The story was a simple one. Charles Lee Ray had a heist go bad. His getaway driver leaves him behind to be pursued by Detective Mike and a gun fight ensues. Mike continues to pursue Charles to a local toy store. At death's door, Charles has no way out - with the knowledge of a voodoo spell, he transfers himself into the body of a Good Guy Doll.
After that setup, we are introduced to young Andy - he's celebrating his birthday by making breakfast in bed for his mother. However, being 6 years old, Andy's focus is on the tv where he sees a Good Guy series. Waking his mother up, they open up his presents but Andy doesn't see what he was hoping for - a Good Guy Doll.
During her shift, Karen's friend/coworker Maggie informs Karen that there's a Good Guy Doll being sold by a man out back in the alley. Oh man, how could that go wrong? That's some serious sketchy shit. Determined to appease her ungrateful son (I mean come on, his mom works many shifts to take care of him), she buys it for him.
Upon returning home, Karen gives Andy his last birthday gift - the Good Guy Doll. Excitedly, he takes it out of the package and it begins working. He shows his Mom how it works and we learn that the doll's name is Chucky. Maggie takes the time to watch Andy while Karen has to finish working a double at her job.
When it's time for bed, however, things begin to happen. Chucky turns on the tv to watch the local news. However, Maggie has had enough and wants Andy and Chucky to go to bed. I mean, who can blame her? She got out of work to help her friend out. It doesn't seem like she's had some time to unwind from her day yet.
Investigating the apartment after hearing some spooky noises, Maggie finds herself flung out the window to the pavement below. As Karen returns home, she discovers the police and finds Detective Mike questioning Andy. The main clue to what happened being small child sized footprints in the flour on the floor of the kitchen. Smart thinking, Detective Mike. Andy keeps saying it was Chucky that did it.
The next day, Karen takes Andy and Chucky to school. However this is a short trip for them, as soon as Karen is out of eyesight - they leave school. Somehow, they take the train to a bad part of the neighborhood where the getaway driver is residing. Andy steps away for two seconds to go pee somewhere (Really? That's breaking the law. Also why has nobody stopped Andy before this point?). Chucky steathily enters the house of the getaway driver and starts the gas of the oven. The getaway driver (I forgot his name, okay.) ends up shooting into the kitchen sending the house into an explosion like no other. Andy luckily wasn't too close to the house while he was looking for Chucky outside.
Karen is called down to the station and finds Andy. He's being talked to by the police. They would like to keep Andy overnight at a hospital. Karen goes home and has a heart to heart with Chucky. As she is about to fling the doll into the fireplace, Chucky comes alive and bites her arm before taking off. She later goes to Detective Mike and shows the bite. She explains the batteries for the doll were still in the box and Chucky is alive. Detective "I play the part of skeptic" Mike refuses to believe her. They separate their ways while she goes to investigate more about where the toy came from.
It leads her back to the man that sold it to her. He tries to take advantage of her and have a good ol' time before being interrupted by Mike. They find themselves on their way to Dr. Death, the man who taught Charles voodoo. However, Chucky pays Dr. Death a visit. Oh, by this point, Mike believes Karen's story after being assaulted by Chucky too.
Dr. Death informs Charles that he will be turning human and he needs to transfer himself into the first person he shared his secret with. There was honestly no other way I could phrase that without it sounding dirty and wrong. Chucky kills Dr. Death with a voodoo doll.
Mike and Karen then realize they need to protect Andy. Chucky infiltrates the hospital and kills the psychiatrist that was being a douche to Andy. Andy escapes and returns home. All points lead to everybody returning home. Chucky and Karen fight after Mike got knocked out. Chucky thrown into fireplace and set aflame. It's all riveting stuff here, folks.
Andy discovers Chucky's burnt remains as he's still alive. Andy fights Chucky. And it all comes down to Detective Mike saving the day by shooting Chucky's head.
Hooray, everyone's safe and sound. A happy ending.
After watching the franchise so many times growing up, this revisit hit me differently. I wasn't as engaged with things. The charm that had made me love the film was fading. Then it hit me, I don't enjoy the original Child's Play that much anymore. It's because I'm able to see the little details that irritate me about the film. It's still a good film, mind you. I just realized that all the scenes that I loved and thought were in the first film. Well, they actually are in the second.
The characters are okay. Chucky is the standout and star. That's to be expected. Brad Dourif really put all he had into this character and it shows. It's also why it's so hard to think there could be a Chucky without him. Though, Mark Hamill did a nice spin on things in the remake. The adult characters felt a bit daft. And again, that's understandable. That's supposed to be that way. Its what provides so much tension as Andy finds himself alone with nobody believing him till it's too late. And Alex Vincent did an incredible job with his performance. He really helps sell that it's all happening. Detective Mike feels a bit 80s copish. A bit shallow. And again, he fits that stereotype so well of cops in films. It's only after learning the truth that we see Chris Sarandon open up his acting skills. Before that, it's all by the book and no nonsense.
I also recently remember hearing about how Don Mancini had a very different take on the film. It was a pitch that had sold the film. The pitch being that Chucky had synthetic blood and didn't come alive till Andy shared his blood in a blood brothers ceremony. So before then, Chucky was a regular doll and then Andy made him come alive. And through that, it was Andy's subconscious acting out cause he wasn't seeing his mom as much. And his parents had just gotten divorced. So he was trying to process everything and just wanted it to be him and his mother. So then, Andy was the murderer in the end. This whole pitch was fantastic. It was so good. To think how differently things would play out if that had happened. Part of me wishes this would have been the way that the reboot had gone. Though, I did enjoy the reboot a bit.
Overall, this film is good. It's a decent start to the franchise. I mean, things have to start somewhere. And this helped lay the foundation upon which this franchise flourished with. I mean come on, how many franchises get a tv series? This is a bit of a big franchise now.
If you haven't seen it and want to see where things started, check it out. If you're new to the franchise, check it out.
Rating: 3 out of 5. (Decent start)
Come join us on Wednesday as we talk about the original Puppet Master (1989).
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