult following,[8] the box office success spawned a media franchise that includes a series of six sequels, merchandise, comic books, and a reboot film of the same name released in the summer of 2019. Child's Play was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,[9] although the rights to the series were sold to Universal Pictures in 1990,[10] right before production on Child's Play 2 started. MGM retained the rights to the first film and, as such, distributed the 2019 reboot.

Plot

Charles Lee Ray, a fugitive and serial killer, is chased through the streets of South Side, Chicago by homicide detective Mike Norris. Charles is shot in the leg and his accomplice, Eddie Caputo, escapes alone in a getaway vehicle while Norris' partner, Jack, pursues him. Charles breaks into a toy store where Mike shoots him again, hitting him in the chest. Charles, realizing that he is dying, threatens to kill both Mike for shooting him and Eddie for leaving him. He performs a voodoo spell to transfer his soul to one of the Good Guy dolls, causing the store to be struck by lightning and explode. Mike survives the explosion and re-enters the store, only to find Charles' corpse.

The next day, the widow Karen Barclay unknowingly buys the doll from a homeless street vendor as a birthday present for her six-year-old son, Andy. Ecstatic about his new doll, Andy learns that the doll calls himself, "Chucky". Later that night, Karen's best friend Maggie watches over Andy while Karen works late. After Andy's bedtime, Maggie finds Chucky sitting in front of a television tuned to a late-night newscast about Charles Lee Ray. She returns the doll to the bed, but is then hit in the face with a hammer by an unseen assailant and falls through a window several stories to her death. Police search the apartment and Detective Norris considers Andy a suspect after finding particularly small footprints on the countertop. Before going back to bed, Andy claims that Chucky killed Maggie. Clearly upset about the evening's events Karen aggressively tells the police to leave, and scolds Andy about telling lies.

The next morning, Chucky orders Andy to skip school and take the Chicago "L" train downtown and leads him to the hideout of Eddie Caputo who had left him behind. While Andy is occupied, Chucky sneaks into Eddie's house and kills him by causing a gas explosion. Andy is again considered a suspect and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital after claiming again that Chucky is responsible for the murder.

Alone in her apartment, Karen picks up the apparently empty Good Guys box and a battery pack falls onto the floor. Horrified, she realizes that Chucky has been moving and talking without them. She picks up the doll and checks the back of the battery compartment, finding it empty. Chucky's head spins and he talks directly to her, causing her to scream and drop him. She picks him up again and tries unsuccessfully to get him to react any further. Karen lights a match in the fireplace and threatens to throw Chucky in unless he talks. Chucky then violently comes to life in her arms and he bites her in the arm. She throws him and he gets up and runs out of the apartment. Karen chases after him, but Chucky escapes. She then goes to the police station and explains what happened, but Mike doesn't believe her, even after showing him the bite marks on her arm.

Karen finds the peddler and asks for more information about where he found the doll. As the peddler tries to sexually assault her, Mike rescues her and the peddler admits that he took the doll from the demolished toy store. Karen again tries to convince Mike that the doll is alive, but he refuses to believe her, insisting that he killed Charles Lee Ray. After taking Karen back to her apartment, Mike makes his way back to the station and pulls Ray's file. On his way home, Mike is attacked by Chucky and causes the car to crash. Mike survives, but is again attacked by Chucky. Mike manages to shoot Chucky in the shoulder, causing him visible pain and forcing him to flee.

The next day, Mike finds Karen and tells her that he found out some information on Ray and his former voodoo teacher, John, who they now have to find before Chucky does.

Unfortunately, Chucky arrives at John's place first and asks why he is able to feel pain and even bleed, despite being a doll. He finds out from John that the more time he spends in the doll, the more human he will become. Chucky demands that John help him reverse the spell, but John refuses and chastises him for perverting all that he was taught about voodoo. Chucky grabs a voodoo doll of John and uses it to break his leg and arm. Under threat of death, John tells Chucky that in order to escape the doll, he must transfer his soul to the first human he revealed his true self to. Realizing he must find Andy, Chucky stabs the voodoo doll and escapes. Karen and Mike arrive shortly after. Before dying, John tells them that although Chucky is a doll, his heart is fully human at this point and vulnerable to fatal injuries. Chucky arrives at the hospital where Andy is being held. Chucky kills a doctor who is attempting to sedate Andy, and in the process, Andy escapes and flees home.

Chucky follows Andy home and knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat. As Chucky prepares to possess him, Karen and Mike arrive to stop him. Chucky cuts Mike's leg and tries to kill him, but Karen uses Mike's gun to shoot Chucky in the leg. Karen manages to throw Chucky into the fireplace and Andy drops a lit match into it, burning Chucky alive. Karen and Andy leave the room to help Mike, but a charred Chucky chases after Andy. Karen shoots Chucky multiple times, blowing him to several pieces and apparently killing him. Mike's partner Jack arrives at the apartment, and after seeing Mike's wounds, calls for an ambulance. He asks them what happened and Mike tells him it was the doll, but Jack refuses to believe his story. Chucky's body suddenly bursts through a vent and attempts to kill Jack by strangling him. Karen pulls Chucky's body off Jack and throws it across the room. Mike shoots Chucky in the heart and finally kills him. Mike asks Jack if he believes him now, to which Jack replies, "Yeah, but who's gonna believe me"?

Jack and Karen take Mike out of the room to meet the ambulance outside and as they all leave, Andy takes one last look at Chucky, clearly traumatized by everything that has happened.

Cast

Puppeteers

Production

Development

According to an interview with Mental Floss, screenwriter Don Mancini first conceived of the concept while studying as a film major at the University of California, Los Angeles. He claimed to have been inspired by the consumerism of the 1980s, the Cabbage Patch Kids, Trilogy of Terror, and The Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll". The film's executive producer David Kirschner, who would produce all seven films in the Chucky series, claimed in the same interview that he had wanted to make a film about a killer doll after reading The Dollhouse Murders.[12] The director Tom Holland has also affirmed that the My Buddy dolls played a role in Chucky's design.[13]

In Mancini's original script, Blood Buddy, the doll would have been filled with fake blood that would allow it to bleed if played with roughly, and would have come alive after Andy mixed his own blood with the doll's. The doll would have represented Andy's suppressed rage, and would have targeted his enemies.[12] Mancini's original script would have been a whodunit story which dealt with the effect of advertising and television on children. Mancini's original script was also written to toy with the audience a bit longer, making it ambiguous whether Andy or Chucky was the killer.[14]

Charles Band expressed interest in filming the script, and later produced the Puppet Master franchise. When the script was finally accepted by United Artists, it was rewritten by John Lafia to make the character of Andy more sympathetic. In Lafia's original treatment Charles Lee Ray's soul would have been transferred to the doll after being executed by electric chair as it was being manufactured on an assembly line. William Friedkin, Irvin Kershner, Robert Wise, and Joseph Ruben were approached to direct before Holland was hired on Steven Spielberg's recommendation.[12][14] John Lithgow was considered to play Charles Lee Ray before Brad Dourif was hired in the role.[15]

Filming

Principal photography began on January 7, 1988, and wrapped on March 5, 1988.[16] Child's Play was filmed in Chicago for on-location scenes. The Brewster Apartments, a Chicago landmark located at Diversey Parkway and Pine Grove Avenue, served as the location of the apartment where Andy and Karen lived and is pictured on the film's poster. In-studio filming took place at Culver Studios in Culver City, California.[7]

Chucky's full name, Charles Lee Ray, is derived from the names of notorious killers Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray.[17][18]

Maggie's death was originally going to be by electrocution while taking a bath. The idea was abandoned, and was later used for Tiffany's death in Bride of Chucky.[18]

Visual effects

The film used various ways to portray Chucky, including radio-controlled animatronics operated by up to nine puppeteers, extras of short stature, and child actors. (As stated in the digital bonus features, the word “animatronic” comes from Walt Disney‘s theme park ventures.) Various animatronics and cosmetics were used for every scene. Throughout the film, Chucky transitions from appearing as a normal toy to appearing more human. The film created multiple Chucky animatronics such as a flailing tantrum Chucky, a walking Chucky, and a stationary Chucky. The animatronic doll's face was controlled via remote control through a rig capturing facial movement on puppeteer Brock Winkless.

Test screening

The film initially received negative reviews after a two-hour rough cut was shown to audiences at a test screening. Holland, Kirschner, and Mancini subsequently cut the film to reduce the amount of time Chucky was on screen, something Kirschner had advocated for during production to build suspense in a similar fashion to Jaws or Alien.

The three have also suggested that the test screening flopped due to their use of Jessica Walter as the doll's voice.[14][12] The cut footage, shown only in production stills and the film's script, would have featured Charles Lee Ray stalking a drunk woman as a human only to discover it to be Mike Norris on an undercover sting operation, Andy showing Chucky around his room and finding a photograph of his deceased father, John healing an infant through a Voodoo ritual, and Chucky unsuccessfully trying to break into Andy's room at the mental hospital and tricking a mentally-ill girl named Mona into carrying him into the ward.

The script also featured an alternate ending in which Chucky is stabbed by Andy with a knife mounted on an radio-controlled car and has his face and legs melted with a squirt gun filled with Drano in addition to being lit on fire and shot repeatedly by Mike and Karen. Chucky would have been seemingly killed by being overpowered by Jack and several police officers. While storing Chucky's remains in an evidence room, another cop would have disbelieved Jack's assertion that the doll was alive, and after they left Chucky's disembodied arm would have come to life to swat a fly.[19]

Music

The score was composed by Joseph Renzetti which featured a collection of electronic and orchestral elements. Portions of the soundtrack were released on vinyl in 1989 and was later followed up by another vinyl pressing by Waxwork Records that featured the complete score from the original master tapes.[20]

Release

Child's Play was produced on a budget of $9,000,000. The film was released on November 9, 1988, in 1,377 theaters, opening at #1, out of the other 12 films that were showing that week, with $6,583,963.[21] The film went on to gross $33,244,684 at the US box office and an additional $10,952,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $44,196,684.[22]

Home media

Child's Play was originally released on VHS in North America by MGM/UA Home Video on April 25, 1989.

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. 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.[23] The film is presented in its 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 stereo 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 from 1988 titled "Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child's Play", and "Chucky: Building a Nightmare" featurette, theatrical trailer and a photo gallery. The film received a Blu-ray Disc release on September 15, 2009. The DVD does not feature any contributions from director Tom Holland, who claims he was not asked to contribute to it. In response, the website Icons of Fright contacted Holland and asked if he would be willing to record a commentary track that would be free for download on their website. He agreed, and the track is downloadable from here.[24]

On October 8, 2013, the film was re-released again on DVD and Blu-ray in a boxset for the respective formats, containing all six Child's Play films.

On October 18, 2016, Scream Factory and MGM re-released the film in a brand new Collector's Edition Blu-ray.[25]

On October 3, 2017, the film was re-released once again on DVD and Blu-ray in a boxset for the respective formats, containing all seven Child's Play films.

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 71% of 48 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.31 out of 10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Child's Play occasionally stumbles across its tonal tightrope of comedy and horror, but its genuinely creepy monster and some deft direction by Tom Holland makes this chiller stand out on the shelf."[26] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[27] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[28]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it a "cheerfully energetic horror film."[29] Caryn James of The New York Times praised it as "a clever, playful thriller," adding, "It's the deft wit and swift editing that keeps us off guard, no matter how predictable the plot."[30] Variety called the film a "near-miss", commending Tom Holland's "impressive technical skill" and the actors for keeping "straight faces during these outlandish proceedings," but finding that "the novelty is not buttressed by an interesting story to go along with the gimmick."[31]

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Scary, yet darkly funny, this thriller of the supernatural from the director of the terrific 'Fright Night' moves with the speed of a bullet train and with style to burn."[32] Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 1 out of 4 stars and wrote that it "would probably be sickening if it weren't so relentlessly stupid."[33] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote that Holland "keeps things moving without rushing them. Unfortunately, 'Child's Play' gets a little ugly at the end, not only because the finale seems a rehash of virtually every shock movie of the last 10 years, but because it involves the very realistic terrorizing of a 6-year-old."[34]

Philip Strick of The Monthly Film Bulletin found the plot contrived with "ludicrous supernatural gobbledygook" but thought that Holland handled the action sequences well.[35] Author and film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film three out of a possible four stars, calling it "[a] scary and clever horror thriller", also praising the film's special effects.[36]

Awards

AwardCategoryWinner/NomineeResult
Saturn Awards Best Actress Catherine Hicks Won
Best Horror Film Child's Play Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Alex Vincent Nominated
Best Writing Tom Holland, John Lafia, Don Mancini Nominated

Controversy

During the initial release, a large crowd of protesters formed at the main entrance of MGM calling for a ban on the film because, they claimed, it would incite violence in children. Local news reporters from two TV stations were broadcasting live from the scene. The producer, David Kirschner, was watching the demonstration on TV and was disturbed. Jeffrey Hilton, who had been working in Kirschner's office at MGM, indicated that he could quell the disturbance in 10 minutes. While Kirschner was watching from the safety of his office, Hilton spoke to the group's leader and shook his hand. The group instantly dispersed, much to the chagrin of the newscasters. Hilton did not reveal to Kirschner whether it had been a threat or simple diplomacy that saved the day.

Hilton's diplomacy notwithstanding, the film series was plagued with accusations of inciting violence in children. Child's Play 3 was cited as the "inspiration" for two murders, which took place in the United Kingdom in December 1992 and February 1993 respectively: the murder of Suzanne Capper and the murder of James Bulger. In the Suzanne Capper case, the 16-year-old was forced to listen to recordings of the gangleader repeating the catchphrase "I'm Chucky, wanna play?"[37][38][39] Tom Holland, in response to both murders, defended the film, stating that viewers of horror movies could only be influenced by their content if they were "unbalanced to begin with."[40]

Sequels

The film was followed by several sequels including Child's Play 2 (1990), Child's Play 3 (1991), Bride of Chucky (1998), Seed of Chucky (2004), Curse of Chucky (2013), and Cult of Chucky (2017), followed by a television series titled Chucky.

Reboot
Main article: Child's Play (2019 film)

A reboot of the franchise was announced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to be in development beginning in July 2018. Lars Klevberg will serve as director, from a script by Tyler Burton Smith. The film will be co-produced by Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg and Aaron Schmidt. The adaptation will reportedly feature a group of kids who come into contact with a modern-day hi-tech version of the Good Guys doll. Gabriel Bateman and Aubrey Plaza were cast as Andy Barclay and his mother Karen, respectively. The film was released on June 21, 2019.

See also

References
  1. "Child's Play (1988)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  2. "Child's Play (1988)". The-Numbers. Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  3. "Child's Play". Box Office Mojo.
  4. James, Caryn (1988-11-09). "A Killer Companion in 'Child's Play'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  5. "'Child's Play': THR's 1988 Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  6. "Child's Play (1988) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  7. "How 'Child's Play' Survived Bad Test Screenings to Become a Horror Classic". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  8. "Chucky set to return in new sequel to Child's Play movies". Metro. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  9. Child's Play [1988] - IGN, retrieved 2019-06-27
  10. "Chucky Movie Rights Explained: Why There's Two Franchise at Two Different Studios". ScreenRant. 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  11. Cheng, Cheryl (2015-07-30). "N. Brock Winkless IV, the Puppeteer of Chucky in 'Child's Play,' Dies at 56". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
  12. "Your Friend 'Til the End: An Oral History of Child's Play". mentalfloss.com. 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  13. Media, Comcast Interactive (21 June 2013). "Director Tom Holland Reveals 'Child's Play' & 'Fright Night' Secrets - Movies". Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  14. "How 'Child's Play' Survived Bad Test Screenings to Become a Horror Classic". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  15. "Devilish dolls scare up box office dollars". Boston Herald. 2019-06-22. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  16. "How 'Child's Play' Survived Bad Test Screenings to Become a Horror Classic | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  17. Hamblin, Cory (2009). Serket's Movies: Commentary and Trivia on 444 Movies. Dorrance Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4349-9605-3.
  18. Case, Lindsay (25 October 2014). "Six Things You Didn't Know About the Child's Play Franchise". AMC. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  19. "Full text of "Child's Play (1988) Script"". archive.org. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  20. Slingerland, Calum (15 October 2019). "The Original 'Child's Play' Soundtrack Is Coming to Vinyl". Exclaim. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  21. "November 11–13, 1988". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  22. "Child's Play". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  23. Child's Play (Anniversary Edition) on DVD Archived May 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine DVDtown.com
  24. "Holland Does Child's Play Commentary!". Dread Central. September 16, 2008.
  25. "Child's Play [Collector's Edition] - Blu-ray - Shout! Factory". www.shoutfactory.com.
  26. "Child's Play". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  27. "Child's Play Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Metacritic. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  28. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  29. Child's Play review Ebert, Roger
  30. James, Caryn (November 9, 1988). "A Killer Companion in 'Child's Play'". The New York Times: C19.
  31. "Child's Play". Variety: 18. November 9, 1988.
  32. Thomas, Kevin (November 9, 1988). "'Child's Play' Packed With Chills and Thrills". Los Angeles Times. Section VI, p. 3.
  33. Kehr, Dave (November 10, 1988). "There's enough trauma in 'Child's Play' to give any kid nightmares." Chicago Tribune. Section 5, p. 12.
  34. Harrington, Richard (November 10, 1988). "'Child's Play': The Doll Did It". The Washington Post: B17.
  35. Strick, Philip (June 1989). "Child's Play". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 56 (665): 174.
  36. Maltin, Leonard; Carson, Darwyn; Sader, Luke. Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide. Penguin Press. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-451-41810-4.
  37. January 28, 1996 Sex with 'Chucky' killer Sunday Mirror
  38. 18 December 1993 Horror fiction became reality The Independent
  39. Computers, curriculum, and cultural change: an introduction for teachers By Eugène F. Provenzo, Arlene Brett, Gary N. McCloskey. Published 1999
  40. December 19, 1993 Chucky films defended The Independent
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