Child’s Play: 20th Anniversary Edition DVD Review
Directed by: Tom Holland
Written by: Don Mancini, John Lafia, Tom Holland
Starring: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif

When you look back on the most well-known horror movies of the 1980s, there are a few major franchises that come to mind; specifically: Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween. Moving beyond these heavy-hitters, however, another highly memorable series for many is Child’s Play, starring the iconic murderous doll, Chucky. Not only did Child’s Play spawn four sequels, but it also helped create a whole new subgenre of horror (writer Don Mancini does admit, however, that the movie was partially inspired by a Twilight Zone episode with living dolls).

I can recall seeing Child’s Play when I was a kid and it pretty much scared the crap out of me. It was just one of those movies that everyone remembers watching at sleepovers or birthday parties, and something about the idea of a doll coming to life is that much more frightening when you’re a kid. Needless to say, it had been years since I had seen this movie but I was looking forward to seeing if it still held up — especially with this new 20th Anniversary Edition release, which is actually the first time the movie has been made available on DVD in widescreen!

Although the Child’s Play franchise eventually became more of a horror-comedy combination, many people forget that the first one is fairly simple, straightforward, and surprisingly scary. Director Tom Holland had previously done Fright Night, and he knows how to create genuine suspense even when dealing with potentially hokey concepts. The performances by Catherine Hicks (now best known as the mom on 7th Heaven) and Alex Vincent (the kid who played Andy) are quite convincing, but I think most people would agree that the thing that sells this movie the most is the special effects work.

Twenty years later, I am still amazed at how mobile and expressive they managed to make this doll, all the while making him look exactly like something that would have been on store shelves at the time. One of the secrets is that they did actually use a little person in a suit for some of the shots (it’s pretty obvious when they do this, but it works well in specific situations). The real triumph was the animatronic doll by Kevin Yagher, who managed to create some of the most evil facial expressions ever, which, when combined with Brad Dourif’s raspy voice, still send chills down my spine.

Watching Child’s Play as an adult, I also caught a lot more of the subtle digs at merchandising and marketing to kids, particularly in one of the opening scenes where Andy is eating cereal and watching TV. This is what the 80s were all about, and looking back, it is more than a little bit disturbing. Apparently Don Mancini wanted to go a lot further with this type of satire, but they cut it down for the final shooting script.

The one thing that feels a bit out of place in this film (and I had actually kind of forgotten about it) is the explanation for how Chucky was created in the first place. Basically a serial killer is on the run from the cops, and he ducks into a toy store where he does some weird voodoo incantation to transfer his consciousness into a doll. It’s definitely kind of a cheesy start to what is otherwise a pretty solid horror flick, and it wasn’t even in Mancini’s original draft (go figure). I think it could have been a stronger movie without it, but I suppose now we’re stuck with it either way.

As far as the new DVD release is concerned, I’m happy to say that this is finally the proper release that fans have been demanding for many years now. The other Child’s Play movies have been released together as The Chucky Collection, but because the original Child’s Play was done by MGM/United Artists rather than Universal, it was never included. And let’s face it… this is the only one that most people are interested in having in their collection.

This new edition comes packed with extras. There are two full audio commentary tracks, one with Catherine Hicks, Alex Vincent and Kevin Yagher, the other with Don Mancini and producer David Kirschner. There are also a couple of selected scenes with audio commentary by Chucky himself, which is a gimmick that doesn’t really work here, although it’s still kind of fun I suppose. Then there are four great featurettes with new interviews with the cast and crew, plus one vintage one and also footage of a reunion panel from the 2007 Monster Mania Convention.

The fear of dolls is still a pretty common phobia nowadays, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Child’s Play was responsible for making it more prevalent back in the 80s. In other words, Child’s Play did for dolls what Jaws did for sharks, and that’s always an impressive accomplishment. If you haven’t seen this movie, it goes without saying that it is a proven classic that has stood the test of time. It also goes without saying that there is now also a remake in the works, which is yet another good reason to go back and revisit this flick. Trust me, it’s a lot more fun than you might think. — Sean

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