Child's Play 20th Anniversary (DVD)

It's hard to believe Chucky is out of his teens and it's his birthday (personally, I think a drunken 21st party would have been more fun — especially on the commentaries — but maybe that's just me). For the first time ever, Child's Play is on DVD as it was meant to be seen: in widescreen format. There are also captions for the hearing-impaired, which is another improvement over the previous release.

Although almost everyone knows the official synopsis — After six-year-old Andy Barclay’s (Alex Vincent) babysitter is violently pushed out of a window to her death, nobody believes him when he says that Chucky, his new birthday doll, did it until things start going terribly wrong… dead wrong.  And when an ensuing rampage of gruesome murders lead a detective (Chris Sarandon) back to the same toy, he discovers that the real terror that a deranged doll has plans to transfer his evil spirit into a living human being: young Andy. — I think it's worth talking about how the movie has held up lo these many years.

I have seen bits and pieces of Child's Play on cable before this, but never sat down and watched the entire thing since it came out on the big screen. As the sequels became more and more comedic, they tainted my memory of the original in that (given its already outrageous premise) it's not as amusing as I'd thought. Which is refreshing. There are some very funny lines in the film, but they're organic to the story and seem natural.

Also, I had forgotten just how much the voodoo angle played into the original story in regard to the dead serial killer whose spirit animates the devilish doll, Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif); while certainly over-the-top with its pin-stuck voodoo effigies and dramatic lightning-strikes, it's effective and well-done. It's Dourif's commitment to role (we see him in the beginning, and after that it is all voice work) which really sells it; he doesn't hesitate or seem at all sheepish about playing this character (let's remember, at the time he couldn't predict that Chucky would become the franchise phenomenon it has).

Another refreshing reminder is the cinematography, by Bill Butler of Jaws fame. It's really artistic and suspensefully presented, as is the judicious editing by Roy E. Peterson and Edward Warschilka. The screenplay is tight, and much of it is vintage Don Mancini (Child's Play is the perfect companion to another movie he wrote in the same period under his pseudonym Kit Du Bois, Cellar Dweller [which I actually just saw for the first time, a couple of weeks ago]) and classic Tom Holland (who'd recently written and directed Fright Night, and would go on to do two terrific Stephen King adaptations, Thinner and The Langoliers).

There are three separate yak-tacks on the DVD, all of which are brand-spanking new to celebrate Chucky's birthday.

Commentary One: Catherine Hicks, Kevin Yagher, and Alex Vincent

Vincent, now all grown up of course, is intercut with cute kibitzing from real-life married couple Hicks (who played the mom), and Yagher (who designed the Chucky puppets), who actually met on the set of Child's Play.

Vincent's powers of recall are impressive, as he remembers quite a bit of the experience of playing Andy. He makes fun of his "cheesy" smile, and talks about what it was like making the world's worst breakfast. (I always wondered how he — as the character — didn't burn his hands of that charred toast… but it does work well as foreshadowing to what's going to happen later on in the film.)

Hicks talks about non-moms playing moms, and how she and Vincent bonded on-set. She also reveals that there was supposed to be a mouse in the scene where Aunt Maggie is looking for the source of some strange noises in the kitchen, but the critters were cut. She later saved the mice from becoming snake-snacks, and found homes for all nine of them.

Yagher talks about his inspiration and research on making the Good Guy doll as relatable and believable as possible, given what sort of interactive toys were actually on the market at the time (talking Teddy Ruxpin, and Corky, a curly-haired, red-headed lad).

Commentary Two: Don Mancini and David Kirschner

While screenwriter Mancini reveals early on in the track that he was "not on the set for a number of reasons" (one was probably the '88 WGA strike… but what could the others be, hmmmm?), producer Kirschner was there, and he remembers quite a few dirty details (including coming to fisticuffs with director Holland!)

They point out that it's Holland himself — who is otherwise conspicuously absent from this new DVD — who's in the photo in Andy's bedroom as the boy's father. There are differing discussions on both full commentaries speculating on Mr. Barclay's whereabouts: Is he dead, or just a deadbeat?

Both commentaries reveal a few fun trivia tidbits, such as the fact that to this day Mancini's never met Chris Sarandon, and that Kevin Yahger never met Brad Dourif. They also lampoon the logic, which is a lot of fun (Mancini wonders why Chucky doesn't just make a lot of voodoo dolls and kill everyone more easily, while somebody else asks why the terrified child keeps clutching the doll, and the mom keeps it, even after its evil is known).

Commentary Three: Brad Dourif

Chucky's select-scene commentary, features Dourif delightfully in character as Chucky. (Re: First kill: "Here I am, still trying to get used to this doll's body," and of Aunt Maggie: "I'm toying with her.")

Featurettes:

While it's kind of (dare I say it) overkill to watch of the extra features in one day as I did, I think they are pretty solid. My favorites were the 1988 vintage featurette, inadvertently showcasing a lispy narrator doing an obvious "scary voice" even when what's being said isn't at all scary. There are also some brand new interviews, and it is interesting to see how everyone looks now; a few have changed a lot, a couple barely at all. There is also some rehearsal footage, which I found especially informative, because I didn't know before this that Dourif actually rehearsed with the other actors, even pantomiming the "action scenes" in motion as Chucky.

The Child's Play 20th Birthday DVD is well worth the price of purchase, especially if you already have the Killer Collection. Now is the perfect time to bone up on Chucky, before the remake, to be directed by Mancini (who also helmed Seed of Chucky), is released in theaters.

On the DVD:

·Audio Commentary with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and "Chucky" designer Kevin Yagher

·Audio Commentary with Producer David Kirschner and Screenwriter Don Mancini

·Select Scene "Chucky: Commentary

·Evil Comes in Small Packages Documentary

o       The Birth of Chucky

o       Creating the Horror

o       Unleashed

·Chucky: Building a Nightmare Featurette

·A Monster Convention Featurette

·Vintage Featurette: Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child’s Play

·Theatrical Trailer

·Photo Gallery

·Trailer Farm

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson