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Child's Play (1988) - Tom Holland


Brad Dourif is a legend in the horror movie business and he has this movie and its numerous sequels to thank for that title. Brad Dourif has been the voice of Chucky for every film in the series. It looks like he is even going to come back to voice the iconic doll in the Michael Bay produced remake of this movie too. Brad Dourif is Chucky. He does an amazing job voicing one of the most psychotic and demonic dolls known to man. This movie is freaky, plain and simple.

The story is about a psycho-killer named Charles Lee Ray (a combination of Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray) who, before dying in a shoot-out with a cop, plays "Hide the Soul" with a Good Guy Doll. After Charles transfers his soul into the toy he finds his way into the home of an unsuspecting child Andy, and his mother. When the possessed doll begins killing people and terrorizing the family the young boy and his mother try telling the police, but as usual no one believes them.

Aside from Brad Dourif as Chucky the movie also stars Chris Sarandon (the guy that looks like Tony Danza from Fright Night), Catherine Hicks as Karen Barclay, and Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay. The acting in this movie is pretty standard for a horror film, what actually makes the show is the Chucky Doll itself. It is frigging scary. And the final showdown is one of the scariest pieces of 80's horror ever produced. The movie has a lot of fright horror, a lot of scares that jump out at you. The soundtrack helps too. It has one of the coolest themes, and I use it a lot in the Horror Mixes that I make around this time of year.

When you think about it though this movie is pretty dumb; this is a doll these people are fighting and not once does someone just punt the damn thing and be done with it. I would love to face off with Chucky. All I'd need to survive is a pair of steel toed shoes. Another thing that I don't like about Chucky is that he has this human size strength. He's a doll but he can overpower you, he can jump on you and knock you over; this doll is too strong.

The movie is entertaining enough to watch just about every year around Halloween and it is scary enough to make people want to cover their eyes. This movie does what it was made to do: scare you. That's it. I think that there are a few places where the movie lacks and I can't really decide if its the producer's fault or the lack of technology available at the time of its production. Anyway, this is a good Horror movie and its fun to watch.
Did ya know: Working title for the movie was Blood Buddy. Filmed in Chicago, IL and Culver City, CA. Good Guy Dolls were biased on Cabbage Patch Kids and My Buddy Dolls











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