31 Nights of Terror #13 - Child's Play (1988)

Child's Play (1988)
Director: Tom Holland
Starring: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif
Format: DVD (MGM)

- It's a lazy Sunday, a perfect time for a mini-marathon within this 31 Nights of Terror marathon, and what better way than with a triple-feature of the first three Child's Play movies?
- I've recently acquired these three movies on DVD. I know I saw the first one on VHS back in the day, and I'm pretty sure I've seen the next two, but can't be certain.
- What ever happened to Chris Sarandon? He was in some great movies in the 80s (Fright Night, Princess Bride, this) but I can't recall seeing him in anything for years.
- Stop, hammer time!
- After all the Chucky films it's hard to watch this with fresh eyes, but it's done so in the early going you wonder if it's Chucky or the kid doing the killing.
- The mom in this movie (Catherine Hicks) went on to play the mom in one of the most sickening TV shows of all time, 7th Heaven. Now *that* is true horror.
- I remember how me and my friends used to say "Hi, I'm Chucky, wanna play" a lot when this movie came out.
- So that was the infamous shock treatment kill, which was cut from the VHS release but restored now on the DVD. It was pretty fun, but I can't see why it was cut.
- I get that Chucky is alive, but how the hell does a doll have the strength to push open a door that a fully-grown woman is holding shut?
- Yay, they beat Chucky. He won't be back. Right?

Overall thoughts: After watching the later comedic Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky flicks, it's easy to forget that the franchise started out as an effective straight forward horror movie. The plot is fairly run of the mill slasher, but the concept of a killer doll is done with style and fun without getting too cheesy (unlike Charles Band's Puppetmaster and Blood Doll movies). Like Freddy Krueger, Chucky got more goofy as time went on, but here he's a genuinely creepy little bastard. Good stuff.