We’re Watching Child’s Play

In 1988, an unknown horror movie about a doll was released upon the world. What initially sounded like a silly premise for a horror film, especially when stacked next to ‘80s horror classics like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13^th and The Evil Dead series, turned out to be one of the scariest and nightmare-inducing movies of the decade. A small “Buddi” doll called Chucky is possessed by the soul of a serial killer and goes about terrorizing the family and surrounding neighborhood. It was as funny as it was horrifying, and it’s stuck with anyone who originally saw it in the ‘80s.

YOU AND HE WERE BUDDIES

Fast-forward 31 years later and Orion Pictures has decided to reboot the franchise for modern audiences, but will the crazy knife-wielding Chucky still have the same appeal to a very different horror audience? Signs are looking very promising.

Child’s Play follows Karen (Aubrey Plaza), a single mother who gifts her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a Buddi doll, unaware of its more sinister nature. Although the initial concept remains the same, the modern retelling sees some interesting variations to the ideas from the original. Chucky, the name given to the Buddi doll, is now a smart doll that can be controlled with modern smart devices and instead of being possessed by the soul of a serial killer, Chucky is now an AI gone wrong. Voiced by the fantastic Mark Hamill, Chucky is as terrifying as ever and the idea of an AI-gone-haywire does hit closer to home than that of a serial killer’s soul taking up residence in a doll, as in the original concept. Much like the IT reboot from 2017, Child’s Play retains its intense gore and rightfully comes with an R-Rating, which promises to be as violent and unsettling as the original.

WANNA PLAY?

When the reboot was originally announced, many fans and critics felt this to be a cynical cash-grab riding the current ‘80s revival wave led by Stranger Things and the IT reboot, yet it seems Director Lars Klevberg and screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith are keeping as faithful as possible to the original ‘80s horror scare fest, bringing in enough of their own ideas to make the reboot feel fresh and terrifying.