Countdown to Halloween – Child’s Play (1988)

When discussing the Child’s Play series, many will hold up the first movie as the best of the bunch with the usual argument of, “it’s the only one that is really scary”. However its director Tom Holland doesn’t agree with this statement, as he says in documentary Slice and Dice: Slasher Movie Forever, “do people think of it as a slasher? I thought it was a comedy!”. Whether he was being sarcastic or not, it has been noted over the years that the once ‘scary’ Child’s Play seems fairly dated and goofy by today’s horror standards.

Charles Lee Ray is a common criminal who just so happens to know voodoo spells, which comes in handy when he’s gunned down in a toy store by a cop in the middle of a chase. He transfers his soul into that of the number one best selling toy of the moment – the Good Guy doll. Said doll ends up in the hands of 6-year old Andy Barclay who, when people around him start to mysteriously die, blames the crimes on the seemingly inanimate Chucky.

In a recent article on FearNet, a writer made the claim that Child’s Play 2 is a better and scarier movie than its predecessor – an argument that sparked some debate amongst Child’s Play fans. One of the key points raised is that Child’s Play is less of a straight-up slasher movie in which you know the killer and is instead a whodunnit, with Holland playing up the idea that perhaps Andy is killing these people and using the doll as his scapegoat. An interesting idea sure, but not one that entirely holds up seeing as we clearly witness Charles Lee Ray transfer his soul into the doll at the start of the movie. Perhaps if that had been left a little more ambiguous the argument could have stood up, but it’s quite clear that Chucky is the killer from the very get go – even for a first time viewer with no knowledge of the franchise.

What is clear however is why Chucky became a slasher movie favourite – even if he is lower down the list behind Jason and Michael etc. Much like Freddy Krueger, a lot of Chucky’s appeal comes from his wise-cracking and foul-mouthed nature, which is all down to the dialogue delivery by Brad Dourif. Again like Krueger (who was brought to life by Robert Englund), Dourif embraces the madness of the character and although he never takes himself as seriously as Englund did, you can tell he’s having a lot of fun as this wacky killer doll who is slowly becoming more human. The effects might not hold up, but the performance sure does.

Although, the “I have a date with a 6-year old boy” is still an uncomfortable line.

But is Child’s Play still scary? Sadly not as the effects of the doll aren’t always up to scratch and it’s easier to laugh at Chucky as a killer than it is to be scared by him. But more to the point, Holland directed it as a comedy. He points out that the ending of the movie, which feels more like the Black Knight scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail than a showdown between Tina and Jason, is beyond ridiculous and all terror that might have come from the character is taken away as this charred doll (who is supposed to be human by this point) hobbles around in a comedic fashion.

Chucky as a character is scarier when he’s still than when he’s moving and perhaps Child’s Play would have stood the test of time better had the ‘whodunnit’ aspect been played up more. Granted, it probably wouldn’t have become a franchise piece, but it might not be looked upon with laughs and giggles from the horror fan base 25 years later. A good movie, but not as ‘scary’ as some might claim.

Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.