31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 23 Child's Play 2019

 

TITLE-Child's Play 2019

SOURCE-DVD/Hulu

So last year the Child's Play remake came out. I heard it was decent but hadn't seen it. Then earlier this year I saw the DVD was fairly cheap so grabbed a copy. And like happens often with me happened. I will buy a film and then it just sits on the shelf for months/years. This time it was a little different. The day I got the dvd I put it in and watched the first 30 minutes. Got a phone call and had to leave.Skip ahead and I see the film is now on Hulu. Realizing I didn't remember anything I saw the first time I started the film at the beginning. 

Set in the modern day this remake takes the bare bones of the original film and updates it to modern times. This time Chucky is a Buddi doll. That interacts with all the electronics Kalson produces. I'm guessing Kalson is just a renamed Apple,mostly cause their products appear to be over priced junk.

Aubry Plaza plays the mother. She has just moved and is trying all she can to help her son,Andy has a hearing loss. Which really never plays much into the film oddly. One day at her job Aubry has a customer return a Buddi doll cause it has the wrong hair color. When she learns the doll will be shipped back to the warehouse and destroyed she blackmails her boss into letting her have it.

At first Andy isn't that into his new toy. But fairly quick Chucky becomes Andy's best friend. But what Andy and his mom don't know is that Chucky had all his safety protocals removed at the factory by a worker. So once Andy meets some new friends ,who show him Texas Chainsaw Massacre II,Chucky starts to recreate what he saw in TCM II. 

Chucky kills the family cat,cause it has scratched Andy. Then once Chucky realizes that Aubry's boyfriend is a douchebag,well Chucky follows the boyfriend home and kills him. Then delivers the boyfriend's head to Andy. Andy and his new friends try to dispose of the head but through a bunch of odd twists the head ends up wrapped up like a birthday present. And ends up in the apartment of an elderly lady who's son is a police detective.

So as you can see this film isn't just a straight up copy of the original. Besides being updated to reflect modern tech,it also ups the gore levels. And really ups them. I don't remember any of the Child's Play films having as much gore as this film.

Plaza is really good as the mom. The kid playing Andy isn't bad at all. But the star of the film is Mark Hamil as Chucky's voice. 

What sucks is the ending of the film sets up a sequel. But this film didn't do that great at the box office. So I doubt we get a sequel.

Child's Play 2019 gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror Day 30 Curse of Chucky

Curse of Chucky
2013
Universal Blu Ray

A return to the feel of the original Child's Play,part 6 turned out to be way better than I expected. When I heard it was going straight to VOD and disc I was worried.. I got this and sat on it for almost a year.

The film starts with a very pretty young lady,who is in a wheelchair,getting a package in the mail. It is of course Chucky.She lives in this old mansion with her mother. But the Mom dies.

So her sister shows up. Along with her husband,daughter and Nanny.They want to sell the house and have the handicapped sister move into a assisted care home. When asked why they want to sell the house so quick the rich sister answers with "We are almost broke. Our daughter might end up having to goto public school!" Which of course made me laugh and strongly dislike the rich sister.

For the first 30 minutes of the film we keep gettign hints that the father and the attractive nanny have something going on. Then we learn that it is the mother and nanny that got something going on.

Of course Chucky starts killing people. And I keep wondering why Chucky was mailed to this young lady. I see no connection to Andy from the first 3 or really any connection to parts 4 and 5. But before the end all is revealed.

One last thing,like what happens with lots of modern film we get a scene during the credits. And it is totally worth saying around to see.

Curse of Chucky gets a A-.

31 Days of Horror Day 24 Child's Play

Child's Play
1988
Chucky's 20th Birthday Edition MGM DVD

Finally after years I got a copy of the first of the long running Child's Play series. Years back I bought the one collection that had the 2nd,3rd,4th and 5th film. I looked for the first film,but the only copies I found were always full frame. Then I got Curse of Chucky. Well around the beginning of October I was grabbing my groceries and saw this 20th birthday edition for $5. I grabbed it as soon as I saw it was widescreen.

One I got home I looked and it is loaded with extras. Three commentaries,yeah I know I am a commentary addict.And a handful of entertaining featurettes.

The film is about a single mother. And her son who really wants a Good Guy doll for X-mas. But like the mid 80s Cabbage Patch Doll craze they are next to impossible to find. A serial killer's soul ends up in a Good Guy doll. And through a journey young Andy ends up with the doll.

Out of all the Chucky films this is the best. With Curse of Chucky being almost as good. What makes those two stand out is they are actually scary. Child's Play stands out of a packed field of 80s horror because of the good acting and well done doll effects.

Child's Play gets a B+