It's hard to imagine how the series has deteriorated from this original, chilling film into the farce it is today, ever since they ran the series into the ground with 1998's Bride Of Chucky.

Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif from The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers) is Chicago's most infamous serial killer, a man skilled with voodoo magic. The film opens with a detective chasing Ray down the street, closing in on him. Ray's accomplice, Eddie Caputo, chickens out and drives away in the getaway car, leaving Ray stranded on the street. Panicking, he breaks into a toy store and runs inside. The detective follows and shoots Ray in the chest. Mortally wounded, he rips a "Good Guys" doll from it's box and performs a chant to transfer his soul from his dieing body into the doll.

Meanwhile, a little boy named Andy Barclay is celebrating his sixth birthday. Guess what he wants more than anything in the whole wide world for his birthday? Why, a talking Good Guys doll, of course. Each doll has it's own unique name and it says three different sentences. It's the latest craze among kids everywhere. Unfortunately, his mother Karen (Catherine Hicks from Seventh Heaven) can't afford the expensive doll. Luckily, her best friend Maggie knows where she can get one from a street peddlar for half price. Desperate, Karen goes along with Maggie and buys the doll for Andy. Little does she know that the doll is actually Charles "Chucky" Lee Ray.

Andy is, of course, thrilled with the doll. He becomes extremely attatched to the doll and Karen becomes a bit concerned when he constantly talks to the doll as if he were real and even claims that the doll told him he was sent by Andy's dead father to play with him. He's even told Andy that his real name's Charles Lee Ray. But the audience never actually sees Chucky chatting with Andy.

When Chucky resumes his murderous ways, all evidence points to Andy as the culprit. His continous cries of "Chucky did it" land the poor boy in a children's mental hospital.

At first, Chucky thinks life's going to be a blast as a killer doll. But when he discovers that his invincibility is wearing off and he's becoming trapped in his new body, he pays his old Bill Cosby-lookalike voodoo teacher a visit and learns that the only way he can become human again is to transfer his soul into the first human he revealed his true indentity to-Andy.

After Karen and the detective who originally killed Charles Lee Ray discover the doll's secret and mission to possess Andy, it becomes a life or death race to save the boy.

The acting is pretty good for a horror movie (watch Halloween 5 if you want to see some crappy acting), but there is a little bit of over-acting in places, espescially from Maggie. Alex Vincent, who plays Andy, did a great job for his age and is absolutely adorable in the movie.

The movie actually does have some truly frightening moments. Particularly, when Karen discovers that Chucky's been spouting off Good Guys lines all this time without a single battery. And then, there's Chucky's wonderful impression of Regan from The Exorcist from the same scene. *shudder* The scene where Andy looks out the hospital window and spots Chucky climbing up the fire escape was pretty chilling, too. There really isn't much humour to be found here, unlike the later installments. The original is all about the horror, and there are some very suspensful moments where I found myself holding my breath.

Child's Play 2 was even better, adding some small doses of humor to the horror, and making Chucky speak from the beginning of the movie. Plus, he looks better, his voice is more evil, the acting is better, he moves more fluidly, and the "midget in a Chucky costume" moments are gone. So if you enjoyed the first Child's Play, you'll love the second. The third is also worth watching, but sadly, it jumps several years and features a sixteen year old Andy in a military academy. Bride Of Chucky was trash, in my opinion.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening