Child's Play

Child's Play (1988)

The Plot: Through the magic of voodoo, a murder's soul enters a doll causing it to come to life and seek revenge on those who wronged him

Child's Play is perhaps the greatest movie of all time about a murderous doll. It is actually based on a true story about the great Teddy Ruxpin rampage of '86, which resulted in the deaths of 3 people*. Child's Play has it all: action, suspense, voodoo, a kid being konked in the noggin with a baseball bat, a doll burned in the face with a car cigarette lighter, Chris Sarandon's perfect coif. What's not to love? 
The fake commercial for the Chucky doll is creepier than the murdering Chucky doll

Running at a lean 1 hour and 27 minutes, Child's Play does not mess around. There's no need for long character development all. This is a story about a murderous doll after all. We probably don't even need the scene where it's revealed that voodoo is the cause of the doll coming to life with the soul of a murderer. But let's face it, voodoo makes any movie better. And this is just not any old murderer. no, this is a murderer played by the great Brad Dourif (Dune, Lord of the Rings, Exorcist III). I will watch Dourif read the phone book and it would be creepy. 
Murder doll + knife + voodoo doll = hilarity!

This movie is a lot like Jaws. No! Hear me out. Both do not show the murdering shark/doll right away. No one in authority quite believes what's responsible for the deaths at first and ultimately, the shark/doll is taken down by a holy triumvirate (Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws, and Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon and Alex Vincent in Child's Play).
Smile! you son-of-a---


And speaking of  the cast, it is surprisingly strong for a doll murder movie. Hell, it's strong even for a movie with ZERO murdering dolls. The mom is played by Catherine Hicks (Last seen warping into the 23rd century after saving the whales in Star Trek IV). The cop is played by Chris Sarandon (Princess Bride, Fright Night) in all his suaveness. And the Doctor is played by the guy you get if you couldn't get Robert Vaughn (Superman III) for your movie. 
If you can't get Robert Vaughn you get Jack Colvin
Child's Play is not breaking any new ground with it's use of tropes such as guns jamming at just the wrong time, people falling down while being chased, and people just doing generally dumb things. But it is pretty enjoyable none the less and it never outlasts its welcome.

  I give it 6 murder dolls




* may not be true


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