Child's Play
Child's Play
R | 09 November 1988 (USA)
Child's Play Trailers

An innocent-looking doll is inhabited by the soul of a serial killer who refuses to die.

Reviews
adonis98-743-186503

A single mother gives her son a much sought-after doll for his birthday, only to discover that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer. Child's Play is pretty interesting on mind and even paper perhaps but on screen? It's definitely lacking in alot of levels especially in terms of horror and having a pretty much great villain as a whole. The perfomances weren't that bad for sure and the special effects were top notch for sure but the movie is way far from being that impressive for me and i'm sorry to say this but it doesn't hold up that well. (5/10)

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andymcgraw-95291

Near death, a serial killer recites a spell, transferring his soul into a doll. A widowed mother gives the doll to her son as a gift. On his own, the doll, Chucky, ends up killing several people. The police don't believe their story: it was Chucky who keeps killing these people! The serial killer eventually decides he wants to transfer his soul into Andy's body. Now he must be stopped! Find out how they kill him once and for all. Oh, and Chucky has the strength of a man even though he is a child's doll.

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swilliky

The classic horror film birthed the iconic character Chucky that haunted children and told a pretty decent spooky story. When the escaped convict Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) is shot in a toy store, he performs a ritual that transfers his soul into the creepy looking Good Guy doll. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) is a young boy obsessed with the Good Guy show and he really wants a doll for his birthday. His mother Karen (Catherine Hicks) manages to buy one in the back alley and brings it home to her excited son. Karen's friend Maggie (Dinah Manoff) notices strange noises that night when she watches Andy and is hit in the head with a hammer sending her flying out the window. Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), the same detective who shot Charles Lee Ray, treats Andy like a suspect and hits on Karen.Karen notices that her son is acting strange and talking to the doll. Listening to the odd instructions whispered by the doll, Andy takes Chucky to an abandoned house. Chucky turns the gas on and blows up his partner in crime in an explosion. The cops find Andy nearby the explosion and take him referring him to the psychiatrist Dr. Ardmore (Jack Colvin). Karen takes the doll home and is about to throw it out when she finds the batteries still in the box even though it has been talking all this time. Karen threatens to burn Chucky and it comes alive biting her on the arm and escaping. Karen tries to convince Detective Norris that the Chucky doll is alive but the cop does not believe her. She heads off to a dangerous neighborhood to find the man that sold the doll to her and Norris follows.Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

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jamesbamesy

Child's Play was one of, if not the first horror franchise I got connected to. Even though that this wasn't the first one I saw, I still was able to admire it as a good start for the series. The whole premise is about a living doll named Chucky going around killing people, and the sequels do get quite silly after about 4 of them (cough cough Seed of Chucky). So, if that's the case, how good is the original Child's Play to be considered a classic? Let's see...Infamous serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) is gunned down by Det. Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon) - but does a chant with a Good Guy doll just before his death - in the toy store. A day later, it's the birthday of a 6- year-old boy, Andy Barclay (Alec Vincent), and gets the same Good Guy doll named Chucky from his mother, Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks). One night, however, when Karen's friend Maggie (Dinah Manoff) babysits Andy, she is mysteriously murdered and this raises awareness for everyone, including Det. Morris. This goes as far as claiming the murder on little Andy. Thus, he is taken away from his mother for a while. Suddenly, when Karen is at the fireplace with the doll, she discovers that it's alive, scaring her, which leaves Chucky to run off and do his own bidding. Turns out that Andy was right about him being alive, earlier in the film.This is a horror classic, and for good reason. First of all, I love the concept of your own toy causing all of this trouble, even if it may have been done before, but not to this extent. The effects on Chucky are very well done, and Brad Dourif gives a greatly scary performance as the killer doll, without being too comical in the role.Speaking of great performances, the acting is all great and believable in the situations they're in. Catherine Hicks, for example, does great as the fearful mom who's truly worried about her son and dislikes it whenever she's being fooled with or when people don't believe her about the doll being animate. The only character I think could have been handled a bit better would actually be Andy, as he does get slightly annoying due to the acting by Alex Vincent. But I can't exactly fault him since he was little at the time. Besides, I think he's one of the better kid characters in horror films.Now, despite this being in the horror genre and that there wouldn't be many messages, if one at most, this one does have an interesting, hidden moral. It could be about parents stressing about their children about getting what they want. This could potentially lead to bad locations to get said thing their child wants and ending up badly depending on the change put in the product. But hey, this is just a guess of what the meaning could be and may not be true.Overall, though, Child's Play is a very well-made horror movie of the 1980's and one of my favourites of all time. With an intriguing plot and premise, acting that would be suitable for more than just horror, solid suspense, and an excellent villain, this is for horror fans and movie fans alike who like to see something different. That being said, however, it may be technically the best, but it isn't my favourite (see my list of the Child's Play/Chucky movies from best to worst for further information), but it is very, very close. Therefore, I would give this fun horror flick a solid 9 out of 10.

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