Child's Play
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| Child's Play | |
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| Directed by | Tom Holland |
| Produced by | Elliot Geisinger |
| Written by | Don Mancini (story) Tom Holland John Lafia Don Mancini (screenplay) |
| Starring | Catherine Hicks Chris Sarandon Brad Dourif |
| Music by | Joe Renzetti |
| Cinematography | Bill Butler |
| Editing by | Roy E. Peterson |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | November 9, 1988 |
| Running time | 87 min. |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Child's Play 2 (1990) |
| IMDb profile | |
Child's Play is a 1988 horror film, written by Don Mancini and directed by Tom Holland. It was released by United Artists on November 9, 1988.
The film was met with moderate success upon its release, and has since developed a cult following, among fans of the horror genre. The film spawned many sequels released by Universal (which acquired the rights to the series shortly after the release of the original), including Child's Play 2, Child's Play 3, Bride of Chucky, and (in 2004) Seed of Chucky.
Tagline: 'You'll wish it was only make-believe.'
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[edit] Plot
It is about three o'clock in the morning. Detective Mike Norris has finally tracked down the notorious "Lakeshore Strangler", Charles Lee Ray, and his partners Eddie and Jack. Mike shoots at Charles Lee Ray and wounds his leg. During this, Eddie and Jack flee in a van, leaving Charles Lee Ray behind. Mike chases him into a toy store and shoots him once in the chest.
Before Charles Lee Ray dies, he transfers his soul by voodoo into a Play Pals "Good Guy" doll. ("Ade Due Damballa, Give me the power I beg of you!"). Lightning strikes the store, due to the voodoo, and burns it down.
Later that morning, it is young Andy Barclay's 6th birthday. He sees a commercial for the Good Guy doll on TV, and gets excited because there is a similarly shaped box with his presents. They turn out to be clothes, making Andy disappointed. His mother, Karen, says it was too expensive and will try to get him one soon enough. At work, Karen and her friend Maggie Peterson discover a homeless peddler selling a Good Guy doll for a low low price, and she buys it. What she does not know is that this particular doll contains the soul of Charles Lee Ray.
That night, Maggie is pushed from their top-floor window to her death, and only young Andy knows that Chucky, the doll, is responsible for that death. The next day Andy skips school by command of Chucky, and takes him to Eddie Caputo's house so Chucky can kill him in revenge for leaving him the night before. Chucky blows up the house and flees with Andy. After police find Andy around Eddie's broken-down house, Andy is questioned by the police with his mother and put in a psychiatric hospital. Karen takes Chucky home and later learns that Chucky has been operating without any batteries. She threatens to burn him unless he says something. In retaliation, he comes alive and bites Karen. He outruns her and escapes somewhere in the city.
Karen then talks to Mike Norris, the police officer investigating Maggie Peterson's death. He thinks Karen is also insane and goes back to the police station. Mike takes the case file of Charles Lee Ray and leaves to go home. On the way, Chucky crashes his car and attacks him. Mike shoots Chucky in the chest one time, but Chucky still manages to escape. Later at the home of Charles Lee Ray's voodoo instructor, Chucky asks him how to get out of the doll body. The voodoo instructor does not speak to him until Chucky breaks his own personal voodoo doll. He responds that "You must put your soul into the first human you revealed yourself to," meaning Andy. Chucky stabs the instructor, leaving him for dead. Karen questions the homeless peddler she bought the doll from. He does not answer, until Mike comes and threatens him. The man says he found the doll while rummaging through a burned down toy store. Mike now knows that it is the doll containing Charles Lee Ray's soul. He leaves for home as Karen goes to Charles Lee Ray's house and meets Mike there once again. Both are convinced Chucky is dangerous and they go back to get Andy at the psychiatric hospital. Meanwhile, Chucky hunts Andy down and opens his cell; Andy escapes. One of the doctors tries to sedate Andy after finding him in a darkened room. Armed with a scalpel, Chucky slashes the doctor's Achilles tendon before electrocuting him while Andy watches in horror. Andy's mother and Mike go to Charles Lee Ray's voodoo instructor. His last words to Karen are "You must kill Chucky through the heart, because it is a human heart!"
Andy escapes and runs home. He hides in his closet and arms himself with a small baseball bat. Karen knows Andy has gone home, so she and Mike go there. Chucky enters the house through the chimney and knocks Andy out with a baseball bat. His mom and the cop cannot enter because Andy barricaded the door. Chucky wants to steal Andy's soul before he is trapped in the doll body forever. Just before Chucky completes his voodoo ritual, Mike busts the door down. As Andy wakes up, Chucky slashes Mike's ankle, then runs and hides. Karen and Mike comfort Andy. Mike hands Karen his back-up pistol, before he draws his own pistol and leaves the room.
Mike searches under Karen's bed to find Chucky, who is hiding in a closet, but Mike is knocked out by the bat, as well.
Before Chucky can kill Mike with the baseball bat, Karen bursts in and shoots Chucky but her gun jams. Chucky gets up and chases Karen into the living room, She trips on a table and falls. Chucky jumps on top of Karen and hits her. Andy watches in shock from the other side of the living room. Karen manages to toss the doll into the fireplace and locks him in. She also turns on the gas but cannot reach the matches on top. Andy grabs a match and lights it on the brick. Chucky pleads with Andy, telling him, "Andy, no. Please. We're friends till the end. Remember?" Andy responds, "This IS the end, friend!" and throws the match in the fireplace. Chucky screams in pain and breaks out of the fireplace, still burning. He throws himself on a sofa and falls behind it, now charred and black.
The two think he's dead and run to help Mike with his injuries. Andy's mom asks Andy to find the first aid kit, but when Andy leaves the room, he discovers that Chucky's roasted corpse is missing. Chucky appears behind him - and almost grabs him, but Andy runs back to his mother. They close the door into the room, but Chucky runs to the two-way bathroom door. Karen closes it in time just as he gets there. Chucky stabs through the door with his knife several times and cuts Karen's hand. While Karen is at the bathroom door, Chucky moves to the bedroom door and breaks right in. Karen quickly grabs Mike's handgun and goes out in the hallway with Andy, with the burned doll following them. Karen shoots Chucky with several rounds, trying to hit his heart. She fails to shoot him in the heart, but still scatters his arms, legs and his head all over the hall.
They once again return to the cop, who is now waking up. Another officer shows up and asks what's going on. Mike tells the whole story, adds as an explanation that the doll is scattered all over the hall. He warns the officer not to touch the pieces. He disobeys and carries the burned head back to them. Suddenly, Chucky's remains burst into the room through the air vent. Chucky's head orders his body to kill them, but Mike sits up and shoots him in the heart, the body slumps to the ground. They all leave the room. Andy looks back at the doll and shuts the door.
[edit] Production
'Child's Play' was filmed at the following locations:
- Chicago, Illinois (on location)
- Culver City, California (in studio)
[edit] Writing
It is rumored that the "Good Guy Dolls" were based on the "My Buddy dolls" created by Hasbro.
Don Mancini has stated that his original script toyed with the audience a bit longer, making them wonder if young Andy was the killer rather than Chucky. The actual film does make the viewer wonder for more than a few minutes, although it grows incredibly obvious that Chucky is the murderer.
Chucky's full name, Charles Lee Ray, is derived from the names of notorious killers Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray.
Maggie's death was originally going to have her being electrocuted while taking a bath. The scene was used later in Bride of Chucky.
[edit] Casting
- Catherine Hicks as Karen Barclay
- Chris Sarandon as Detective Mike Norris
- Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay
- Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray/Chucky's Voice
- Dinah Manoff as Maggie Peterson
[edit] Soundtrack listing
- Label: N/A
- Release date: N/A
- Mike Piccirillo - "Chucky's Animated Theme"
- D.B Boyle - "I'm Hanging"
- Michael Lanning - "Is It Really Love"
- African Suite - "Grass"
- David Darling - "Second Sight"
[edit] External links
| The Child's Play films |
|---|
| Child's Play | Child's Play 2 | Child's Play 3 | Bride of Chucky | Seed of Chucky |
| Related topics |
| Chucky | Good Guy doll |
