It’s the best of both worlds as killer doll Chucky gets his due on Blu. The film is given a fine transfer on high definition, but you also get the DVD copy as well. We’ll be best friends to the end.
Serial killer Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) has finally been cornered by Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon). Norris got off a good shot and mortally wounded Ray, but he’s made it into a closed toy store. Norris finally finds Ray in the store but he’s using a voodoo ritual on a doll, which causes the store to get struck by lightening and explode. Norris barely makes it out of the store alive.
It’s Andy Barclay’s (Alex Vincent) birthday and he’s a certified fan of the kid’s show Good Guys. He thinks that the big gift-wrapped box is a Good Guys doll. He’s not happy to find out that its clothes (isn’t everyone?) and not the doll he wanted. The Good Guy doll is the hot toy this season and his mother Karen (Catherine Hicks) wasn’t able to find one in time.
The next day at the department store where Karen works her friend Maggie (Dinah Manoff) tells her that there’s a homeless man in the store behind the alley that has one of the dolls for sale. She happily buys the doll because she knows that Andy will be elated. Sure enough he is, but what Karen doesn’t know is that the doll is from the burnt out toy store and contains the soul of “Chucky.”
It gets even better later when Chucky discovers that he’s becoming human in the pintsized form unless he transfers his soul into the first person he told of his existence – Andy.
Child’s Play takes the childhood fear of your toys becoming evil animated beings and takes it to the highest degree. The last DVD edition ignored director Tom Holland and the Blu-ray doesn’t do much to correct that oversight (well, actually nothing since the disc is basically that disc over again, but if you Google “Tom Holland commentary” you’ll find an MP3 you can sync up with the film) but it does offer a wonderful high definition transfer.
Brad Dourif would lend his voice, and image as he appears as Charles Lee Ray in this first film in the series, to the killer doll and it would create a horror character that he could call his own.
The creepy half pint still has the power to shock, though the sequels seemed to swerve more towards comedy than the horror the first film had. The makeup is still quite good and effectively creepy, especially the burnt Chucky at the end.
Child’s Play presented in 1080p high definition transfer (1.85:1). Special features include three commentaries. One is from Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks, and makeup maestro Kevin Yagher. The second is from producer David Kirschner and screenwriter Don Mancini. The last is from the Chuckster himself but is only on selected scenes. Special features are presented in standard definition. The 24 minute “Evil Comes in Small Packages” documentary has new interviews with the commentary participants as well as Sarandon.
The 10 minute “Chucky: Building the Nightmare” looks at how they brought the vicious doll to life. The 5-minute “ A Monster Convention” has Q&A footage with Sarandon, Hicks, and Vincent at the Monster Mania convention in 2007.
The 6-minute “Introducing Chucky” is a vintage making of feature. You also get the 2-minute theatrical trailer and a photo gallery. Disc two is a DVD copy of the film that features the same special features.
The original is still the best, but it’s made better in high definition. There are still some chills in the old doll yet. Chucky will be your friend to the end, but your end might come at his hands if you’re not careful.
Child’s Play [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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