Child's Play - Classic horror

Child's Play' is a great little horror film from the eighties, that - I'm guessing - even took the film-makers by surprise in its popularity.  I would imagine they never realised it was the beginning of a major franchise that's still going strong thirty years later (reboot and TV series apparently on its way?).  As with many horror films, the sequels slowly take a dip in quality with each instalment, or even if you don't agree with that, the 'Child's Play' franchise weaves in and out of various genres, going from 'horror' to 'horror-comedy.' However, what the original does best is stick to its horror roots (although you may smile here and there!).

The film kicks off as a police officer chases down and shoots dead a wanted man who's taken refuge in a toy shop.  However, this is no ordinary criminal, but Charles 'Chucky' Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), a killer who knows a thing or two about voodoo practices.  And he transfers his soul into a nearby 'Good Guy' (how ironic, eh?) doll.  And this doll ends up in possession of a young boy called Andy who, along with his mother, are the first to discover the toy's true - murderous - identity.

Naturally, this start going downhill pretty fast as the doll decides to take lethal revenge on anyone he feels did him wrong while he was human and quickly turns on his new 'owners.' A few things elevate this from the bucket-loads of similar movies.  It was certainly original for its time and, although hardly stylishly directed, is competent enough to create a realistic atmosphere.  The characters are all likable enough and never stray (too much) into horror clichés where they do idiotic things in the face of danger.

Andy and his mother are clearly the (main) stars, but the cops provide actually quite decent supporting characters - naturally they don't believe that a killer doll is stalking the family and provide some believable disbelief here and there (along with the odd comic moment).  However, no matter how good any of the humans are, it's the doll 'Chucky' who steals every scene.  For a start it's worth noting that he was created before CGI and is therefore either a puppet, or a dwarf in a suit filmed from clever angles.  And, the only thing better than the doll itself, is the voice of Brad Dourif who flits from evil to darkly entertaining in the blink of an eye - and has naturally been kept on as the continued voice of Chucky throughout every genre change, reboot and sequel.

I know that no eighties B-movie horror film can ever truly be a classic in terms of film-making.  If you really want to you can pick apart many things wrong with it.  However, if you're looking for a horror film that is creepier than most, more original than most, more entertaining than most and has Brad Dourif on top form, then you should definitely check this one out.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one