Remakes are tricky, particularly of beloved properties. Hew too closely to the original and you run the risk of being derivative and falling flat. But veer too far away from the source material and you risk alienating the fanbase. That’s the line Orion’s new Child’s Play reboot had to walk.
In the new movie, the fundamental premise is the same; the trappings around it different. Andy (Gabriel Bateman) is a loner. Having just moved to a new neighborhood with his mom, Karen (Aubrey Plaza), he’s finding it hard to make friends, preferring to spend most of his time by himself hanging out in the apartment building hallways while watching videos on his phone. In an attempt to get him to come out of his shell, Karen snags him a refurbished Buddi doll, an A.I. companion that learns as it goes. But the doll, Chucky (voiced by Mark Hamill), quite literally has a mind of its own and develops a twisted possessiveness over Andy that soon escalates into something downright sinister. As evil dolls do.
I loved me some Child’s Play (okay, more like love-hated) growing up so the remake had me intrigued. Could the remake live up to the original? Read on for three reasons you might want to see Child’s Play when it hits theaters this weekend.
1. The Way It Updated Chucky’s Origin Story For A Modern Audience
Those who grew up with the OG Child’s Play series know the origin of Chucky: Serial killer Charles Lee “Chucky” Ray died and had his soul reincarnated in the body of a doll thanks to a voodoo ritual. Not wanting to retread new ground, the team behind the remake went in an entirely new direction for this iteration of the killer doll: artificial intelligence. In this movie, Buddi dolls are connected to the Kaslan app and act as A.I. for your life. Think Alexa with greater reach – and the power of locomotion, sight, and grasping objects. The Buddi doll – or as he names himself, “Chucky” – can learn, think, and grow with you.
It’s an interesting concept that plays with modern ideas of artificial intelligence and the moral and ethical complications of machine learning and A.I. The concept isn’t new; we’ve already seen this storyline in other properties like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Mirror, but it is timely and relevant and plays upon current fears. Siri and Alexa constantly listening to and monitoring us, an alien intelligence that can learn our patterns without our realizing it, allowing something into our home that can grow in intellect but not necessarily in moral capacity or empathy. Chucky is all of those things, and worse. He is the logical end of all our worst fears and theorizations about the malevolent potential of A.I. Setting aside the very hit-or-miss design of the Chucky doll itself (and the wonky VFX), the concept of how it comes to be that doll in the first place is terrifying.
2. Over The Top Gore
The Child’s Play franchise has always been known for outlandish kills, the more ridiculous, the better. This remake channels that same “Let’s get ridiculous” energy, with kills ranging from the truly horrifying to the downright comedic. Child’s Play‘s problem is that it doesn’t know if it’s a horror movie that wants to be a comedy or a comedy movie that wants to be a horror, but it’s definitely not a seamless horror-comedy. But the kills that are executed come with buckets of gore, many, many sharp objects, and spouting geysers of blood that should satisfy horror movie fans who gravitate toward slasher films and practical effects. If you’re looking for a slow burn, this is not the movie for you. If you’re a fan of a good, old-fashioned slash-a-thon with gory kills and egregiously excessive deaths, however? This will very much be your jam.
3. It Should Be A Raucous Good Time With The Right Crowd
The interesting thing about Child’s Play is that it plays like a film fest midnighter. My press screening was an all-media screening along with early-invite fans. Judging from the reaction from my crowd last night, there is definitely going to be an audience for this movie. I am admittedly not that audience – I’d need to be about 15-20 years younger for that – but there is definitely an audience. This isn’t a movie designed to be watched quietly. Our crowd was vocal, laughing aloud (though with or at it wasn’t clear) and cheers broke out at some of Chucky’s more flamboyant kills. I can absolutely see this movie being a hit on a 16-year-old couple’s Friday date night or playing well to a group of college students. If you and your friends love to get together and watch B-list slashers or camp horror films that invite crowd reactions, then you’re likely to have a very good time at Child’s Play. Watching a movie with a rowdy midnight crowd can be an excellently fun time and Child’s Play absolutely has the potential to be that movie.
Ultimately, it missed me. I walked out feeling like the human equivalent of the shrug emoji. But there are definitely elements to like about it so if any of the above seems intriguing to you, by all means, grab yourself a group of friends and see it.
Child’s Play is in theaters this weekend.
