Words Glenn Blomfield
Child’s Play Horror franchise has been reinvigorated with this new outing. The Buddi Doll has a new home and kept his name Chucky. The movie for me does not start well, the story set up for me is naff, exposition, heavy explaining how an AI doll is set rogue by a disgruntled factory worker. But I guess they had to do something to rebirth Chucky, an updated ode to a modern computer tech world. Putting aside the beginning of the film, I was pleasantly surprised how things progressed and Child’s Play becomes a very fun black humour horror film.
The film definitely knows how to play with the fun of horror with nostalgic throwbacks to films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Fans of gore will also have fun, the pleasure of its graphic nature played out for uncomfortable laughs.
The basic plot goes like this, single young mother, dead end job in a department store, gives her son a Buddi toy doll for his birthday, a loner in a newly moved in city apartment. Though the Buddi doll has a hidden sinister nature lurking inside, Childs Play works because of it’s comedic actors playing it straight. Special mention to Aubrey Plaza, as the young mother, recognisable from the TV show Parks and Recreation.
“I was pleasantly surprised how things progressed and Child’s Play becomes a very fun black humour horror film.”
The film takes a little getting used to the Chucky Doll, it is an odd looking doll in a kind of weird and creepy way. The son played by Gabriel Bateman, finds new friends because of the quirky fun nature of Chucky, but of course it leads down a dark path, and kids join forces like a pack from the ‘Goonies’ or ‘Stranger Things’, to fight the evil incarnation. Naturally the film runs amok and chaos ensues.
Childs Play is a lot of fun, more than you would expect. A very clever mix of comedy and horror with a dash of drama thrown in. It works a lot more than it should, heck, I was entertained, I laughed, I cringed and squirmed in my seat. Who would of thought, me, the reviewer would be recommending a Childs Play movie? Oh, one last thing to note, the voice of Chucky is no other than Mark Hamill, better known as Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. Another reason to go see it.
