Review | Child’s Play film review: killer doll Chucky returns in hugely enjoyable horror comedy
- Director Lars Klevberg’s Child’s Play pays tribute to its predecessor, but delivers something fresh out the box
- While the original saw a serial killer’s essence transferred into the toy doll, this reincarnation takes a modern approach
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4/5 stars
Created by Don Mancini, the 1988 horror Child’s Play introduced the world to the killer doll Chucky, spawning seven sequels and heaps of controversy. Now comes the inevitable remake/reboot, made without the involvement of Mancini, who instead is working on a Chucky television series.
Directed by Norwegian newcomer Lars Klevberg, the latest production’s story takes elements of the first film and updates them for the digital age. Whereas the original film saw a serial killer’s essence transferred, voodoo-style, into the body of a toy doll, this reincarnation takes a different approach.
The Buddi doll here is an interactive, artificially aware plaything that hooks up to all your household products – like the creepiest-looking Alexa you’ve ever seen. But when a disgruntled employee in a Vietnamese factory tinkers with a Buddi doll’s circuitry, evil is unleashed.
This only becomes apparent after American single mother Karen (Aubrey Plaza), a cashier at a supermarket selling the Buddi range, buys the defective doll for her son, Andy (Gabriel Bateman).
Several years older than the boy in the 1988 film, Andy is the archetypal teen loner. Naming the doll “Chucky”, he begins to bond with it.
Superbly voiced by Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, Chucky’s persistently upbeat rhetoric – “Are we having fun now?” – is increasingly unsettling. When other children in the block of flats discover Chucky is more unruly than other Buddi dolls, Andy suddenly gains some new friends.
And it’s here where the sentient Chucky begins to learn violent behaviour – whether it’s watching Andy jab a knife into a breadboard after cutting a sandwich, or observing the violent horror films he and his friends enjoy. Even casually aggressive remarks are taken all too literally.
While fans of the franchise may balk at this techno Chucky, Klevberg delivers the resulting gore with an old-fashioned, blood-soaked approach. When Chucky starts going mental, the special effects gets practical. Flesh is ripped apart, bones shatter and arteries are severed, all while being delivered with a side of black humour.
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There are in-jokes, too – even a RoboCop reference – that spirit us back to the era of Mancini’s film. Wisely ditching CG where possible, Klevberg uses animatronics to bring Chucky to life – the flashing blue eyes and jerky movements add to the overall unnerving feel.
With Plaza on typically droll form as the mother at her wit’s end, it all adds up to a hugely enjoyable horror comedy that pays tribute to its predecessor but delivers something fresh out the box, too.
