HORROR MOVIE REVIEW: CHILD'S PLAY (2019)

6/10

Everybody knows the story. A single mom gives her son a present that didn’t turn out to be exactly what it seemed. His name is Chucky and he is your friend to the end. Only in this version the boy doesn’t want the doll, he wants his mom and the mom only gives it to her son to compensate for something else.

Here comes a remake of a horror classic that takes a definite new turn. Preceded by a cheeky social media campaign the film looked a wicked new version of everyone’s favorite murderous doll. I promised myself to keep my expectations in check but I didn’t. All I wanted form CHILD’s PLAY remake to be something that will take my mind off the original and let me enjoy it on its own merit. I did manage to switch off… at least for a while.

One thing you have to give to the new version – it is quite a different take on the story we know. Sacrificing the woodoo angle, this Chucky is AI gone rogue. With its limits to harm humans hacked and removed he is still a creature of innocence when he enters the home of a young boy called Andy. Andy is definitely too old for toys for sure, he only accepts it to please his mom, but when the doll called Chucky turned out to be smarter than he ever imagined he treats it like a new iPhone and is immediately absorbed by the experience. But not quite knowing what he is dealing with he leads his little pet to the road of destruction.

The best thing about the new CHILD’S PLAY is that its antagonist is not as one dimensional evil as we expect him to be. It is Andy’s daily life and struggles that make him evil and nothing else. When in the movie’s climax Andy screams “It’s my fault!” we agree with him. Chucky’s degradation from the best friend to the thing of evil is hard to watch, and it made me feel something horror movies usually fail to do – a pity for the monster.

What if Google Home, Siri or Alexa gone homicidal just by reading your browsing history and took for granted every mean thing you said? And then acted on it on its own accord? If this premise is not scary what is? But being an AI makes this Chucky less complete, gives him less personality and despite the fantastic effort of Mark Hamill (his voice) he still remains a cold robot.

The film is definitely plays with the idea of electronics taking over kids’ lives and it’s only when Chucky gets berserk that Andy finally gets new friends to socialize with. The film is undoubtfully inspired by STRANGER THINGS. A chubby boy, a black kid, a nerd and a kick arse girl team up to fight evil? Yes this rings a bell.

The few murders are gory and inventive, but it is mostly middle aged unattractive men who get the cut. One thing that CHILD’S PLAY would be criticized most for is Chucky’s design. No one in the modern world would buy a doll that ugly. It would be much better to introduce a cute Pokemon… but this is another movie entirely.

I promised not to compare the film with the original, but then I just cant help it. The original was epic. There was more epicness in its first five minutes when the toyshop exploded than in the whole of the remake…

But the new movie made me think and want to talk about it. And this is a good thing. If you are horror fan you cannot miss this one. And the soundtrack by Bear McCreary is to die for!