Review of Child's Play (1993) by Dr. F P — 10 Nov 2013

Well let's see, in the 80's you had quite an array of horror films that went into the slasher sub-genre. You had A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween and Hellraiser. So what can the closing of the 80's bring about for the 90's era? Child's Play, was that answer. Directed by Psycho II's screenwriter Tom Holland, we get a slick, stylish Horror-Thriller with some slasher elements mixed in.

What I liked about the film the most, other than the characters being portrayed was how effective each scare felt and the tension before a death never goes on for too long(like in most horror's).

Brad Dourif up until this point hadn't really explored much of his acting abilities, mostly playing depressing type characters or good guys(like in " One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Here we get the range of his dark side, which would later continue on in its sequels as well as Exorcist 3 and Alien: Resurrection.

Chris Sarandon, another great actor comes into the mix as Detective Norris, the cop who shot Chucky and caused him to choose a doll as refuge. Here he plays in an excellent role and its quite disappointing that he wasn't featured in any of the sequels, he's not even mentioned(except for the trailer for Child's Play 2).

Catherine Hicks, most notably known by today's audiences as the mother in 7th Heaven plays Andy's mother, the one who unfortunately brings Chucky into the life of an 8 year old boy. She plays it very well and there isn't a moment that she seems to over act. She plays a mother who becomes desperate as she struggles to protect her son against unexplainable events. Great too.

Alex Vincent rounds out the main cast as young Andy Barkley, an impressionable young boy who is in love with all things Good Guy, when he gets the doll of his dreams he is as excited as any child would be at getting what he wants. But when he realizes how dangerous his new gift is, he reacts convincingly enough that you can't tell its his 1st film.

A remake is in the works as of now with the reprisle of Brad Dourif as Chucky making the remake a hopeful one, but this will always be a classic to me and definitely helped pave the way for films like Demonic Toys and Puppetmaster.

NOTE: Keep an eye out for actor Jack Colven as a psychiatrist, he's best known for his role as Mr. Jack McGee in the 70's TV Series "The Incredible Hulk.".