Child’s Play (2019)
In 1988, an unknown horror movie
about a doll was released upon the
world. What initially sounded like
a silly premise for a horror film,
especially when stacked next to ‘80s
horror classics like Nightmare on
Elm Street, Friday the 13th and The
Evil Dead series, turned out to be
one of the scariest and nightmare-
inducing movies of the decade. A
small “Buddi” doll called Chucky is
possessed by the soul of a serial killer
and goes about terrorizing the family
and surrounding neighborhood. It
was as funny as it was horrifying, and
it’s stuck with anyone who originally
saw it in the ‘80s
YOU AND HE WERE
BUDDIES
Fast-forward 31 years later and
Orion Pictures has decided to reboot
the franchise for modern audiences,
but will the crazy knife-wielding
Chucky still have the same appeal
to a very different horror audience?
Signs are looking very promising.
Child’s Play follows Karen (Aubrey
Plaza), a single mother who gifts
her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman)
a Buddi doll, unaware of its more
sinister nature. Although the initial
concept remains the same, the
modern retelling sees some interest-
ing variations to the ideas from the
original. Chucky, the name given to
the Buddi doll, is now a smart doll
that can be controlled with modern
smart devices and instead of being
possessed by the soul of a serial
killer, Chucky is now an AI gone
wrong. Voiced by the fantastic Mark
Hamill, Chucky is as terrifying as
ever and the idea of an AI-gone-hay-
wire does hit closer to home than
that of a serial killer’s soul taking up
residence in a doll, as in the original
concept. Much like the IT reboot
from 2017, Child’s Play retains its
intense gore and rightfully comes
with an R-Rating, which promises
to be as violent and unsettling as the
original.WANNA PLAY?
When the reboot was originally
announced, many fans and critics
felt this to be a cynical cash-grab
riding the current ‘80s revival wave
led by Stranger Things and the IT
reboot, yet it seems Director Lars
Klevberg and screenwriter Tyler
Burton Smith are keeping as faithful
as possible to the original ‘80s hor-
ror scare fest, bringing in enough of
their own ideas to make the reboot
feel fresh and terrifying.Entertainment