Excessively Gory

SPOILERS ABOUND

After not watching the original Child's Play for thirty years and then recently finding a new appreciation for it, I was interested in giving this reboot a try. I wish I hadn't.

The movie takes the idea of a murderous doll in a whole new direction. This "Chucky" is not possessed by a serial killer, but has been deprogrammed by a disgruntled employee. This means that the doll has no inhibitions. So when Andy's mom essentially steals the doll, Andy believes he has found a reliable 'friend'. Wanting to name him Han Solo (an insulting humorous wink to Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker, as Hamill voices Chucky), he insists that he hears himself named "Chucky".

The first part of the film focuses on Andy and Chucky becoming friends, with Chucky continuing to ask, "Are we having fun now?" It is clear that the doll is childlike, learning about the world and trying to understand it. Unfortunately, he responds in gruesome ways. For instance, when Andy complains about his vicious cat, he soon finds Chucky trying to choke the cat. Andy quickly tells him that behavior is not okay at all. It seems that Chucky gets the message fast, but then he watches Andy and his friends laughing as they watch a sick scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

(Let me pause here: I refuse to watch those films because of their basis on a real-life disturbing situation; there is no entertainment value to these, only a sick descent into evil that should never be shown, much less glorified).

At this point, I was feeling queasy and upset because I never wanted to be exposed to that franchise.

So then, Chucky sees them enjoying the film and decides to stab one of his friends, adding that he thought he would find it funny. Clearly, the writers are sending this idea of a nature vs. nurture message, where we mimic what we see and must be guided. Once again, Andy makes it very clear that such actions are in no way okay. Again, it appears that Chucky understands.

But then the movie quickly accelerates into a sick bloody mess. Chucky is no longer naive, he is brutal with murderous intentions to kill everyone associated with Andy because nobody should be his friend, but him. Now he has no excuse for the brutality he sheds as he is very well aware of right from wrong and has decided (pun intended) to join the dark side.

Writing Quality: Lame. There is no plot here and poor Andy has practically no role models. We don't have a clue where his father went and his mom is too busy enjoying her boyfriend to see how bad he is to Andy. Andy is deaf in one ear, but we don't get any explanation for it. Also, they don't use his deafness, which would have been perfect in a film like this; a scary scene where he has trouble hearing Chucky, where the audience is also deaf--now that would have been cool. Instead, the writers, outside of the moral message and destroying Chucky at the end, dive into a disturbing overly graphic bloody kill spree. We see almost every kill in great detail and realism.

Scare Factor: The scene in the car with the cop's mom is nicely staged with lots of tension. it's unclear when Chucky will pop up, though we hear him chanting. Hamill does do a good job sounding spooky as he sing-songs his way through the action.

Content (sex, language, & violence): No sex, but one scene where Andy walks in on his mom heavily making out with her boyfriend. Another scene shows the maintenance guy looking lasciviously as he watched Andy's mom take off her bra (we only see her back). Tons of language, mostly by Andy and other teens, presumably because they live in the ghetto and have picked up on bad habits. Horrifying violence numerous times throughout the movie. A maintenance man is hanging onto a pipe that Chucky keeps increasing its heat; the man is also dangling over a whirring table saw. The man's hands become so hot that he loses his grip and is chopped into pieces on the saw. Andy's mom's boyfriend is on a ladder as he manages a strand of Christmas lights when Chucky shakes the ladder, causing him to fall where we see a closeup of his ankles break and then his face is fed into a roto tiller with tons of blood spewing. These, along with the Texas Chainsaw scenes, are the most gruesome and sick kills.

Values: A son protecting his mom and friends and taking responsibility for not stopping Chucky after he first choked the cat (he later kills the cat) and then his mom's boyfriend. He becomes a willing martyr to keep everyone safe. A cop also uses himself as a human shield. The idea that we mimic what we see is evident, but so is the reminder that we all make choices and can choose to do good, as everyone does, instead of bad, like Chucky.

Gabe Bateman (Andy) performs his role well. When he cries, be it in shock, agony, or remorse, we empathize. The cop and his mom are endearing characters as well and they add a bit of reprieve from the gore. Hamill's voice is unnerving, which works here. But overall, a disturbing movie whose entertainment value and endearing qualities diminishes due to the unnecessarily realistic and excessively bloody violence that ensues.

#ChildsPlay2019 #GabeBateman