Let's Talk Chucky...

    It’s that wonderfully spooky time of year, and while I love watching some Hocus Pocus or wandering through a corn maze, I’m always reminded that I’m a ‘fraidy-cat' at heart. Today, I present to you my ultimate tale of cowardice, as I relate to you my personal history with the Child’s Play franchise.

Once upon a time… I was two years old,  the movie was Child’s Play 2 (1990, dir. John Lafia), and  I was being babysat by one of my multiple family members who loved to traumatize me with movies. I remember watching the film with rapt attention. The most memorable part of the movie is the climactic chase through the Good Guy Factory, where a relentless Chucky pursues a young and terrified Andy. Chucky his little plastic hand lodged in some equipment, tears it off while screaming in pain, and violently fashions himself a new “hand” out of his iconic knife as he continues after the kid. It was a very intense scene for me, but I remember being so fascinated by the whole thing that for a while if I saw that the film was playing on television I would happily switch over to it.

    A few years passed, and I pretty much forgot that Chucky existed. Then, when I was about seven,  around the time Bride of Chucky (1998, dir. Ronny Yu) was released, I was reminded of the series, and while I hadn’t been particularly terrified of Chucky just a year or so before, in my mind he suddenly became the most terrifying figure imaginable. It then became my life’s goal to completely avoid images of the murderous doll wherever I could, and for about a decade thereafter, I attempted to do just that. That factory scene had transformed into a toy store scene in my memory, so I avoided Toys R Us for my entire childhood. I would creep through the aisles of Blockbusters dreading seeing a Chucky-related movie cover, and a couple of times had to run away when I caught sight of one. I had one ill-fated trip to Spencer’s Gifts as a teenager in which I had to flee the store when I happened upon a Chucky doll face-down on the floor. One time I landed on the original Child’s Play (1988, dir. Tom Holland) on television, and was so scared to approach the TV to change the channel that I ran into the kitchen and stayed there (with my ears covered) until I was certain the runtime had passed. I have no idea how I became this scared, but by the time I was in my 20s, I knew I needed to do something about it...

The traumatizing scene from Child’s Play 2. Still a pretty intense scene…

    I won’t go into the insanity that it took to get myself over this fear, but an important part of the process was that I started watching Chucky scenes with the sound off.  I didn’t exactly remember Chucky’s voice, but I knew that sound had always scared me more than images. When I got accustomed enough to his appearance in a short YouTube clip, I hesitantly unmuted the video. Immediately upon doing so, I was taken aback, and frankly furious at myself that I had forgotten that Chucky had sounded like this. How can anyone be terrified of anything that sounds like a 40-year-old man with a Jersey accent? In fact, Chucky sounded hilarious (thanks, to the voice actor, Brad Douriff)! As I started to watch all the films, I further realized that the mechanics of the entire Child’s Play universe completely negated any terror. As a child, my understanding was that Chucky had always been a doll and wanted to kill you just because he could. The reality – that the doll body housed the soul of a serial killer whose only desperate motivation was to be anything but this stupid doll – knocked all of the wind out of my fear sails. What I had built up in my head over the past decade was much scarier (and better) than anything to come out of the entire series of films. Now, rather than terrified, I find myself merely disappointed. the story of Chucky could have been as terrifying as I had thought, but the unnecessary backstory of the villain, the fact that he has a motivation at all, and the questionable voice casting (still love you, Brad) prevent it from achieving its potential. That being said, none of these problems have or will stop me from checking out whatever Mancini comes up with next for our shiny, fiery-haired friend.

    The Chucky movies have taken quite the journey since the ‘80s, from the lacking attempts at genuine horror (in the original trilogy) to the self-referential horror-comedy (as seen in Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky [2004, dir. Don Mancini]). Speaking of Mancini, whose brain-child is the entire Chucky franchise (minus the 2019 “reboot”), he has recently taken to bringing Chucky back to more serious territory with 2013’s Curse of Chucky, 2017’s Cult of Chucky, and, most recently, a sequel series (simply titled Chucky) currently airing on Syfy and USA. These have been the most interesting (but by no means perfect) installations of the Chucky franchise, with Chucky not necessarily as interested in getting out of his body. When he does get interested, it takes the story to newer, more interesting places. I will readily admit I was actually kind of excited at the conclusion of Cult of Chucky, and eager to see if the repercussions would extend into the television series.

    Currently, only one episode of the Chucky TV show has aired, and while I still find an abundance of problems with Mancini’s writing, I have to admit that I enjoy where the series is heading. Based on what Mancini has always stated about his intentions for the original Child’s Play, this series seems to be more to the heart of what Mancini had always wanted, with Chucky acting as an extension of a child’s psyche (though I don’t know if this idea hits in the same way with a teenager in the TV show versus the 6-year-old Andy in the original film). Again, this is only based on one episode, and perhaps you should check it out for yourself, but I love the idea of this anti-bully Chucky (like a Saturday morning PSA presented by a raunchy insult comedian that might kill you later) that is presented in the TV series. It’s pretty hilarious, and besides at least I can sleep better at night knowing Chucky has bigger fish to fry than me.

What movie characters terrified you as a child? Can any of them be redeemed with a funny voice and a vendetta against injustice? Let me know in the comments below, and remember, “I’m your friend to the end! Hidey-ho!”

Copyright © 2021 Bailey Lizotte