Child's Play

Brad Dourif

Alex Vincent

**Child's Play** is an American supernatural slasher film directed by Tom Holland, and produced by David Kirschner from a story by Don Mancini. It is the first film in the Child's Play series and the first installment to feature the character Chucky. It stars Catherine Hicks, Dinah Manoff, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, and Brad Dourif.

## Plot

On the night of November 9, 1988, serial killer and fugitive Charles Lee Ray is seen running through the streets of South Side, Chicago. Charles is left behind after his accomplice Eddie Caputo manages to escape. After he is fatally shot in a toy shop by homicide detective Mike Norris, Charles transfers his soul into a "Good Guy" doll via a Haitian Vodou spell. A bolt of lightning causes the shop to explode. Mike, who survives the explosion, finds Charles' body.

The next day, widow Karen Barclay purchases the same doll (now known as Chucky) from a Peddler as a birthday gift for her six-year-old son Andy. Later that evening, Karen's friend Maggie Peterson babysits Andy. After putting Andy to bed, Maggie is hit in the face with a hammer and falls out the window to her death. The police search the apartment. Detective Norris deems Andy a suspect, much to the annoyance of Karen, who orders Mike and the police to leave once they complete their investigation.

The next morning, Chucky orders Andy to skip school and take the Chicago train downtown. While Andy is urinating, Chucky sneaks into Eddie's lair, turning off a stove's pilot light but turning up the gas. As Eddie shoots the stove, the house blows up, killing him. Andy, once again a suspect, is placed in a psychiatric hospital. That night, Karen discovers that Chucky's batteries were never inserted, and that Andy was telling the truth about Chucky functioning on his own power. While she is inspecting the doll, Chucky comes to life, bites her arm, and escapes. She then finds Mike at the station and shows him the bite wound that Chucky made. He does not believe her and leaves. After being attacked by Chucky in his car, Mike finally agrees to help Karen.

Chucky goes to John Bishop, Charles Lee Ray's former voodoo teacher. When Chucky asks why he is able to bleed, John informs him that the longer his soul remains trapped within the doll, the more human the doll will become; in order to escape the doll's body, Chucky must transfer his soul to the first person he revealed his possession to, which happens to be Andy. When John rejects Chucky's plea for help, Chucky fatally stabs John using a voodoo doll. Chucky escapes just before Karen and Mike arrive on the scene. Before dying, John tells them that although Chucky is a doll, his heart is not fully human and vulnerable to fatal injury.

At the mental hospital, Chucky steals the key to Andy's cell, but Andy is able to trick Chucky with pillows under the bed sheets and escape his cell. Dr. Ardmore finds Andy in the surgery room. Just before Andy is being sedated, Chucky stabs Dr. Ardmore and electrocutes him with an Electroconvulsive therapy machine, killing him. He chases Andy home, knocking him unconscious with a baseball bat. Chucky then begins possessing Andy. Karen and Mike arrive and stop him before Chucky's soul is transferred. Chucky slashes Mike, then goes after Karen and Andy. Soon, the pair trap Chucky in the fireplace and burn him in hell. Karen and Andy leave the room to help Mike, but a heavily burned Chucky follows them and attempts to kill them, since burning him alive didn't work. Chucky is again thought to be killed when Karen shoots off his head, arm, and leg. Mike's partner Jack Santos arrives at the apartment, and disbelieves the trio's story just before Chucky's body then bursts through a ventilation duct and tries to strangle Jack. During the struggle, Karen tells Mike to aim and shoot at Chucky's heart (as John told them to do) which Mike does finally killing him. While Mike, Jack and Karen go to the hospital, Karen turns off the bedroom's lights and Andy looks back at Chucky's burned remains before closing the door.

## Cast

* Catherine Hicks as Karen Barclay
* Chris Sarandon as Mike Norris
* Brad Dourif as Chucky
* Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay
* Dinah Manoff as Maggie Peterson
* Tommy Swerdlow as Jack Santos
* Jack Colvin as Dr. Ardmore
* Raymond Oliver as John Bishop
* Neil Giuntoli as Eddie Caputo
* Alan Wilder as Walter Criswell
* Juan Ramirez as The Peddler

## Trivia

* The first draft of the script referenced Chucky as Buddy who came to life after mixing blood with Andy Barclay and killed those against him manifesting Andy's loneliness and isolation. He also only came alive at night when Andy was asleep.
* Maggie's death scene originally had her being electrocuted in the bathtub. The scene was used later in Bride Of Chucky with Tiffany instead.
* The story takes place in three days.
* Original working titles were "Batteries Not Included" and "Blood Buddy".