Child's Play (1988) on Netflix
Police detective Mike Norris shoots serial killer Charles Lee Ray, who uses voodoo to put his soul inside a Good Guy doll. Widow Karen Barclay buys it for her son Andy.
- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb6.7/10133,994 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes74%
Trailer
Plot summary
Detective Mike Norris chases Charles Lee Ray, a fugitive serial killer called the Lakeshore Strangler, into a toy store, while Ray's accomplice Eddie Caputo flees and Norris's partner Jack Santos follows him. Dying after Norris shoots him, Ray calls on Damballa and casts a voodoo spell that sends his soul into a talking Good Guy doll nearby. Widow Karen Barclay cannot afford the Good Guy doll her six-year-old son Andy wants for his birthday, so when her friend Maggie tells her a homeless peddler outside has one, Karen buys it for Andy.
In these lists: The Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
Cast
- Richard Bairdas News Reporter at Toy Store
- Ray Oliveras Dr. Death (as Raymond Oliver)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Child's Play (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Chucky's voice went through three performers: John Franklin recorded the dialogue while Brad Dourif was busy with Mississippi Burning, then Jessica Walter was cast after negative test screenings, chosen because Mercedes McCambridge had voiced Pazuzu in The Exorcist. When Dourif became available, all of Walter's recordings were discarded.
- Alex Vincent had no acting experience and was one of three finalists for the role of Andy Barclay; he won it at his second audition after pretending to forget his lines so he would not curse in front of his mother.
- David Kirschner named the killer Charles Lee Ray after Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray, and based Ray and his accomplice Eddie Caputo on the "Hillside Stranglers", Angelo Buono Jr. and Kenneth Bianchi.
- The doll was nearly called Buddy, after the My Buddy toys that helped shape his design, but the writers changed the name to Chucky to avoid a lawsuit from toymaker Hasbro.
- The film was shot on location in winter with a wind chill reaching as low as -50 °F, which forced the production to rent entire rooms and park running station wagons near shooting locations to serve as warming centers.
- A team of nine puppeteers operated Chucky, led by Brock Winkless, who moved the doll's mouth by radio control while wearing a rig that captured his own mouth movement; the others worked the head, face and limbs.
- A two-hour rough cut drew negative reviews at a test screening, so Kirschner and Mancini cut 25 minutes to reduce Chucky's screen time; Tom Holland, who had clashed with Kirschner over the doll's screen time and the film's tone, objected to the cuts and left the production.
- In March 1989, a 30-second commercial promoting the film's first VHS release showed Chucky coming to life and killing; ABC and CBS pulled it from prime time after parents complained it was too frightening, so it aired only at late hours.
