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The killer doll classic makes it’s way onto Blu-Ray.  Watch it and remember how scary Chucky used to be.

There have been killer doll/toy movies for quite some time.  In the 70s there was an anthology film called Trilogy of Terror with a killer African tribal doll and Anthony Hopkins starred in a picture about a ventriloquist’s dummy called Magic.  Then in 1987 there was Stuart Gordon’s Dolls where a doll maker’s toys spent an evening righting the wrongs of a house full of shady travelers.  While these flicks had their creep factor the real scares did not start until 1988 with Child’s Play.  Here the killer in question was not a puppet or some wooden toy that was not popular anymore, but a mass produced doll with a likeness to the My Buddy or Cabbage Patch Kids. 

Over the years there have been five Child’s Play films and they seem to get increasingly silly.  The last one is called Seed of Chucky and involves the spawn of two toys, as if that were not enough of a stretch on the old suspension of disbelief charts Chucky has evolved from the serious soul of a serial killer into a one liner dispensing clown, who kills of course.  Each film is enjoyable in its own right, but none can really compare to the suspense which builds in the first installment. 

The film revolves around little Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) who receives a Good Guy doll from his mother on his sixth birthday.  Soon you begin to wonder if the doll known as Chucky might be inhabited by the soul of the notorious Lakeshore Strangler, Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), who seemed to transplant his lifeforce into one such doll before his death.  Strange things begin to happen, people die and the audience is left to decide if this really is a killer doll or someone else is doing the deed.  Of course, everyone by now knows Chucky is to blame and he is the little plastic incarnation of Mr. Ray.  No one believes Andy, including his mother (Catherine Hicks) or the man responsible for Charles Lee Ray’s death Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), and he is sent off for psych tests and evaluations.  Chucky soon finds out that he is turning “human” in the doll’s body and the only way out is to jump into the body of the first person to whom he told his identity - Andy. 

I should not need to tell everyone that Child’s Play is a gem of horror films.  Especially in the subgenre of killer toy flicks, Chucky ranks at the top of most every list.  While the sequels went the more horror comedy route there is no denying the effectiveness of the first movie.  When Andy’s mom finds that the batteries were never inside of the doll you can almost cut the tension with a plastic knife.  Then Chucky’s head spins around and I can remember watching this with people for their first viewing and seeing them jump.  This all leads up to Chucky’s true colors being shown to a stunned audience.  There is no real mystery in the film as to who is really doing the killing, but with the first real reveal happening just after the halfway point the film takes the time to build a decent amount of suspense. 

Having the beautiful Blu-Ray release come out just a year after the “Chucky’s 20th Birthday Edition” is a bit of a kick in the pants.  Sure, it only cost ten bucks but that is still a double dip.  In this case it’s kind of a toss up.  All of the features are great but they are ported over from the DVD.  Two commentary tracks, some scene specific Chucky commentaries, six featurettes (all new except for one vintage) and the usual trailer and photo gallery.  This high def does also include the DVD version so you have the option of which to watch.  It is hard to say if it’s worth your money to upgrade to the Blu, but the picture is much clearer and you will still have a standard def copy. 

One of the weird things about this release are the few little easter eggs through the menus.  You can activate multiple different screens where Chucky says a phrase or two each.  The odd part is that it’s some weird CGI concocted version of the knee high killer.  Why would they do this?  One of the great, scary things about doll is that it is an actual doll.  Everything on the character is animatronic, a puppet or a little person.  It could be any of those but the one thing it isn’t is computer generated. 

This is a film everyone needs to check out, most probably have.  I would say it is a must own, for horror fans especially, but the double dip is up to you.  How badly do you want Chucky in high definition?  Hidey-ho, ha-ha-ha.

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