Child's Play (1988)

It is amazing how this film has become a cliche in such a short amount of time. I watched this tonight on the 20th Anniversary edition DVD which came out a couple of weeks ago. For some reason this is the first time it is available in widescreen format. That is terrible but shows how these kind of movies have been treated and are viewed by the film community. We will get into this type of thing more throughout the month because this happens to be the case with several films.

So we already know that this film gets no respect, probably not even from you. Rightfully so, this first film is much better than all of the others, but because MGM owns it, as opposed to Universal who owns the rest of the series, its DVD releases have been limited and not part of 2 different box sets that have been put out by Universal.

This film is notably darker than the rest of the series, and you can tell that they are actually trying for some sort of message against marketing to children. This is apparent from the way that Andy (Alex Vincent) wears a "Good Guy" outfit for most of the film, has Good Guy cereal, a Good Guy tool kit, and still isn't satisfied until he has a Good Guy doll. I know that the original intent of the first draft of the script was to be a lot more overt about this message, but once it got the studio treatment it was able to be molded into the unique piece of horror cinema that it is today.

Like it said before, it is considerably darker when compared to the rest of the series, maybe because it was by a decent director who at least knows his genre, Tom Holland. Having made Fright Night (1985) three years prior, he showed that he could sustain an above average reputation in the horror genre. However, he only directed what unfortunately has turned out to be the least seen of the series.

It had been quite awhile since I had seen this movie, considering I had been waiting for a widescreen DVD to show up. Now that I have been reunited with one of my favorites, I am reminded of how good it is. It is so unique, especially for the time in which it was made. At the height of the slasher film era for horror, this film came out did something no one else was doing. It is one of the few deviations from the slasher conventions set-up by past efforts like Halloween (1978) and Black Christmas (1974), another of course being A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). But what Child's Play does is gives you characters that you actually care about, uses uncoventional murder methods (not a single stabbing...technically), and incorporates a voodoo aspect that, though over the top, gives an excuse for the supernatural occurences.

What this all does is come together in a series of events that lead you into uncharted territory for an 80s horror film. In the end you are left with a mother and son and two police officers that defeat the killer doll. (Sorry to spoil it but you should be slapped if you haven't seen this already.) This is something that must have been mind-blowing twenty years ago. The slasher film is so famous for objectifying women and making one of them defeat the killer in the end that the term "final girl" was coined by Carol J. Clover in the book Men, Women, and Chainsaws (1992). Also, as Carol Clover would like to ignore, this film does not objectify women, in fact, there are no fallic symbols in the film.

As far as critical response for this film, Roger Ebert actually gave it a thumbs up. I can respect that. Gene Siskel gave it a thumbs down. I can respect that. What I can't respect is the people that get up-in-arms about the fact that the only minority in the film was cast as a victim. This wasn't done on purpose, the story is still believable, and white people died, too. If you are looking for racism in movies, you will always find a way to spin it in your favor. If you think this film is racist because of that, please don't watch it.

Finally, this film is great just because it is one of those movies that you can watch in a serious way, or as a joke. If you want to be scared by it, there's a good chance you will be; if you want to laugh at it, it gives you plenty of opportunity. Whatever you choose, just acknowledge that it is a well made film, that is unique. You may not think about it, but there is no other movie that is like this at all. Which brings us to tomorrow's film...