CHILD'S PLAY

'''Child's Play''' is a horror film written by Don Mancini and directed by Tom Holland. It was released by United Artists on November 9, 1988.
The film was met with moderate success upon its release, and has since developed a cult following among fans of the horror genre. The film spawned many sequels released by Universal Studios (which acquired the rights to the series shortly after the release of the original), including ''Child's Play 2'', ''Child's Play 3'', ''Bride of Chucky'', and ''Seed of Chucky''.

Contents

Box office

Plot

Production

Writing

Casting

Soundtrack listing

Comics

Trivia

References

External links

Box office

This movie had a $9,000,000 budget. It opened in 1,377 theaters, making $6,583,963. The domestic gross was $33,244,684 with it making $10,952,000 overseas. Worldwide, the film made $44,196,684.

Plot

The story begins on November 9, 1988. While being chased by detective Mike Norris, Charles Lee Ray, the notorious "Lakeshore Strangler", is shot and mortally wounded by Norris. Before dying, Charles takes cover inside a toy store finding boxes of "Good Guy" dolls, and uses a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into one of the dolls. The store is then struck by lightning, and it burns to the ground.
Later that morning, Andy Barclay and his mother, Karen, are introduced to the audience. It is Andy's 6th birthday and all he wants is the Good Guy doll he has seen in television commercials, but his mother could not afford the doll and got him clothes instead. Realizing her son's disappointment, she later buys a Good Guy from a homeless peddler. Unfortunately, the doll is the very same one that is possessed by the soul of Charles Lee Ray.
Charles Lee Ray (or "Chucky", as he identifies himself) soon reveals to Andy his secret, and a series of murders take place. Chucky begins his murder spree by killing Karen's friend, Maggie (who is babysitting Andy), striking her with a hammer and pushing her through the kitchen window. The next day, (with Andy) , Chucky visits an accomplice who had betrayed him. Chucky kills the accomplice by blowing out the pilot light on the stove at the man's hideout,Eddie accidentally shoots the stove and the house explodes.Later authorities place Andy in a [psychiatric] hospital after he is found near the crime scene. Karen believes the doll to be the culprit after she finds that his battery compartment is empty,and threatens to throw him in the fireplace;Chucky comes alive in her hands,bites her and runs out of the apartment. She contacts Mike Norris, the same detective who killed Charles Lee Ray and is investigating Maggie's death. Although he initially doubts her story, the homeless man who sold Karen the doll confirms that he retrieved it from the burnt down toy store (on Wabash and Van Buren) where Charles Lee Ray was killed. Norris becomes a firm believer after he is attacked by Chucky in his car and barely survives.
Meanwhile, Chucky has met with John, his voodoo instuctor, who informs him that in order to escape his doll body, Chucky must transfer his soul to the first person to whom he revealed his true self to(Andy). Chucky mortally wounds John using a voodoo doll. Karen and Detective Norris, following leads from Charles Lee Ray's case file, find John as he lay dying and receive instructions on how to kill Chucky: although Chucky is a doll, his heart is a human and vulnerable to fatal injury.
Andy escapes from the hospital,Chucky killing a doctor in the process. Mike and Karen rush back to the apartment hoping that Andy is there. Norris and Karen confront Chucky in the apartment just as he is preparing to transfer his soul into Andy's body. After a prolonged struggle, Chucky is thrown into the fireplace and Andy sets him on fire. Andy and Karen, thinking Chucky is dead, go to help the injured Mike Norris.After Andy gets the first aid kit from under the sink,he discovers Chucky is gone. Chucky chases after Andy and Karen, Karen shoots him several times, missing his heart, but scattering his head and limbs around the hallway. After another police officer arrives, the scattered doll parts attempt to attack at the instructions of Chucky's severed head, but Norris finally shoots Chucky in the heart,Killing Charles Lee Ray for the time being.

Production

''Child's Play'' was filmed at the following locations:

★ Chicago, Illinois ''(on location)''

★ Culver City, California ''(in studio)''

Writing

★ It is rumored that the "Good Guy Dolls" were based on the My Buddy dolls created by Hasbro. However, during an airing of the movie on the morning of 7 January 2007, AMC claimed the creator modeled the doll after the Cabbage Patch Kids; he was tired of seeing commercials for the dolls. This was confirmed by an interview with the creator, Don Mancini, which was featured on the ''Seed of Chucky'' DVD.

★ Don Mancini has stated that his original script toyed with the audience a bit longer, making them wonder if young Andy was the killer rather than Chucky. The actual film does make the viewer wonder for more than a few minutes, although it grows incredibly obvious that Chucky is the murderer.

★ Chucky's full name, Charles Lee Ray, is derived from the names of notorious killers Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray.

★ Maggie's death was originally going to die by electrocution while taking a bath. The idea was later used in ''Bride of Chucky''.

Casting

★ Catherine Hicks as ''Karen Barclay''

★ Chris Sarandon as ''Detective Mike Norris''

★ Alex Vincent as ''Andy Barclay''

★ Brad Dourif as ''Charles Lee Ray/Chucky's Voice''

★ Dinah Manoff as ''Maggie Peterson''

Soundtrack listing

★ Label: 'N/A'

★ Release date: 'N/A'
# Mike Piccirillo - "Chucky's Animated Theme"
# D.B Boyle - "I'm Hanging"
# Michael Lanning - "Is It Really Love"
# African Suite - "Grass"
# David Darling - "Second Sight"

Comics

It has been adapted in comics a couple of times:

★ Innovation Publishing released a mini-series in the early 1990s.

★ In the Spring of 2007, a comic book series which features Chucky and the original continuing story of Andy Barclay was released by Devil's Due Publishing.^[1] The series is written by Brian Pulido, the creator of Evil Ernie and Lady Death.

Trivia

★ This film was #94 on Bravo's ''100 Scariest Movie Moments''.

★ The film was released on the iTunes Store on April 11th, 2007. It is reportedly available in widescreen, making it the first time Child's Play has been available in widescreen outside of the original theatrical exhibition.
rated R for violence and terror and strong language

References

1. http://www.devilsdue.net/chucky

External links

★

★ Child's Play MGM site

★ iTunes Store Page

★ Official German Child's Play site