Child's Play (1988)

Child's Play, released in 1988 is a movie about a murderer whose soul was transferred into a doll, and the movie revolves around Karen Barclay and her six year old son Andy. Andy is a big fan of the Good Guys cartoon and wanted more than anything for his birthday a Good Guys doll. His mother didn't have the money to buy one for him, and ends up buying one from a guy in a back alley. The doll ends up being the doll with the soul of the murderer "Chucky". Chucky then sets out to kill the cop who shot him Mike Norris (played by Chris Sarandon who was also the actor who was famous for playing the Prince in Princess Bride), and his partner who drove off without him leaving him to get shot by the cops. Chucky finds that he is going to be stuck in the body of the doll permanently unless he transferred his soul into the first person that learned his secret, which is Andy, so he sneaks into the children's psychward to posses Andy, but Andy gets away leading us to the exciting climax of the movie. This movie spawned a whole series of films that is still going strong today. One of my favourite things about this movie is the amazing practical effects, that still hold up today, and still look beautiful and realistic. Chucky alongside Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers has become the biggest movie monsters of the 80s and 90s, and who still thrill audiences today. These modern monsters have become as well known as the classic monsters of the 30s and 40s, you show anyone a Good Guys doll and they instantly know that its Chucky. The characters were perfectly cast, especially those of Andy and Chucky. Child's play does well at playing on the fear or thought that many kids have of their toys coming alive, which is see in many films from Child's Play to Toy Story, sometimes that toy coming alive is a fantasy, and other times it is a nightmare. Child's play will probably continue to terrify audiences for generations to come. Honestly there is nothing negative that I can really say about this amazing film. I haven't actually seen this movie in nearly 20 years, so it was a lot of fun watching it again, because in many ways it was like seeing it for the first time all over again, and as such I was able to see it without my memories and nostalgia affecting my view. That being said, this movie stands up, this movie gave me chills when I was a kid and it still does today, there IS a reason this movie spawned a series of films, there is a reason that Chucky has become one of the biggest modern movie monsters. This movie is about as perfect as a horror movie can get, and it is weird that I had for some unknown reason just decided it was another 80s slasher film, because this one stands out from the pack, this movie as a lot of original ideas in it, and might be better than the rest of the horror movies of its time because of its originality. Also again credit needs to be given to the amazing special effects people who made Chucky come alive. Would I recommend this film? Yes absolutely, it should definitely be on everyone's must see list. It is an important part of our pop-culture, and an absolutely amazing horror film that has earned its place in film history.