335. Child's Play; movie review

CHILD'S PLAY
Cert 15
90 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong gory violence, threat, language

I have to confess that I steered well clear of the 1980s slasher movies because I have never seen anything remotely funny in spurting blood caused by knives.
Indeed, I only became aware of the infamous Chucky when there was a connection between his films and the evil murderers of James Bulger in Liverpool.
Anyway, the last thing I needed was a reprise of Child's Play to be added to the seemingly neverending list of 2019 remakes and sequels.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be every bit as bad as I had feared.
It stars Gabriel Bateman as Andy, a young boy who is lonely after moving to a new city with his single-parent mum (Aubrey Plaza).
Therefore, to cheer him up, she gives him the must-have present of the moment, a lifelike Buddi doll.
However, little does she know that a vengeful worker at a toy company's manufacturing plant has taken out all of the fail-safes on the doll.
This means that when he sees bad things happening to Andy, who he perceives is his best friend, he takes bloody revenge.
And then all hell lets loose.
Yep, Chucky, as the doll becomes known, isn't satisfied with hurting or even killing people - he is an out-and-out sadistic monster.
I have certainly been at the cinema when crowds of teenagers have a right good laugh at victims being ripped in two or faces being sliced off.
I am presuming that was the intention of Lars Klevberg's film and noting that it has more than quadrupled its outlay, I am presuming he succeeded.
As suggested, I need storyline and character exploration not just gallons of fake blood for my movie enjoyment.
Consequently, I loathed Child's Play because it failed to tick either of those boxes.


Reasons to watch: Slasher film fans might like its warped humour
Reasons to avoid: It is ghastly on so many levels

Laughs: None
Jumps: Two
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 2/10

Did you know? The real name of the original Chucky – Charles Lee Ray – is a combination of three infamous real-life villains: Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray.

Final word. Lars Klevberg: "I am determined to create my own Chucky in one way or another. I won’t shy away from, “Okay, this is my take on it, but at the same time, I love the first one and I wanted to try to keep the atmosphere and the absurd violence, some of the one-liners, something that makes sense for me.”

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