Review of the entire "Child's Play" series

When working on doing a movie review, you can sometimes take a movie and have a hard time breaking it down. You only have about 90 minute worth of material to work with and sometimes it's hard to make the review worth reading if you can't break it down. So why review a single movie when you can review an entire series? What classifies a group of films as being a series? Two parts? Nah. I wouldn't really call that a series. You have part 1 and you have part 2. I don't know what to call it but I wouldn't say series. Three parts? I think we've all singled that out as being a trilogy. Four Parts? Bingo. We sure as heck can't call it a quadrilogy without sounding like we have a mouth full of cotton balls now can we.

No other genre of film can produce more sequels than the horror genre. Films such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street have cemented horror films with what some call "sequelitis". Horror films are dogged, slammed and slated (new word I recently learned) for being followed by many many sequels.

When a series gets to part 4 it's hard to take it seriously. It's repetitive and really just meant to be laughed at. But When a horror series main villainous foe is a murderous killer doll possessed by the spirit of a voodoo practicing serial killer, should we really take it that serious at all? Give me a break. Laugh at it and enjoy it. It's time to review the "Childs Play" series folks!

The original "Child's Play" came out in 1988. Right at the end of 80's horror. People actually thought the film was scary. What worse a thought than your child's toy coming to life and attempting to possess his body while knocking off people all the way!? Add to this that ever single child in America had one of those "My Buddy" dolls at the time and there ya go. The Look as well as the wardrobe worn by Chucky was eerily familiar with the "My Buddy Doll" so much in fact that the dolls started scaring children and children being scared may have led to the demise and decline in sales of "My Buddy". But that's just my opinion.

So basically we get the story of Charles LeRay (Brad Douriff) - The Boston Strangler. During a night of chases and shootouts with the cops, Charles takes a bullet and is about done for. While finding his way into a toy store, the voodoo educated serial killer puts his voodoo to use and puts his soul in the "Good Guy" doll which just so happens to be the current Toy craze in this film. We then go to young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) who wants one so bad for his birthday. His mother is having a difficult time finding one but manages to pull it off from a creepy old street vendor who rescued the doll from the toy store fire. Which dolls survived? The possessed one of course. So we get Andy trying to convince people that Chucky is alive all the while Chucky is killing. The movie is great for it's time. While I don't see much scary about it, it is definitely fun. The FX are top notch for a 1988 flick. Best scene bar none is the elevator scene.

We are now two years removed from the original "Child's Play" and entertaining "Child's Play 2". Often named one of the best sequels to a film, the premise is of a company trying to renew the popularity of the Good Guy dolls after the poor publicity of Andy Barclay's claims that the doll was killing folk. Why on earth they do this is beyond me but they take the charred remains of the doll possessed by Charles LeRay, scrape off the ashes and burned plastic and send the dolls back into production using the Chucky dolls their prototype.

So Chucky escapes the clutches of the toy makers and works on finding Andy because Andy was the first person he told his secret to...and that means in voodoo world that he is the only one that Charles can put his soul into. Meanwhile, Andy is put with a foster family and has actually learned to be friendly with a new Good Guy Doll. Easy pickings and Chucky does away with Andy's new doll and moves in for the kill. So Andy discovers Chucky is back soon enough and once again...nobody believes him. So we get a much more action packed movie with Chucky on the prowl once again and Andy fleeing him all the while. The film ends up for an excellent finale in the toy factory that isn't to be missed. Classic scene from this film is Chucky's use of the middle finger from the back of a big rig with Kyle (Christine Elise) in pursuit

Merely removed a year later and heavily rushed we went into "Child's Play 3". This movie is sometimes heralded as the Bastard Child of the series. We are now following a teenage Andy Barclay (now played by Justin Whalen) as he is entering Military School. Meanwhile, and with zero points for originality, play Pals toys is hellbent on once again reviving the Good Guys toy line. So once again via this method, Chucky is back. Chucky finds out where Andy is and he's off to the races to put his soul in Andy's body. Somewhere along the line the rules change. No longer must Chucky put his soul in the body of the first person he comes into contact with. Apparently, this idea was abandoned. He meets a young black child at the military academy named Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers). And now Chucky wants to put his soul in Tyler But it is up to Andy to stop him. So we have Chucky knocking people off and spitting out one liners left and right. The most memorable being during one of his attempts to put his soul in Tyler's body. "Looks like Chucky's gonna be a bro'!" Weak entry into the series could have easily been the death of it. BUT...

Director Ronnie Yu has entered the building. Seven Years after Chucky was sent spiraling into a huge fan and chopped to bits we get Childs Play 4...or Bride of Chucky. We open with a former girlfriend of Charles LeRay named Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly). She gets word of her former love's whereabouts in the body of the doll and rescues the dolls remains from the police depository. After a Satanic voodoo ritual she resurrects Chucky and it's on again! Chucky reveals to Tiffany that he had never planned on marrying her and this nerves her which leads to her demise at the hands of Chucky who also transfers her soul into a Bride Doll. So the two are now on the same level.

Chucky reveals to her that they need the "Heart of Demballa", which Charles was wearing the night he was gunned down, in order to transfer their bodies back into human form once and for all. So it's off to the races as Tiffany tricks her neighbor Jesse (Nick Stabile) into taking the dolls to New Jersey. Jesse uses this as an opportunity for his girlfriend Jade (Katherine Heigl) and himself to make a run from her over protective police chief uncle (John Ritter). So the two are off with the two murderous dolls tearing up the country all the while...and all the while the police are hot on the trail of Jesse and Jade thinking the committed the murder. Definitely fresh to see Chucky doing something besides tormenting Andy Barclay. Definitely the most original of the series. Definitely a wow of an ending.

So how does The entire "Child's Play" series rank as a whole? Superb. Every series has it's bad apples. But not everyday can be good, so why should every movie have to be. We see Chucky from the time Charles LeRay enters the doll until we learn more about his past with Tiffany in "Bride of Chucky". While the series does have it's minor plot holes it does seem to have a little more continuity than your average horror genre series. What's better? All four films are Written by the same man. That man being Don Mancini. Usually after the first one or two the reigns are totally out of the creators hands. While each film had a different director, the writer stayed in tact and it makes the films seem more true to themselves. Brad Douriff is a constant factor as Chucky. Wouldn't have been too surprising to see the voice talent go to someone else after the first film or two but it didn't happen. The doll kept it's look. The Chuck FX were always top notch from his walking around to his facial expressions. I don't think the series ever took itself too seriously which in turn made the films much more interesting.

The best way to watch the "Child's Play" films is with a group of friends - not because you will be scared. They don't make "My Buddy" dolls anymore, so there's no need to be afraid. But because you can laugh at it without expecting an academy award performance. And that is something we should all take the time out to do from time to time.