Child’s Play

Child’s Play

We feel like this movie perfectly captures the spirit of toys and gift-giving, even though it technically isn’t a Christmas movie. Child’s Play is a classic, and one of the longest running movie series of all time. We revisit this classic from 1988 starring Chris Sarandon.

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Child’s Play (1988)

Episode 107, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw

Craig:  Hello, and welcome to another episode of 2 Guys and a Chainsaw.

Todd:  I’m Craig. And I’m Todd.

Craig:  And we are out of, our request month. We are now into December. And this is a fun month for Todd and me because we like talking about holiday movies and, those types of things. And, we are finally getting around to a franchise that, I really like I don’t know that Todd is as big of a fan as I am, but, we decided to go with, child’s play for this week. And it’s not technically a Christmas movie, but it’s set in the winter, and there’s gift giving. It’s close enough. It’s close enough. Right? It has the Christmas spirit.

Todd:  Right? Right.

Craig:  Child’s Play came out in 1988. It was directed by Tom Holland who hasn’t really directed a lot. He’s kind of a jack of all trades. He’s an actor, a writer, a director, but he has directed Some notable things like Fright Night,

Todd:  which We love that movie.

Craig:  Yeah. We love that movie. He did dinner, which was okay.

Todd:  You know, he wrote one of my all time favorite movies that we’re never gonna do on this podcast because it’s not horror, but Cloak and Dagger. Do you know that one? Nope. Oh, man. That you gotta you gotta run out and watch that movie. We’ll pause the podcast. You’ll watch the movie. We’ll come back. It’s that good.

Craig:  Okay. I’ll take your word for it.

Todd:  Anyway, yeah, Tom Holland’s a great guy.

Craig:  Yeah. And it was written by Don Mancini. And Don Mancini is really he’s done other stuff, but he’s kind of known, for this franchise. He he wrote this first movie, and then, did did he write every movie in the franchise? I can’t remember.

Todd:  I think

Craig:  he had maybe

Todd:  He’s he’s either written or cowritten every other movie in this franchise.

Craig:  Right. And, he has directed some of the later ones. And this is a franchise this is one of the longest lasting horror franchises, period. I mean, they’ve got, Friday 13th beat. They’ve got I I think that maybe, technically, there are more Friday 13th movies. But what I like about this franchise is that they’ve stuck to the continuity. You know, a lot of franchises, they do reboots and remakes, and Then there are sequels to remakes and blah blah blah. And at one point in this franchise, they had considered rebooting it, you know, kinda starting fresh.   And that’s what they thought every well, that’s what everybody thought they were going to do with curse of Chuckie. And then curse of Chuckie ended up actually being a SQL that that stays true to the initial timeline, which I appreciate. And, You know, we can talk more about the sequels and things as we go along, but this is where it started. This is the 1st movie. It it came out in 1988, And I remember watching it when I was a kid. You know? I I don’t know when probably when it came out on HBO because we had HBO, and my dad taped stuff for us, on HBO. And, so I have seen this movie probably 100 of times. And, so I whether it be nostalgia or not, I have a big appreciation for this movie.   And sitting down to watch it Yesterday, I realized that, it’s probably been a good decade since I’ve actually sat down and watched this from start to finish. And, you know, in doing so, I I remember my appreciation for it. It’s a interesting, Fun, different, little slasher movie, and, I I like it.

Todd:  You know, I saw it when I was a kid too, but I couldn’t tell you when. I I mean, I wouldn’t have seen it in the theaters. 1988, my parents wouldn’t have taken me to see this. So you’re right. It was probably on TV. It was probably on HBO or something like that. But even then, when it was in the theaters, this was a Notorious film. I mean, I remember this film being about as notorious amongst us as kids as Friday 13th, As, like, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, The Dream Warriors.   Like, when it came out, it was a huge deal. And it was a huge deal also because As I remember, it was it was pretty controversial. Wasn’t it?

Craig:  Mhmm.

Todd:  Like, parents were up in arms about this movie, and it was on the news and all that, about how it might influence kids and and and be bad, like this idea. It’s funny because the whole idea of a killer doll is absolutely nothing new. Right. And we’ve seen it before in tons of even black and white films. I’m thinking the Twilight Zone episode with Talking Tino with Telly Savalas in it. Yep. There was a movie called, dead of night, I believe, a British movie, one of the earlier anthology movies from, like, the forties that has, like, a ventriloquist a talking ventriloquist doll, and I feel like Like that, the ventriloquist doll coming alive trope has happened, you know, a few times. I think even Tom Holland said that he was inspired by some of those earlier movies as well as what’s, what’s that made for TV movie? Trilogy of terrors with the little zoo doll running around.   So, what I read was that he got the idea that, you know, hey. It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these talking doll killer movies, and we haven’t been able to do it with all the latest updates and animatronics to make it really cool. And that kind of set him on the path as well as, the pop culture landscape at the time, which I mean, this was the era of the Cabbage Patch Dolls. This was the era of My Buddy. My buddy. My buddy. I

Craig:  I love it when you sing Todd. We can also.

Todd:  I’d sing the whole thing. You know? Like, we all know that song. Right? Like, we all remember this from that from that time. And, You know, Cabbage Patch Dolls was a huge phenomenon, and marketing to kids in general was a big thing. And and it It was also very controversial at this time. Like, this was the time like, I was a huge He Man guy, and this was the time that all the He Man cartoons were on TV, and those Dolls and those cartoons were explicitly, you know, 1 and 1 made to market toys to children. That with the GI Joes and the Transformers Was a huge, again, more huge controversy at the time, you know, that people are really taking advantage of and shouldn’t be targeting to children so much and making all these TV shows and and and toy crossovers that really are kind of manipulative, You know? Just to get parents to buy things. And my understanding is that Tom Holland’s father was an advertiser.   He knew all this full well, And that was also in his mind when he was developing this idea for this this movie.

Craig:  Yeah. That was kind of the inspiration, I guess. I mean, I think Originally, the, it was meant to be a satire of that, of all the marketing that was going on towards kids, and it just kind of, evolved into this horror movie. And and, you know, they started out with some different ideas. What we get basically is a possessed doll. And and the way that it’s played out in the movie is that it’s it’s possessed by this criminal who had some, knowledge of voodoo. Okay? But, originally, what it was supposed to be, I what I read, at least, was that, it was supposed to be this doll. And Tom Holland or Don Mancini I I think it was Don Mancini.   Remember, one of them in an interview confirmed that, yes, the design of this doll was based on the Cabbage Patch Kids, which were Crazy popular when we were kids when they first came out. Like, you know, like, many of our listeners might remember when Tickle Me Elmo came out, and, like, it was madhouse, and people were, like, beating other people to get their hands on this toy. I mean, that’s that’s what Cabbage Patch was like when we were kids. But as you said, it was clearly I mean, There’s no denying. You just can’t deny that this Chucky doll looks just like that freaking my buddy doll

Todd:  from It does.

Craig:  When we were kids, except it’s got red hair. I mean, it looks just like it.

Todd:  It does. It had

Craig:  to be inspired by it.

Todd:  It’s the same size and everything.

Craig:  Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And don’t even know why, as kids, we found that appealing. You know, like, I remember wanting one of those My Buddy dolls. I didn’t get one, and I applaud my parents for not falling for not falling victims to that stupid ad campaign because it was just this great big giant doll and, like, Who cares? But, the so I guess, originally, the concept was it was supposed to be like this kind of my buddy doll, And, it was supposed to like, it was it was gonna be it was made out of vinyl, but it could be injured, And it could be cut, and it would bleed. And then you would have to go to the store to buy these special my buddy Band Aids to, like, or whatever. And so the original concept

Todd:  It’s a totally adult for boys.

Craig:  I know. I I’m gonna I and I’ll keep saying my buddy. It’s not my buddy. It’s Goodguys. They’re Goodguys dolls. That’s right. But the The idea was that then you would have to buy these Band Aids. But whatever the original concept was that Andy, the kid in the movie, His doll that he got from his mom was gonna get injured.   And instead of getting it a Band Aid or whatever, he he made, like, a Blood Brother They’re packed with it. And the mixing of his blood and the doll’s blood caused this doll to come alive. And The, you know, the original concept of the movie, I just find really fascinating because it ends up being something totally different, which is good. I mean, I I like what it became, But the original concept is interesting too. It was, in the original concept, it was supposed to be much more of a mystery. Like, we were supposed to wonder, is this doll really doing things, or is Andy, the kid, really doing it and passing it off on the doll. And so there was a lot more intrigue and suspense and a lot less of us actually seeing the doll do things. Yeah.   And and I I think that that that concept is is an interesting concept. It didn’t end up being that, but Cool, nonetheless.

Todd:  Well, it’s a really interesting psychological concept, and I feel like there’s shades of that idea in this movie because That idea would have been, like, the doll or I think it was the doll was going to, like, basically kill all the people that Andy, Like, had a had a beef with, right, in the middle of the night. Like like, the babysitter or the teacher who, you know, harassed him and things like that. So it’s kind of a Right. Andy’s damaged psyche lashing out at the world, and and I feel like there’s just a grain of that still in this movie and that Andy, doesn’t have a father figure in his life. He’s, his mother is divorced, and it seems like, to me, anyway, the real appeal to Andy of having this doll. And it almost It almost seems very explicit, in the middle of the movie, or earlier in the movie where Andy has the doll in his bed, and It’s it’s after he’s received the doll, and the mother comes in and is kissing him good night and says, oh, do do you are you scared? Do you wanna come in and and sleep with me tonight? And he says, no. I don’t need to. I have Chucky.   And Mhmm. You know, he he’s she’s like, okay, and she leaves out. And I thought, oh, that’s interesting. It’s like Chucky is, like, Now the missing father figure, and maybe that’s why he wanted this doll so bad, is to sort of project, you know, this onto him. And so There it feels like there are little shades of that in this movie, but it doesn’t obviously, it’s a completely different it’s actually much more straightforward horror plot,

Craig:  the Yeah. Right. Right. And I I I read somewhere that, that the original plot was kind of then I don’t know If it was stolen or borrowed or whatever, but, it was used more for a movie called Pinocchio’s Revenge, Which sadly, I’ve seen. Oh,

Todd:  no. That looks like a really crappy movie. I I I hope it’s a box art for that. Does it have, like, a really crappy CGI and stuff?

Craig:  Yeah. It’s terrible. Oh, man. Oh god. I I haven’t seen it. It’s probably been 20 years since I’ve seen it, but, oh, it was bad. But, Anyway, if you wanna get that more psychological twist on it, watch that.

Todd:  Reveals revenge. But don’t but don’t request that we see it.

Craig:  Yeah. Please. Please. Please. You you sadomasochistic fans out there requesting things. Okay. So, anyway alright. So let’s get to this movie.   This movie okay. It starts out with a cop chasing a criminal down an alleyway, And this cop ends up being his name is Mike, and he’s played by Chris Sarandon, totally famous guy. He was, the principal villain in Fright night. He was the bad guy in Princess Bride. Totally recognizable. Great actor. And he’s chasing this, Criminal, whose name ends up being Charles Lee Ray, who is played by Brad Dourif. And Brad Dourif, I think, will Forever be known as the voice of Chucky.   Like, that is his legacy, and and rightfully so because he does it with Such glee, and, like, he’s just so freaking good at it, that, and that’s what when they talked about doing a remake or a reboot, Don Mancini was on board and said, you know, we can reboot this, but we have to keep Brad Dureth. There there’s nobody else that can can beat Chuckie, and I totally agree with that. But Brad Duroff, in his own right, is a really good actor. You’ve seen him in a bazillion things. He played a really super sympathetic character in Cuckoo’s Nest, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. He was a cop in the Halloween remake, but he’s been in a 1000000 things. He’s a great actor, but it just seems like he takes such delight in voicing this character. And I really I I think that he is probably 90% of why this franchise has lasted.   He’s just Endearing in this in this role even though he’s the villain. Like, he’s a super endearing villain. Wouldn’t you agree?

Todd:  Oh, yeah. He he’s a fantastic villain in this. And if the even when he gets into Chucky, the voice acting is is crazy. It’s just intense. Okay. It’s just intense. And and yeah. And and you really need a good villain at the beginning of this because he just comes across as an absolute evil guy, from the very beginning, just this first 5 minutes of the movie, you’re you’re totally convinced, that this guy is capable of of doing what he does.

Craig:  Okay. So the cop is chasing him. It’s funny. I read that there was an alternate ending. Apparently, there were all kinds of deleted scenes, alternate endings, alternate beginnings, and deleted scenes throughout, but, sup supposedly, these have been lost. Like Don Mancini says, you know, they they Just got rid of, all of the excess stuff when they did the editing. But initially, in the beginning, I I guess that Mike, the cop, Chris Sarandon, was dressed in drag, like posing as a prostitute to try to lure to try to lure this, Strangler. I don’t remember what they call them.   They call them, like, the east side stranglers. I don’t remember what they call them. Yeah. And but we Sadly, we don’t get, Chris Sarandon in drag. But if you watch carefully, in the very beginning, What we see is is the beginning of a chase. And if you watch carefully, you can see that, the cop throws a garment to the side. That was his drag dress, But that’s all we get of it. But he chases this guy, and it’s Charles Lee Ray.   Apparently, he’s got The criminal, has, like, a a cohort waiting for him, this guy named Eddie, Eddie Caputo. But when his cohort sees the cops, he takes off. Charles Lee Ray has no real choice but to break into this Toy store, where the cop follows him in. And it’s I don’t know. Nobody’s gonna care about this because Probably most of the people that listen to our podcast aren’t as old as us, but it was so nostalgic of me to see for me to see this eighties toy store

Todd:  Oh my god.

Craig:  Filled with Filled with all these toys that were real. Like, I remember these toys.

Todd:  They could have had all kinds of fake toys on the shelves, But they chose to put real toys on there. And the whole time in this scene, I spent most of the time looking at the background, looking at the foreground, Checking out all these toys. I even rewounded a little bit so I could watch it again.

Craig:  I did too. I mean, there was, like, dizzy dizzy dinosaur and, like, just so many.

Todd:  Like to 1 car. There was that, like Yeah. Game we all that the cool kids had. It was awesome.

Craig:  Just just so beautifully eighties.

Todd:  What was also so beautifully eighties was this whole, chase scene. Like, it’s it’s So Miami Vice. They’re outside Yes. Smoky wet streets in the dark, and they’re, like, jumping over cars and shooting at each other. And the accuracy of their guns is like They’re hold they have handguns, but the accuracy of their handguns from far away is just amazing.

Craig:  Yes. Oh, gosh. It’s great. It’s great. I mean, it’s it’s a it’s a picture of a different time, young lads and lassies out there. But, so Mike, the cop, gets a couple of shots in. Like, he, he shoots the bad guy a couple of times. And, Charles Lee Ray eventually realizes that he’s gonna die, and he’s like, oh, crap.   I’m dying. Like, he really says that. May maybe not the crap part.

Clip:  You heard that, you son

Todd:  of a bitch. It’s I mean, it gets you for it. I’m gonna get you, But I’m gonna get any no matter what.

Craig:  But he collapses in this pile of Good Guy dolls, and he looks the Good Guy dolls and has, like, this moment, and then he starts doing this voodoo thing that that carries throughout the, rest of the series.

Todd:  It’s so corny. It

Craig:  it is corny, but No. It’s not. Shut up. It’s the The sky is all dark.

Todd:  It’s like Ghostbusters when, the the, you know, the scene at the end, like, so these dark clouds billow in and lightning starts Dragging the building. It’s pretty dramatic voodoo.

Craig:  Oh, totally. And he’s chanting, and he’s got this, which I know because I say that a lot In my real life because you possess dolls. Yeah. But, and so so he does this chants, and then lightning strikes the whole store, and the whole store explodes. And the the cop gets blown out of the store, but then he comes back in and he sees that Charles Lee Ray is dead. And that’s the setup. And then we get to meet our main character who is Andy. Andy is played by this little kid called Alex Alex Vincent.   Now little kids in horror normally are super annoying. Regardless of how cute they’re supposed to be, they are usually super annoying. It’s usually super bad acting or, like, Totally trite and contrived and stupid. I love this kid.

Todd:  This kid is so sweet.

Craig:  He is so Sweet. He is just, like, the he’s got these huge doe eyes, and he should be annoying because he’s a kid. All kids are annoying. But He’s, like, he’s so endearing.

Todd:  They kinda play a trick on you, actually, I think, in the beginning, maybe to make him even more endearing. I think it works. Like, you know, when we’re first introduced to him, he’s watching TV, and he’s watching this this cartoon. It’s the good guys cartoon.

Craig:  Yeah.

Todd:  And he’s like, I already saw this. He in the meantime, he runs into the kitchen, and he dumps, like, a whole bowl of Good Guy cereal out. And then he gets, like, a thing of sugar and just starts Spooning sugar into it with milk, and then he burns some toast and throws that on the plate and dumps this huge scoop of butter, like, an ice cream scoop of butter onto the toast. And I’m watching this, and I’m thinking, oh, it’s one of those, like, Asshole kids. You know what I mean? Not much sugar. You know, whatever. But then he, like, puts it on a tray with some orange juice and walks into his mom’s room and wakes her up

Craig:  He’s a sweet kid, and it works. I I I think they just lucked out. I think they lucked out with this cute little kid. Had it been, It it could have been any other kid actor, and it could’ve just been so lame. But but You’re endeared to him from the beginning, and and you have to be, in order to enjoy the rest of the movie.

Todd:  Speaking of that scene, I’m sorry. I just have to point out these Details. Like, I loved how and, again, this is vestiges of that whole advertising thing, you know, apparent how they’re, like, Good guy branded things throughout, and there’s that Good guy cereal. But if you look really closely when he dumps the Good guy cereal out, like, it’s filled with, like, marshmallows, Yeah. They’re actually, like, these huge doll shaped marshmallows in the cereal. Ten times the size of any cereal marshmallow ever been. They crafted some doll shaped marginals to go in the cereal.

Craig:  But that was the eighties too. Nobody cared about No. When we were kids.

Clip:  I want that cereal back.

Todd:  I go on the shelves now, and I see all this it’s like, oh, all natural colors. And I’m like, Man, Captain Crunch just isn’t as bright as it used to be.

Craig:  Very true. Very true. And and and it is funny. Like, he’s watching the the good guy cartoon, which is so it could have been real. You know? Like, it was so reminiscent of the cartoons that we watched. And then it cuts immediately from the good guy cartoon to a good guy commercial where there’s this Man in this big, creepy, good guy

Todd:  suits. It’s awful.

Craig:  How did anybody ever think that that would be cool? I don’t know. I it like, it’s funny because when I was a kid, I wasn’t Scared of that stuff. And now as adults, I look at it, and I’m like, oh my god. That is so freaking creepy.

Todd:  There’s a lot of this whole good guy franchise that’s actually really creepy. Right. The guy is one of them for sure. But, you know, it’s it’s a pretty accurate depiction. I mean, it’s almost like Barney. You know?

Craig:  Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It’s exactly the way things were in the eighties and even in the early nineties too. It turns out it’s Andy’s birthday, And there are gifts wrapped for him. And, I guess, apparently, this Good Guy franchise has been going on for a while, but they’re just now releasing the dolls. And the dolls can can talk, and they can say 3 sentences. And Andy’s watching the commercial, and he looks over at his presence. And one of the presents is this great big box that it like, he smiles at it.   Like, it’s just so cute like, I’m getting a good guy doll. But he goes and wakes up his mom, and, she’s nice. Her name is Karen. She’s played by Katherine Hicks, who’s also been in tons of stuff. Probably most notably, she was the mom in 7th heaven for, like, 500 years. But she’s been in lots of stuff, and she’s she’s endearing as well. Her her acting gets a little melodramatic about halfway through the movie,

Clip:  but But

Craig:  but she’s nice.

Todd:  Yeah. She’s nice. She’s she’s a mom.

Craig:  She’s concerned about her son. Right? Yeah. So he opens his presents, and it turns out that the big box is actually just a box of clothes, and he’s visibly upset. And She and she gives him a Goodguys toolbox, and he’s like, well, that’s nice, but I wish I had a good guy to go with it. And she says, I I know, but I didn’t know about it in time, to save up for it this month, but I’ll I’ll get you one at some point. And then we cut to her at work. Apparently, she’s a single mother. You said she was divorced.   I don’t think she’s divorced. I think she’s a widow.

Todd:  Yeah. I think you’re right.

Craig:  The reason that I say that is because I hadn’t noticed this before I read stuff about the movie. But if you, In their apartment, there are these several 8 by 10 headshots of some gentleman Who I assume is supposed to be Andy’s dead dad.

Todd:  You have a way with words, Craig.

Clip:  You really do.

Craig:  But, you know, you feel for her. She’s trying. It it’s also funny because, you know, like, she’s supposed to be down on her luck. She can’t afford this doll. Meanwhile, they live in one of the most beautiful Chicago apartments I’ve ever seen. Like, I lived in Chicago briefly, and I lived in a pretty nice apartment. It was pretty nice. And, of course, that was early 2000, but that apartment was, like, $1200 a month.   This apartment that they live in Has to be, like,

Todd:  12,000 bucks a month.

Craig:  It it’s you know,

Todd:  I thought initially it was the Bradbury building, Which has been in a 1000000000 movies and looks a ton like this. But actually, it and and there were bees all over the place, in the wrought iron work and whatnot. Uh-huh. But actually, it’s a Different old classic Chicago building.

Craig:  So they live in this fantastic building, but apparently, they’re also down on their luck. And the mom works at a jewelry counter in a department store. And she’s working there, and her friend Maggie, comes in and says

Clip:  You know that doll that you wanted for Andy? Will it cost $100? Yeah. The good guy doll. There’s a peddler in the alley behind the store, And I think he’s got 1. What? What would a pet would be doing with the dog? Who cares? Would you grab your purse and come on? We can get a deal on it.

Craig:  I just think it’s kinda funny, like, Maggie, the friend, like, She just kinda shops in the alley before she comes to work just

Clip:  to see

Craig:  just to see maybe, You know, they’re already good deals or whatever.

Todd:  I think it’s I think it’s cute how they use the word peddler Throughout this film, I’m thinking peddler. Like, I think of that like like Charles Dickens maybe. There’s Right. Down the street. Right. Or, like, He looked like a peddler just opening his pack. That is where this the movie crosses over at Christmas, by the way, is the constant use this word peddler that I don’t think anybody has used since the, 19th century except in this film. They keep saying it over and over again.   I would have said, there’s a bum in the back. Right. Right.

Craig:  I might say hobo, but that’s that

Todd:  You’re just as bad as peddler.

Craig:  Oh, god. But Maggie and and Maggie is played by Dina Manoff, who people will also recognize. I always recognized her, but I was always always kinda like, where is she From. Eventually, I think that I remembered her. She was like the dorky sister from empty nest, but I always forget that she was in Greece too. She was, she was Marty from Grease.

Clip:  Oh.

Craig:  And and You’re right. Cute. She’s cute and funny in this movie. I like her. She’s like the sassy best friend. She

Todd:  is. She kinda reminded me a little bit of, like, Carrie Fisher’s

Craig:  later roles. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Quirky, fun, tough. So they go out there, and and this Creepy hobo has, one of the Good Guy dolls, and so she buys it for $30.

Todd:  It’s a $100 doll. Now this part’s totally accurate, by the way.

Craig:  Oh, yeah. Definitely. Totally not worth $100. Totally, you know, just priced based on the hype. But, anyway, so she gets it. But then when she gets back, her Grumpy eighties boss is mad at her and tells her that she has to work late. She can go home for a couple hours, but she has to come back. And, Maggie says, it’s okay.   Well, I’ll babysit for you. So, the mom goes home, and and she gives Andy the doll. And, of course, he’s absolutely thrilled. But then she has to go back to work, and, Maggie is babysitting. And then that’s where things Start to get interesting.

Todd:  To be honest, this doll is creepy from the get go. Let’s be honest about that. This doll can actually, open its eyes and say these phrases, but it also moves its mouth and moves its eyes when it does it, which is I think it’s it’s kinda cool because they’re very Skillful at when they choose to do this with the doll and when they don’t. I really think there’s some good choices being made here in the judicious use of the special effects by by, Tom Holland’s crew or Kevin Joerger who did the doll. This guy did, the Crypt Keeper from the Tales From Crypt TV series. And, apparently, he used the eyes from this original Chucky doll for the crypt keeper.

Craig:  That’s right. That. I did.

Todd:  It’s so crazy. We’re so good. We’re so good at reading things online.

Craig:  I know. And then he ended up marrying Katherine Hicks

Clip:  who plays

Craig:  Tom in this movie. From this movie.

Todd:  Right? So, anyway, yeah, they’re at home. He’s all excited about the doll, and he’s talking with the doll, and he’s whispering things with the doll. And, you know, just like a kid plays with the doll. It’s like the doll’s talking to him, but we know, oh my gosh. Maybe the doll’s talking with him. So there are times when the adult actually opens its mouth and talks, but when it opens its mouth and talks, it says these stock phrases. It seems like it can activate whenever, like it’s voice activated or something. It just kinda comes on when it wants to, which is also pretty creepy.   But then you get the sense that it’s whispering things to him under its breath without moving anything. Mhmm. That we know that because we’ve seen, you know, the ads for this movie before we go watch

Clip:  it.

Todd:  The doll says to Andy that he wants to watch the 9 o’clock news. And, of course, Maggie thinks this is just a ruse to get, for Andy to stay up later. She says, no. You’re not. You’re gonna go to bed. What has been on the news before she flipped the the channel off, was the report that Eddie, Charles Lee Ray’s cohort, who skipped town, had actually run off and had gone somewhere. Puts him to bed. And at first, I thought she was putting this kid to bed fully closed, Oh, with shoes and everything.   But it turns out that this kid’s this kid’s been in his pajamas, like, all day long, which looked like the Good Guy doll. And they even have, like, Pajama sneakers

Craig:  Yeah.

Todd:  Which is strange, but okay. I’ll run with it. She goes back in, and she’s, Like, doing some fixing something in the kitchen, and she hears the TV turn back on. And when she turns back around and looks in the living room, there is the doll sitting and watching the television, which she, of course, assumes is something funny that the kid did, Andy did. So she grabs the doll, turns off the TV, goes into the room, scolds him. Andy denies it. Blah blah blah blah blah. And then we just get a scene, that we’re expecting where she’s sitting, reading a novel.   It’s all quiet in the house. There’s this movement, and we get these POV shots, which, you know, everything is the doll sneaking around, blocks the front door. And she goes into the kitchen. She thinks it’s Andy. There’s flour spilled on the floor of the kitchen. She picks up a pot of plant, goes and there’s nothing behind it. And suddenly, she as she turns around, a big hammer. Now this is a hammer from I think it’s the the hammer from the good guy toolset.

Craig:  It is.

Todd:  Yeah. So apparently, this GoodGuide toolset has a real hammer. Get in there. Okay. It’s a different time. Toys were a little less safe back then, but, anyway, it goes into her face, and she flails back It slips on the flower in this kind of Rube Goldbergian manner, ends up Catapulting out the window of this you know, I don’t know. It’s, like, 8 stories up in this building, falling out the window down to her death, on top onto a car. And so that’s the 1st kill of the movie, and, Andy’s asleep through the whole thing.   The next thing we have Is the mother coming home to police around her apartment running upstairs? It turns out it’s her apartment, And there’s a detective. There’s happens to be Chris Sarandon.

Craig:  The same detective. The only detective in Chicago.

Todd:  In Chicago. Yeah. He does it all. He chases and shoots the criminals, and then he investigates, you know, deaths, Apparently, it’s kinda funny that this woman would get home before she realizes that there are cops all through in and throughout her apartment with her kid, but, yeah,

Craig:  That’s what happened. And I I don’t wanna dwell on it too much because we still got a lot of plot to cover. But that first kill is my favorite one because It’s it’s it’s very Hitchcockian. Like Yeah. You get the POV shots and you, you you know, you don’t See the killer. You just kind of see her take the hammer to the face from kind of a POV kind of perspective, and, then she goes flying out the window. It’s it’s it’s kinda old school murder thriller, and and I really like that.

Todd:  It is. And we and the thing is we don’t see Hardly anything of the doll.

Craig:  Right. Nothing at this point.

Todd:  Clearly the doll because we see little flashes of it, but that’s about it. I mean, barely a hand or anything. It’s Just a hammer.

Craig:  And then okay. So then the the cops come and they’re investigating, and there’s the good guy footprints in the flour that was spilled, in the kitchen. And so The the cop is suspicious of Andy. And, you know, this, I think, is kind of the remnants of what was initially intended, where you’re not supposed to know if it’s really the doll or if it’s really Andy. I mean, we know it’s the doll. It it was like you said before, in the advertising, it was clear. You know? It’s it’s not like they were trying to hide anything from us. So then so after the mom gets rid of the cops, and, she hears Andy talking in his room.   So she goes in there to talk to him, and, she’s like, who are you talking to? And she’s like, Chuckie. And she’s and the mom’s like, oh? He’s like, yeah.

Clip:  Chuckie’s been talking to you too, hasn’t he? What’s he been saying?   All kinds of things. His real name is Charles Lee Ray, and he’s been sent down From heaven by daddy to play with me.   Yeah. Cassy. Anything else?   Yes. He said that Maggie was a real bitch and got what she deserved.   That’s why I’m saying that line.

Craig:  Oh my god. It’s just so funny to hear that little cute kid deliver it.

Todd:  So funny. Kid. Oh, it it it’s Oh. Fun.

Craig:  And she’s like, don’t say that. She’s like, I know you’re just upset because of what happened, but don’t say that. And he’s like, oh, okay. Okay. So then we cut to the next day where the mom takes Andy and Chucky to school, which I also think is hilarious because who would let their kid take a doll that’s the same size as the kid To school. But

Clip:  Greg.

Craig:  But but the filmmakers answer that question by showing us that other kids are also carrying in their Good Guy dolls.

Todd:  That’s right. There’s a in the background with a giant teddy bear just to let us know that the world is filled with just Good Guy dolls, but kids are still allowed to take huge, dolls to school.

Craig:  Yeah. That’s frowned upon, young parents.

Todd:  Please do

Craig:  not send your kids to School with their huge toys. Anyway okay. So she takes them there, but as soon as she leaves, Andy sneaks out. And, of course, the implication is that Chuckie is telling him to do all these things. And then it’s like baby’s day out where, like, Andy, like, He gets on the l and, like, he takes the l all through Chicago and, like Somehow. No nobody questions him. He doesn’t have to buy a ticket. Nothing.   He, like so he takes the l to the ghetto.

Todd:  He takes the l to bum town. You’re right. It’s the it’s the typical movie bum town.

Craig:  Listen. Again, I’ve lived in Chicago, and there are Places that you don’t wanna get off on the l. But I I I don’t I don’t recall seeing people standing around, You know, trash can fires. I I I guess that was the eighties. I don’t know. Anyway, So what ends up happening is that Chuckie leads Andy to Eddie Caputo, his his partner, his cohorts place.

Todd:  His his rat infested

Craig:  House. Right. There’s so many rats. Which also is like a 3 story apartment that you just Just Squats in. Right?

Todd:  There’s so many rats in this place that, like, dishes and pots are moving on the on the counters and in the sink.

Craig:  Right. And so Andy needs to pee, so he

Clip:  goes and pees.

Craig:  And to tinkle. Think Yeah. He needs to tinkle. And, my fave one of my favorite parts of this movie, and it’s so silly, is, like, When Andy is peeing, he, like, shouts back over his shoulder, and all of a sudden, he’s like a 30 year old man. He’s like, you okay, Chucky? Like like pulling his weeder out and peeing in the snow has has made him Super more masculine and mature.

Todd:  Hey. This man has crossed a a threshold into adulthood already. He’s he’s ridden the l. He’s in bum town. He’s out on his own for the 1st time. He’s taking his 1st piss in the snow. Of course, he’s gonna sound like a grizzly.

Craig:  And this is the part, like, you actually see Chucky’s hands opening doors and stuff. Like, there’s no question at this point that it’s the doll. And Chucky He turns on the gas on the stove and blows out the pilot light, and Eddie comes down because he hears noise. And Eddie he ends up.

Todd:  Eddie’s an idiot, man. Eddie just basically runs from room to room shooting at nothing.

Craig:  Right. He has zero dialogue. Like, this man never speaks in the whole movie. He just runs around and shoots his gun.

Todd:  It’s like a 45 Magnum or something.

Craig:  Yeah. It’s huge. And so the house blows up. I guess because of the explosion, the cops were alerted, and they get Andy and bring him back to the cop station. And then they call in his mom who didn’t even know that he was gone from school. I mean, come on, school. You’re not even gonna tell the mom the kid didn’t show up or whatever?

Todd:  It was the eighties. We did this all the time. You know?

Craig:  Nobody cared.

Todd:  1st viewers day off, you’ve seen this stuff. Nobody cared. Documented in eighties films that we could do this all

Craig:  the time. So the mom comes to the police station, and and she ends up alone with, Andy. And and she’s like, nobody believes you. Chucky is not real. If you don’t tell the truth, they’re gonna take you away, which is what happens. Well, it’s it’s cute because because Andy has this little outburst against Chucky. He’s like, come on. Say something.   Do it. Do it. And then, like, when the doll doesn’t say anything, this little kid and I had to give him so much credit because He really acts like a real little kid. Like, he gets really mad. Like, he starts beating up the doll. Like, you asshole say something. They’re gonna take me away.

Todd:  It is a bit bit of a change of heart for Andy.

Craig:  But Chuckie doesn’t say anything, so they immediately take they send Andy to the loony bin,

Clip:  This is hilarious. This is hilarious.

Craig:  We we don’t see the loony bin until about 20 minutes later, but when we do, it’s like Prison.

Clip:  It was No. It’s worse

Todd:  than prison. It’s like an abandoned prison. Like, the paint is falling off the walls, and it’s God. Big metal bars in the hallways and things. It’s terrible.

Clip:  It oh my gosh.

Craig:  It’s hilarious. Talked about that. Yeah. But that it leads okay. So the mom has to go home without her kid, and she’s mad too, you know, about this whole situation. And so she yells at Chucky likes, say something, you bastard. And, of course, he doesn’t say anything because he’s a doll. But then she goes and and looks at the box, I guess, to look at the specs or whatever for this doll.   Well, I I thought that she turned it upside down, but she didn’t. It’s just like miraculously, the batteries just fall out of the bottom of the box, which makes her realize that the batteries aren’t in the doll. And that this this scene is my Favorite scene of the whole movie, and I feel like it’s it’s it’s kind of iconic. I love this scene.

Todd:  You know, it it actually draws from some of those earlier movies. You know? It’s the same kind of reveal where this doll that’s been talking this whole time, because that’s a feature, You know, it turns out, oh, that, you know, it doesn’t have the batteries in it or whatever. As soon as she sees this, the doll’s head spins around and yells at her.

Clip:  Hi. I’m Chuck. Fuck you wanna play?

Todd:  I don’t know how many times that, as kids in the schoolyard, we quoted this even we didn’t have to see the movie. Somehow we all knew this line was in the movie. It was, like, in the trailers or something. It just brought me back to my childhood. As she screams and drops the doll and it rolls under the sofa, So she gets down, and she lifts the flap on the sofa, and she can see the doll. She pokes it a few times, and it doesn’t do anything. She pokes it a couple more times. Finally, she Pulls the doll out, and then she starts yelling at it, runs to the fireplace, pulls a thing of matches off the top, lights a match on the fireplace and drops it in there.   Turns the gas on, drops it in there. So the fireplace is going. She holds it up.

Clip:  I said talk to me, dammit, else I’m gonna throw you in the fire.

Todd:  You stupid bitch, you filthy slut. Where the hell did you fuck with me?

Craig:  Up until this point, It has been this totally annoying but cute faced doll. And at this point, the face just turned super ugly and mean. Like, it’s clearly a different prop.

Todd:  It’s shocking. I mean, it’s pretty darn scary. Just It is. Abruptness of everything happening at once. I mean, you you see it coming, but you don’t expect it like that. You you just don’t expect it to be that that harsh. And so, yeah, it’s scary. Now then we then we kind of go into you know, we’ve talked about this in puppet master before, the sort of weird doll Physics that are suddenly in play Right.   Right. Doll movies. She’s struggling with this doll that she’s also holding. Right. But, anyway, you gotta overlook that, and it’s trying to attack her. The doll pulls out a knife from somewhere. Now please help me. Where did this knife come from? Because it’s a really iconic knife.   It was it also in the tool set?

Clip:  I don’t know. No.

Todd:  It’s like it’s like red on the side, and it has, like, Stripes up it? I mean, it is not a knife from the kitchen. No. It’s, like, decorative. It’s like a decorative dagger or something. Right.

Clip:  Where did

Todd:  that come from?

Craig:  I don’t know. Oh my gosh. I don’t know. But Thought she does. Got one, and it’s scary.

Todd:  You didn’t read this on the Internet somewhere?

Craig:  No. I didn’t read anything about the knife. It’s so funny because it’s an excellent question and one that never had really even crossed my mind. I mean, that’s That’s just his good guy knife. He probably had it. He probably had it. Whole time. Right.   It was in his good guy belt The whole time, you know, it was like a little fun surprise for kids to find later.

Todd:  Yeah. Like, thanks for the good guy, mace. Right? The Good Guy Sleeping Pills.

Craig:  And and then the movie moves on to the detective part of the movie. And This happens a lot in horror movies, and it it it gets a little old sometimes. It doesn’t bother me in this because it’s really fast paced, and it happens, You know, everything happens pretty quickly. It’s not drawn out too much. Andy’s in the mental hospital, and so now it’s the mom trying to figure everything out. And so I feel like first, she goes to the cop, and and she’s like, The doll is real, and he’s like, no. It’s not. And she’s like, yes.   It is. Look. It bit me. And he’s like, oh, well, whatever. And so then she goes back to find the peddler that sold it to her, and she does

Todd:  Don’t go with that part of town at this time of night. You can’t do it. I’m gonna go do it. She runs off and does it. So, she finds him.

Craig:  Right.

Todd:  And then he almost rapes her. But then Chris Sarandon comes in because, like, he’s cracking her. Yep. The whole time. They find out from the peddler that the doll the where the peddler got the doll from was the burned out Toy shop, and that startles Mike. Not enough to make him believe that all this weird stuff is actually happening. Right. So he drops her off at the apartment.   She’s yelling at him, and finally, he he drives off, and it Turns out that Chucky has made its way into his car because as he’s driving, the doll comes from the back seat and throws a I think they were, like, jumper cord cables, probably from the trunk or something over his neck and start strangling him. And then we have a I thought it was a really cool scene too where he’s in the car Speeding down the road, Chucky strangling him, and then he gets free of the strangulation, but then Chucky has his knife, and he’s trying to stab him through the seat in various places. And Chuckie’s Chuckie’s aim is really terrible. I mean, you’ve only gotta you’ve only gotta get this guy who’s smack dab in the middle of the driver’s seat, and he seems to stab Everywhere but that. And, also, Chris Sarandon really needs to just, like, stop driving the car. And, like Right.

Craig:  Like, hit the brakes, dude.

Todd:  He ends up getting under the seat and put pushing the gas pedal to force him to go further, and and they end up, flipping over. And then he’s Inside the car and you

Craig:  know what? I feel like I

Todd:  haven’t really seen this in many movies either where there’s a guy inside a crashed car upside down kind of trapped in there, And the Chucky is running around the car and try and kinda tormenting him. Mike has the gun, and he’s shooting at Chucky. And finally, Chucky just kinda sorta leaves, doesn’t he?

Craig:  Well, it’s because okay. So first, Mike burns him with the cigarette lighter. Then he shoots at him, and Chucky says, it doesn’t matter because you can’t hurt me anyway. But then Mike does shoot him, and it does hurt him, which makes Chucky run away, which kinda leads into the next That’s right. Apparently okay. So now Mike believes the mom, so he goes back to her. Meanwhile, She’s been investigating. All of this gets a little bit contrived in this part.

Todd:  Yeah. Because, Mike then goes into the office at the police station and decides to pull Ray’s file.

Craig:  And she

Todd:  goes back to Karen. He says, I decided to pull Ray’s file, and I learned a few things. His nickname was Chuckie, And, he hung out with a guy named John, who was

Craig:  a voodoo guy.

Todd:  At this point, I’m thinking, really? I I got the sense from the beginning of the movie that this was, like, a guy that you tracked and chased down. Like, he was your nemesis for a little while. So why did you have to go and pull his file to learn these 2 very extremely basic facts about him. But, anyway

Craig:  Right. And so Chucky goes to the voodoo guy.

Todd:  I didn’t think anybody could hurt me. But last night, I got shot. You know something? It hurt. It hurt like a son of a bitch. It even bled. And why is that, John?

Craig:  You’re turning human. What? The more time you spend in that body, the more human you become. Chuck, he’s like, well, tell me how to fix and the voodoo guy’s like, no. I’m not going to. I’m gonna call the police. So he goes to run to call the police, but Chucky pulls out a voodoo doll of the guy. He, like, breaks the leg. Like, he’s Torturing this guy through the voodoo doll or whatever.   And so the guy reveals to him, you have to Do the ritual with the 1st person that you revealed yourself to, and then your soul will transfer into his body. And Chuckie laughs and was like, The 1st person I told my secret to is a 6 year old kid. I’m gonna be 6 again. Meanwhile, the mom and Mike like, it’s just it’s funny. Like, it didn’t bother me in the movie. Like, it didn’t bother me at all. Talking about it, it sounds super contrived, but the mom and the cop are just always 1 step behind him. Like They Like, they

Todd:  burst in As this guy’s dying, and Chucky’s already left. Yeah.

Craig:  Right. And, so the voodoo guy’s, like, protect the boy protects the boy. So they take off to the hospital, but, of course, Chucky’s already gotten there. Andy in this Prison, a mental institution. I mean, there’s bars on the window. The floors are concrete.

Todd:  Like He’s got nothing in his room. He’s on clearly, like, a prison bed.

Craig:  He’s still wearing his coat. Like, it’s cold. Like, it’s ridiculous. He’s, like, rattling the bars of the door. Like, let me out. Let me out. He sees Chuckie coming, And he, you know, he rattles the door and is like, let me out. Let me out.   And I, actually, I really liked that scene because this The poor little kid

Clip:  But Chuckie is here, but he’s going to gooey.

Todd:  It’s heartbreaking. It’s Yes. Terrifying.

Craig:  I don’t know how they got this kid into this place, and I hope that He was okay afterwards, but, like, he was clearly really upset and crying and scared. He did a really good job. Good job, Alex, whatever your name is, Alex Vincent. Good job. I’m impressed. But then there’s a whole deal where Chuckie chases Andy through the mental hospital, and the doctor ends up kind of restraining Andy and

Todd:  In the operating room or something like that at this

Craig:  medical hospital. Which looks, again, looks like an insane asylum like It looks like the observatory room.

Todd:  Like, lobotomies in there.

Craig:  So Right. But, fortunately, Chuck, The the the doctor is trying to sedate Andy, but Andy’s kinda fighting. Fortunately, Chucky shows up and, Kills the guy. He puts an electroshock thing on his head and shocks him to death, and the doctor’s, like, bleeding from his mouth and his eyes. And, again, another something that made it so scary was that Andy, this little kid is watching this happening, and he’s just saying, stop. Stop. Stop. Like, it’s It’s horrifying.   But to think of this little kid witnessing this.

Todd:  But on the other hand, it felt like they were reaching for another I mean, this isn’t like Friday 13th.

Clip:  This

Todd:  is not the kind of movie that requires Chucky to have lots of creative different ways of killing people instead of just running over with the scalp he has in his hand and just, like, stabbing him a few times.

Craig:  I actually remembered this scene as being from one of the sequels because it’s much more characteristic of the sequels, these kind of creative kills. Premeditated kind of thing. Right. Right. Yeah.

Todd:  This was certainly not premeditated enough for for this to happen. Yeah.

Craig:  Right. Andy runs away, and then 5 seconds later, the mom and the cops show up at the The hospital. And they’re like, where’s Andy? The cop’s partner who just pops in every once in a while. He’s like, oh, it seems like Andy killed the doctor, and then he ran off. And so Mike, the cop, is like, well, where would he have gone? And she said he wouldn’t have gone home. That’s where I always told him to go. And so we see immediately that Andy is home, and he’s trying to, like, barricade the door and stuff. And we know that the mom and the cop are on their way to help, but he’s by himself for now.   And that leads to the final showdown. And The final showdown plays out pretty much exactly as you would expect it to, but at the same time, I Found it very satisfying. Like

Clip:  Yeah.

Craig:  It’s a lot it’s a lot of chasing. It’s a lot of surprise I got you kind of stuff, But, it just it worked out for me. He chases Andy around, the mom and the he knocks Andy out With the baseball bat, he starts to do the ritual. The clouds and the lightning come back, but the mom and the cop interrupt, and then, he knocks the cop out. But then the best part is when the mom gets Chucky into the fireplace and she’s She’s got her back pinned so that the he’s held in there by the fireplace grate. She can turn the gas on, but she knocks the matches off, and she can’t get them off. And she’s like, Andy, help me. Help me.   Andy’s basically frozen, but then he comes over and he gets the match, and he strikes the match. And immediately, Chucky reverts back to his dull voice and says, Andy, no. Please. We’re friends to the end. Remember?

Clip:  This is the end, friend.

Craig:  Oh god. I can’t tell you how many times sister and I said that

Clip:  to each other growing up.

Craig:  Did you did you lock

Todd:  each other in the fireplace too as you

Craig:  were doing it? We, She was the crazy one.

Clip:  Mhmm.

Craig:  That’s a that’s a story for another day. Chucky’s all burnt up, and he jumps out of the fireplace and is, like, running around the apartment, setting the furniture on fire, which they never addressed No one.

Clip:  Like, this apartment should

Todd:  be, like, in flames. Yeah. The fires

Craig:  just went out on their own. But He burns up and he falls down, and he’s apparently dead, which is one of the first of few false I I have to admit, like,

Todd:  at this point, I was ready for the movie to be over. Like, oh, that was nice. That was a really big finale. And would have been better if they’d left it there. And it had to bring in it had to bring in his his stupid detective friend. He shows up later, And Mike is like, the doll the doll came alive and attacked us. And he’s like, yeah. Right.   He’s like, well, go out in the hallway. He’s there, but don’t touch anything. And so the guy goes out. Sure enough, the doll’s all burned up in pieces in the hallway, and the first thing he does is pick up the head. And he looks at it, and he toss it back and forth. Then he comes in like a jokester, and he’s like, Here’s your doll. Talk to it. Look.   Don’t tell me it can talk to you. Blah blah blah blah blah. And then out of the grate in the wall?

Craig:  Yeah. The vent. Yeah. The vent in

Todd:  the wall? This arm comes out and grabs him and starts to strangle him?

Craig:  Yes. Somehow the yeah. Somehow, Chuck E. Body got into the vents or something. Yeah. It’s dumb.

Todd:  And then he flops around again like, oh, this doll’s attacking me. Well, just Drop it.

Clip:  Right. To throw it off of you.

Todd:  But, of course, Mike is is too incapacitated by his leg to do anything. And, Anyway, then there are the and it turns out that, the mother grabs the gun and shoots Chuckie a few times

Craig:  Right.

Todd:  Through the heart.

Craig:  Which is what the Voodoo guy said she had to do. And and apparently, that’s, you know, Chucky’s dead, and they all walk out. And the last shot is of little Andy kind of, You know, looking back through the door to see him. I don’t know. You know, I I really liked this movie when I was a kid. I watched it over and over and over again. And sitting down to watch it again, I still like it. You know, as far as slasher movies go

Todd:  Yeah. It’s solid.

Craig:  Especially slasher movie yeah. Slasher movies from the eighties is pretty good, and it sounds like such a silly premise. And the premise has been used Over and over again, dolls, demonic toys, puppet master, you know, like all these killer doll movies, have been around. And now there’s even kind of, I guess, a resurgence with, like, Annabelle, and whatnot. But, This one just it’s good. I like it. It’s a good movie, and and I think that that is in large part due the to the fact that Chuckie is such A fun character to work with.

Todd:  That’s that’s what that’s what really saves this movie, I think. That and the kid, the kid’s acting.

Craig:  And, you know, it became a franchise. It did it did really well. It made $44,000,000 on a $9,000,000 budget. 44,000,000, As far as blockbusters are concerned, it’s not that great. But on a 9,000,000 budget, that’s pretty darn good. And so, of course, they went forward with sequels. 2, I really liked. I thought it was really good.   3 was Okay, but I still liked it. They kinda took a turn after 3 and went more for the comedy with Bride of Chucky. And Bride of Chucky is a fun movie. It’s not scary

Clip:  No.

Craig:  In any way, shape, or form. I’ve seen Bride of Chucky. It’s funny.

Todd:  That’s the one with Jennifer Tilly in it. Right? Yeah. Uh-huh. I thought it was I thought it was great. I really enjoyed it, actually, but you’re right. It’s not funny at all. It’s almost like They kind of take the turn that Freddy took, right, where Chuckie just becomes more of this almost likable villain who’s equip equipping one liners and is is Right. Doing horror hijinks.

Craig:  Yeah. And I and I love Jennifer Tilly. You know, I think she’s hilarious and she’s great in that movie. Then with, Seed, they went even further with the comedy almost too far for me. I don’t love that movie. It’s got its moments that are really, really funny. But it was I think that generally speaking, the fans weren’t particularly pleased with Seed. And so that’s when they started talking about, well, are we gonna continue on with sequels, or are we gonna reboot it? Because it seems like the fans want us to get back to scary Chuckie.   The the rumor was that they were rebooting it, but then cursed came out and surprise, surprise, if you watch it all the way through to the end, it’s not a a reboot. It is in fact a sequel, and it is in fact keeping with the continuity of the entire series. And I loved it. Oh my God, I loved C. R. S. So much. And then the most recent one was cult.   Cult of Chucky, which continued on with kind of the dark tone of curse, but they threw at you So many twists and turns and curve balls in that movie. I loved it too. And, Mancini apparently has more in store. You know? He’s got ideas for future installments. And based on Curse and Cult, I’m really looking forward to them. I it’s just fun. It’s just a fun franchise. It’s not Serious.   It’s it’s clever. It’s jokey. It’s funny. It’s violent. I I’d I’m a big fan.

Todd:  And they’ve main Correct me if I’m wrong, but they’ve throughout, they’ve really maintained a commitment to the animatronics. Right? And they They haven’t done, like, CGI and stuff for, which is part of the charm of I even think the the original movie, part of what makes it so charming is, the special effects to the animatronics are really quite good. And I feel like with a colored doll movie, you kinda have to do that. You know? You have to have Mhmm. Real life animatronics because it’s gotta have that that look and that feel of The a doll, but, you know, animatronics, no matter how good they are, always a little stilted.

Clip:  Yeah. Yeah.

Todd:  But that works really well for a doll that’s come to life. It’s going to be stilted. It’s gonna be stretching in unnatural ways, as the human form or whatever inside of it It’s kinda pushing and pulling against the plastic, you know, outer shell of it. It just it just really works, and like we said earlier, those moments in this movie Where the happy doll turns into the suddenly the evil doll. They are really shocking in part and parcel because of those special effects.

Craig:  Yep.

Todd:  And, and I loved it. I loved it here. I thought it was gonna look dated. I thought it was gonna look bad, but it doesn’t. It it really still works today. And even though it’s a It’s kind of a silly movie, premise wise. Sure. It still it still hits you, I think, in all the right places for most of it.   You know? The kid, like we said, is just Heartwarming, and you really care about him, and you really feel like he’s scared, and the doll’s really sinister, and you just feel like He’s gonna come at them no matter what. That you can really overlook some of the silliness in the in the movie just like you will overlook the silliness in so many, you know, slash films. So, you know, I really liked it and enjoyed it. I probably end up watching since you’re such a big fan, I’ll probably end up watching more of them myself as well, And maybe we’ll do more of them on on the on the series. You know?

Craig:  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you really should. I mean, I I understand The people who are not fans of Pride and, Seed because it it really just goes for dark comedy. You know, that that’s all it is. It’s a joke, and it’s meant to be a joke. And so I get it when people are turned off by that. But I don’t know.   You know, as far as the the continuity of the the series, this came out in 1988. Here we are in 2017, and they’re still Pumping out these movies. It’s special. There’s there’s no other, franchise that has really sustained itself, for that long.

Todd:  And and it’s the same people involved. Right? I mean, right down to many of the same actors, certainly the same writer, you know, is behind it. It’s That’s impressive, too.

Craig:  Another reason that I like it is because that’s rewarding as somebody who’s been a fan. Like in, in the most recent 2, they have brought back some of the original actors. Alex Vincent, the little boy from the 1st movie, and he was in the 2nd movie also, but, He’s back now as an adult and playing a very active role in the franchise and that’s just cool. It feels like a payoff. You know, like, I’ve I’ve been giving this this this franchise my attention for 20 some years. I I appreciate it. Yeah. I appreciate it.

Todd:  Now when Craig and I were digging around, looking for things, associated with this movie, we found an interesting bit of music.

Craig:  I’d almost forgotten.

Todd:  When you watch the movie, the end credit sequence is almost like a semi sinister Enya type music that goes that goes at the end. But, apparently, there was originally supposed to be a very different end credits music, which For whatever reason, this song was not used. I think they probably felt like it made Chuck a little less scary. It’s amazing. Roll it.

Clip:  I’m a good guy who’ll stick with you until the very end. Then much to my surprise, he Swell to my auntie slipped   and fell. And Chuckie laughed   and said, now we’re alone. C h u c k. Why’d you come out and play? This is

Craig:  Alright. Well, thank you for listening to another episode of 2 guys in a chainsaw. We are happy to bring you these reviews. If there’s anything you would like us to watch. We’re gonna be tackling winter slash holiday movies for the month of December. But after that, if there’s anything that you would like us to watch, please, let us know. Please Chime in with any comments or discussion that you have. You can find us on Facebook.   So you can find us in all the places that you can find, your favorite guest. Until next time, we are your friends to the end. I’m Craig.

Todd:  I’m Todd

Craig:  with Two Guys and a Chainsaw.

1 Response

  1. Vanessa says:

    It was Don Mancini’s dad that worked in advertising. Also, we find out Karen is a widow when Andy tells her Chucky told him that his dad sent Chucky down from heaven to be Andy’s bestfriend.

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