DAY ELEVEN - Child's Play (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

What a weekend I've had. For once. Mitch's show on Saturday, Friendsgiving on Sunday - which was a lot of food and a lot of dogs running around in the best way possible. Had to wake up early yesterday morning to watch Curse of Chucky and then make a post about it. Didn't get to watch Child's Play until late at night when we got back from Friendsgiving. Mitch said he'd watch it with me but fell asleep twenty minutes in after making some grumpy comments about how annoying children are. We are one in the same. Finished Child's Play this morning and now it's onto Day 12. For some reason I am so much organized during the week.

Anyway, enough rambling...onto the movie!

DAY ELEVEN - CHILD'S PLAY (1988)

Back to the original ya'll! And what a great trip down memory lane it was. The first time I saw this film was when I was 12. My friend had told me all about Chucky and it sounded terrifying. I finally sat down and watched Child's Play by myself and was scared shitless. That little doll was just popping up all over the place. Of course that was over ten years ago and I've seen it many times since then. Chucky and the Child's Play movies no longer scare me, but have become something like a comforting old friend. It's been a few years since I watched the original though.

Child's Play, written by Don Mancini and directed by Tom Holland, stars Catherine Hicks as the single mom raising her son Andy, played by Alex Vincent. In Chicago there's a voodoo worshiping serial killer named Charles Lee Ray who has escaped from custody, but hero cop Mike Norris (played by the wonderful Chris Sarandon) tracks him down and corners him into a toy store. In a moment of panic, wounded, and about to be arrested, Charles performs a ritual and puts his soul into a Good Guy doll. Lightning strikes, destroying the toy store, and all the evidence.

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The events following are over the period of a few days, the first being Andy's birthday. All he wants is a Good Guy doll, but his single mother can't afford one. Luckily she is told about a peddler in a back alley selling one of these dolls for cheap and she manages to grab it. Andy is thrilled but instantly things start to go wrong. Chucky (Charles Lee Ray's nickname) is going on a rampage, killing those who have wronged him, and making sure he never gets caught. The cops believe it's Andy somehow doing these things and puts him in a hospital. But his mother searches to find the truth, and with the help of the handsome and heroic Detective Norris, manages to eventually kill Chucky by shooting him, chopping off his head, burning him alive, and shooting him some more. Chucky doesn't go down easy ya'll.

This movie was pretty groundbreaking considering. The puppetry was stunning and even watching it over 20 years later, it still holds up. And the idea that your toys can be possessed by serial killer's souls...well that shit will haunt you for years.

Brad Dourif plays an amazing Chucky and truly brings him to life with his unique voice and characteristics. Little Andy never gets annoying, as I find most children in movies to be, and the mom is a bad ass, taking names kicking ass type of woman.

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The movie started a great franchise that never got old. And is filled with great lore and fun facts. Like Charles Lee Ray - his name is based on three different killers; Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray (weirdly enough...I'm watching Selma as I type this). Also, Catherine Hicks who played the mother met the creator of Chucky (and many other great horror things like Freddy's makeup) Kevin Yagher and the two fell in love and are still married to this day.

Child's Play is just a great, classic 80's horror film that holds up to this day. I'd recommend it to any new horror fan, and I recommend any veteran horror fans to re-watch it often. I absolutely adore this franchise and Chucky is a great villain you love to be scared of.
10/10

Alright, tonight I'm watching a newer film I haven't seen before and then tomorrow it's back to work and back on schedule. Hoping next weekend the grocery store near me will finally have pumpkins so I can get some carving done!!

Stay spooky!