#seriously his acting in the second film I'm featuring tonight is what I believe is one of Dourif's most underrated performances

[saucy-mesothelioma]

October 29th: Meso's Honorable Mentions | Child's Play

Child's Play was released in 1988 and was directed by Tom Holland (no not that Tom Holland). On his sixth birthday, Andy Barclay (played by Alex Vincent) gets the toy he so desperately wanted: a Good Guy Doll. The boy is naturally ecstatic, but his mother Karen (Catherine Hicks) becomes wary when peculiar things begin happening, such as Andy claiming the doll is talking to him and doing things around the house. It isn't until Andy mentions the recently-deceased serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) that Karen begins to believe that not only is her son telling the truth, but that there is something far darker going on beneath the surface.

While the majority of horror franchises have ignored or retconned various aspects of their past films, the Child's Play series is one of the very few that has maintained a rather consistent storyline throughout all seven of its films and even into its TV series (although fans of the franchise such as myself will tell you that it is definitely not without it's flaws). The movies vary greatly in tone and style, although they stick true to the comedic presence that has been present in the film series since the beginning. The thing that probably endears most to the franchise including myself is the fact that the Child's Play series has always been a sort of family affair, both in a figurative sense and a literal one: the majority of the cast and crew have stuck with the series since the beginning and even Brad Dourif's own daughter Fiona Dourif would go on to star in several of the later films as well as the television show. Child's Play is also considered one of the most queer-friendly franchises in horror as well, primarily due to the fact that the creator of the series Don Mancini himself is gay.

I could not find any platforms where you can watch it for free.

Content Warnings for the Film (may contain spoilers): violence, sexual assault (interrupted), jumpscares

Once again, get ready for some behind the scenes info because this movie is absolutely top-notch when it comes to its practical effects.

Although Don Mancini described Chucky's look in his script that were then made into sketches by producer David Kirschner, we have special effects artist Kevin Yagher (who had previously worked on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and several Nightmare on Elm Street movies) to thank for bringing Chucky to life (he also met and married Catherine Hicks [Karen Barclay] while working with this franchise, and they're still together today. I just thought that was sweet). In total there were nine different animatronics used for Chucky, each having their own specific purposes such as walking, gestures, and even flailing around. Usually groups of nine would work on one animatronic with one guy operating the eye movement and eye lids, another doing eyebrows, ect. One of my favorite things about the Chucky animatronics are the fact that as Chucky becomes more and more human, so does the doll he's trapped in. The plastic sheen becomes more fleshy, his eyes more sunken, and it even gain's Ray's receding hairline. When Chucky wasn't an animatronic, he was played by Ed Gale, who wore suit and did a fantastic job attempting to replicate the movements of the animatronics. Also just a fun fact Chris Sarandon, who played Detective Mike Norris in this film, also played Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride and voiced Jack fucking Skellington. If you want to see more behind the scenes info, please check out this video on it.