'Childs Play' (2019) Review


 My sixth horror film of the month is the ‘Child's Play’ remake that was released in 2019, making it the 8th and most recent installment of the franchise. This franchise is the mother of all doll horror, giving birth to all the other movies that use the same point of terror. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of horror movies where a doll comes to life and wreaks havoc. I had previously seen the original ‘Child's Play’ from 1988 and thought it was decent (‘Bride of Chucky’ on the other hand is an underrated horror gem that deserves more attention). I thought I would give the newer version of a classic story a chance since I thought it should be revamped after seeing the original anyway. 

‘Childs Play’ starts with a modern adaption of Chucky, making him like an Amazon Alexa for children called a ‘Buddi Doll’. The doll is programmed to be your lifelong companion that learns by their surroundings with dozens of safety protocols. The question here is, what happens when those protocols are turned off? At first, it's actually not as bad as you would think. Karen and her young son Andy live in a rough neighborhood living paycheck to paycheck. When Karen sees a perfect opportunity for a free Buddi Doll at her work, she uses it as a birthday gift for Andy. Instantly, Chucky and Andy connect despite his glitches, creating a comedic friendship between the two. This malfunctioned Chucky can swear, make inappropriate jokes and follow through with any command. Honestly, you even start to like and feel for Chucky. The toy just wants to make his new friend happy. The witty portrayal by Mark Hamill (extremely odd choice, but I am not complaining) gave in to the satirical themes that were being ignored in the original film. It knew when it was being cheesy and pushed hard for laughs and over the top gore over built up terror. Chuckys need for Andys approval soon shows that it involves murdering anyone who he shows a disliking to, which is where the conflict starts. 

    The acting choices for this movie was a huge part of what made it entertaining. Aubrey Plaza acted as Karen, the mother of Andy and added on to the satire with her sarcastic type casting. The relationship between Karen and Andy felt authentic and created more dire consequences as it  showed how dependent they are on each other. Brian Tyree Tree portrayed Detective Mike Norris as a more likeable and goofy hero than the original film. Norris was easy to root for, showing more of a connection to Andy as opposed to Karen like he did in the original. While there was so much to love in this reboot, there was a lot of filler that it could have gone without. The filler scenes were added for context that we did not need half the time and dragged the story out. The ending felt slightly rushed and predictable but still left us with a cliffhanger. 

‘Childs Play’ was campy in the best way it could be. Other films that remind me of this one include Black Christmas, Happy Death Day, and Annabelle (of course). I would rate this a 4.5 out of 5 stars because with its flaws, I just enjoy movies that make fun of themselves, Aubrey Plaza and Mark Hamill casting choices and cheesy horror gore. If you're into that sort of thing like me, I would 100% recommend this movie.

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