A gun battle between a cop and a criminal ends in a toy
store, and as the criminal is dying he stumbles into a display of creepy Good
Guys dolls. And hey, aren’t all dolls a little creepy? But this is no ordinary
criminal. He’s into some voodoo occult stuff, and manages to transfer his evil
soul into one of the dolls before dying. And he vows revenge on Eddie (his
accomplice) and Detective Mike Norris, the cop who shot him.
Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) is a young boy who loves Good
Guys – the cartoon, the cereal, the clothing, everything. For his birthday, he
hopes to get a Good Guys doll. So, as any good mother would do, Karen Barclay
(Catherine Hicks) buys a doll from a homeless guy in the alley behind the store
where she works. Guess which doll it is? “Hi, I’m Chucky, and I’m your
friend ‘til the end.” The doll is more interested in watching the news than
playing, but after killing Maggie, who was babysitting Andy, it’s clear Chucky
just has a different sense of play. Alex is adorable as Andy, by the way,
especially when he tells his mother, “His real name is Charles Lee Ray, and
he’s been sent down from heaven by Daddy to play with me.”
Child’s Play is a delightfully creepy movie. I’ve
seen it several times, and it still scares me when Karen is alone with the doll
and discovers the batteries were never inserted. And hey, I never noticed this
before, but the exterior shot of the train is sped up. Watch the pedestrians on
the lower section of the bridge.
Special Features
The first disc contains four separate commentary tracks.
The first is with director Tom Holland, and is moderated by Nathaniel Thompson
from Mondo Digital. Tom talks about casting Chris Sarandon and Brad Dourif,
both of whom he had worked with before (in Fright Night and Fatal
Beauty respectively). He talks about early work with the script, and about
some of his other scripts, and those themes which led to this film. He also
talks about test screenings.
The second is with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and
“Chucky” designer Kevin Yagher. Catherine Hicks talks about getting top billing
in the credits, saying that Chris Sarandon deferred to her. “He said I had
to carry the picture, which I thought was touching,” she says. Catherine
and Kevin are married, and actually met on the set of this film. Kevin talks
about the many puppeteers that were needed to work the various Chucky puppets.
Alex talks about how his younger sister plays Chucky in an early scene. Alex
was six years old when he made this film, and he talks about the process of
getting the role, including an interesting anecdote about not wanting to say a
certain line in front of his mother.
The third is with producer David Kirschner and
screenwriter Don Mancini. Don mentions that he was the first of three writers
on the film. David talks about the explosion in the toy store in the opening
sequence. They talk about a lot of the crew members and some of the cast.
The fourth is with Chucky himself, and is only for
certain scenes. He comments on the scene in which Maggie is killed, for
example, laughing and bragging about his work. He also comments on that great
scene where Karen Barclay learns that the doll is alive. Though at one point he
says: “You know, this stuff is so good. It’s a shame to even talk during
this part. Just watch.”
The second disc is all special features, including an
hour of behind-the-scenes special effects footage, old raw video footage from
the model shop, including, of course, lots of shots of various Chucky models,
plus footage from the set of special effects shots, such as Chucky on fire. Howard
Berger: Your Special Effects Friend ‘Til The End is an interview with
Howard Berger, in which he talks about the rest of the folks in the department,
especially about Kevin Yagher. He mentions replacing Chucky’s hands often on
set, and talks about how these were all practical effects. This feature also
uses some of that same behind-the-scenes footage. This interview is
approximately forty-one minutes. There is also an interview with Ed Gale, the
man who played Chucky in several scenes. He talks about training as a mime for
this job, so that he could move more like the puppet. This interview is
approximately forty minutes.
Evil Comes In Small Packages is a featurette that
includes interviews with writer Don Mancini (whose original script was titled Blood
Buddy), writer John Lafia, producer David Kirschner, puppet designer Kevin
Yagher, and cast members Chris Sarandon (who spent some time with the Chicago
police department in preparing for the role), Brad Dourif, Catherine Hicks and
Alex Vincent. Don says, “In my original script, the doll is actually a sort
of supernatural manifestation of the boy’s id, so the doll is specifically
going out and striking out against the people that this kid feels this
unexpressed rage toward.” He also mentions how for him the voodoo part
makes no sense, because if Chucky can make voodoo dolls, why not make them of
all his intended victims. Good point. This also includes part of an interview
with Tom Holland from 1988, as well as rehearsal footage with Brad Dourif
acting out the doll’s part. This featurette is approximately twenty-five minutes.
Chucky: Building A Nightmare is a ten-minute
featurette about Chucky, containing more of the interviews with Kevin Yagher,
David Kirschner, Don Mancini, plus interviews with special effects experts Tom
Savini, Alec Gills, Shane Mohan and Tom Woodruff, Jr. And there is great stuff
on how the puppets work. A Monster Convention is a five-minute
featurette on the Child’s Play cast panel at Monster Mania in 2007,
featuring Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon. Introducing
Chucky: The Making Of Child’s Play is a six-minute promotional featurette
from 1988 that includes interviews with Tom Holland, David Kirschner, Chris
Sarandon and Kevin Yagher. There is another five-minute featurette from 1988,
featuring footage from the film, as well as some behind-the-scenes footage.
The second disc also includes the film’s trailer, a
television commercial, a behind-the-scenes photo gallery and a posters gallery.
Child’s Play: Collector’s Edition is scheduled to
be released on October 18, 2016 through Scream Factory, a division of Shout!
Factory.
No comments:
Post a Comment