Thoughts on Child's Play

 

via Gifer

"I am telling you the truth. Why won't you believe me?
"Because I'm sane, Mrs. Barclay. Sane and rational."
"All right. *slaps car hood* All right. Do you remember what you said the first night you met me in my apartment?"
"What about it?"
"You said you didn't like loose ends. Well, I'm a loose end. You can't just let go what I said tonight without checking it out."

I hate to keep talking about myself in Thoughts On posts, but ... about 30 years ago, looking through one of those Columbia House catalog inserts, I glimpsed the VHS cover for Child's Play. You remember, where Chucky (voice of Brad Dourif, design by Kevin Yagher) is holding the knife? I was age 3 or so and terrified. What I remember is that my family, namely my dad and older sister, thought I was being silly. I remember that vividly. This had an unfortunate effect of causing a simple scary moment into being a bad incident that I carried the weight of for a long time. As an adult, I realized it wasn't that I was scared of Chucky so much as I was hurt by and upset over what happened. Anyway, I'm an adult now and those demons have long since been exorcised. To his credit, my dad apologized, owned up to not being understanding enough and even graciously exonerated mom. Anyway, to mark today being my 33rd birthday, I finally watched Child's Play.

Catherine Hicks' performance as Karen Barclay, who ultimately fights to protect son Andy (Alex Vincent) from unbelievable evil, is the best reason to recommend Child's Play. I feel like it's significant that two of 1988's best movie widowed mothers came from unexpected movies, this and Married to the Mob. Speaking of 1988, Play is definitely of its time. Don Mancini's story, which became a screenplay credited to himself, director Tom Holland and John Lafia, was built around sources and pop touchstones like the Cabbage Patch Kids. Karen and Det. Mike Norris (Chris Sarrandon) initially doubting Andy's claims that Chucky is alive, not to mention Karen's aggressive insistence that Andy tell the truth, because nobody was believing him, reminded me that this was the age of both satanic panic and Snuffleupagus becoming visible to everybody because the folks at Sesame Street realized that it was a bad idea to suggest that adults don't believe kids.

"I said talk to me, damn it, or else I am gonna throw you in the fire!"

*Karen got what she asked for, plus a couple bites from Chucky*

Okay, that's enough of the therapy session and sociology lesson. Hicks, Sarandon, Vincent, Dourif, Holland, Mancini, Yagher ... Play works as well as it does because they all took the movie just seriously enough. That's impressive when you consider it's a movie with things like gratuitous explosions and the usual misunderstanding of voodoo. In a few weeks, Chucky premieres on Syfy and USA. I've noticed that over the years, they've stopped designing Chucky as a believable children's toy (i.e. something you would reasonably want in your home) and have gone all in on emphasizing the creepiness. I guess it keeps the character in the mainstream. I'll never forget my surprise a few years ago, in between one of the direct to video sequels, when I saw an elementary school-age kid dressed as Chucky for Halloween. The increased tendency to play this stuff for intentional laughs also shouldn't be overlooked. Anyway, Play has the advantage of not having to live up to anything other than its genre. Sometimes things drag on too long. I laughed at how prolonged the setup was to Maggie (Dinah Manoff) getting hit with a hammer before falling out of a kitchen window. That said, the multiple "He's still alive!" scares in the finale were well done.

Finally, Play is inventive! After the less-than-promising opening with the toy store lightning strike and explosion, things improve. A kid talking to and for his toy isn't unusual. Knowing what to expect doesn't reduce the impact of the reveal that Chucky's been operating without his batteries. Chucky and Karen's first fight scene is followed by them being separated. I got a kick out of Karen trying to outrace her apartment building's old-school elevator (and thank God it's an old school elevator; a modern one would not be as interesting). I'm not going to keep narrating, but I would also like to give a shout out to having Dr. Ardmore (Jack Colvin) get his through electrocution. My takeaway from Play, besides that it feels good to have my childhood angst gone for good, is that decent acting, commitment, ingenuity and wit makes a difference.

"Andy, no, please. ... We're friends to the end. Remember?"

"This is the end, friend." (I love how adorably badass Vincent sounds there.)

Recommended.

Thoughts:

-- "What is wrong with me? I'm scaring myself half to death." *gets toy hammer to the forehead with enough force to send herself staggering backwards a pretty good distance across the kitchen and out window*

-- Box Office: Grossing $33.2 million on a budget between $9-$13 million, this opened at No. 1.

-- Awards Watch: Hicks won the movie's sole Saturn Award, for Best Actress. Child's Play was also nominated for Best Horror Film (losing to Beetlejuice), Best Younger Actor (Vincent lost to Fred Savage in Vice Versa) and Best Writing (Holland, Lafia and Mancini lost to Big).

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Straddling the line between sendup and suspense, Child's Play occupies the narrow, self-conscious space that is truly Twilight Zone territory," Caryn James wrote in The New York Times. "Proceeds from one virtuoso nightmare sequence to the next, drawing upon a cornucopia of startling special effects," Kevin Thomas wrote. "Yet Holland, to his credit, never allows them to overwhelm his heroic story." Roger Ebert gave MGM/UA its money quote for advertising: "Chucky is one mean SOB."

-- Critic's Corner, Hicks: She and Sarandon were singled out by Variety for playing it straight.

-- Hey, It's the Late '80s!: "The whole Good Guys marketing strategy, from the commercials to the packaging, is so swell thought out that it seems eerily familiar," wrote Richard Harrington of the Washington Post.

-- Hey, It's the '90s: Every so often when watching Seinfeld, my eyes wander to Jerry's VHS copy of this.

-- Today in Aw: If Karen Barclay being such a mama bear isn't sweet enough, or Thomas wondering how Vincent could make such a movie and not be affected, consider that Hicks and Yagher met on the set and have been married for 31 years.

-- I found it interesting that Mike is the first person Chucky tries strangling, and that's after an attempted stabbing. Speaking of crime, I'm disturbed that Andy could ride the Chicago "L" seemingly by himself without anyone fussing. The peddler trying to rape Karen, who's rescued by Mike, also feels tacked on.

-- Dinah Manoff has never been interviewed for the AV Club, but Beth Grant, who played a similar victim in Child's Play 2, was. "That movie has a great theme: You better listen to children. That’s why I wanted to do it. I was scared to do a horror movie — a blatant, studio horror movie—but I liked the script, and I thought that was such an important theme, because I don’t think adults listen to children enough. ... I called my friend Dinah Manoff and said, “Dinah, what do you think about me doing Child’s Play 2? It’s about this little doll, Chucky” — and she said, “Well, if you see Child’s Play, you’ll find that I’m in it.” [Laughs.] She was the one that had gone out the window with a knife in her head or something like that. I felt like that was a sign."

-- In a few days, I start The Women of 1988 TV. Empty Nest didn't make the cut. I'll let Amadeus decide what the best Carol, Barbara or Laverne-centric episodes from the first season would be.

-- "Look, George. Some child left their doll in the elevator." "Leave it alone. Whoever left it there will come back looking for it." *the elevator stops on its selected floor and the old people get out* "(as she leaves) Ugly doll." "(once alone) Fuck you."

-- Next: Dead Ringers. On deck: Mystic Pizza.