Child's Play

Alex Vincent

Brad Dourif

**Child's Play** is the first film in the Chucky series and the first installment to feature the character Chucky. It stars Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, and Brad Dourif. Hicks plays a widowed mother who gives her son a doll for his birthday, unaware that the doll is possessed by the soul of an infamous serial killer.

## Plot

On the night of November 9, 1988, Charles Lee Ray, a fugitive and serial killer, is chased by homicide detective Mike Norris through the streets of South Side, Chicago after a failed robbery attempt. Mike shoots Charles several times, but he still manages to make it to his getaway vehicle. However, Charles is left behind after his accomplice, Eddie Caputo, panics and drives away without him. Charles breaks into a toy shop, where he is fatally shot by Mike. Realizing that he is dying, Charles transfers his soul into a Good Guy doll, using a Haitian Vodou spell. The store is then struck by lightning, causing it to explode. Mike survives the explosion and enters the shop, only to find Charles' dead body.

The following day, widow Karen Barclay unknowingly purchases the doll (now known as Chucky) from a peddler, as a birthday gift for her six-year-old son Andy Barclay. Later that evening, Karen's best friend Maggie Peterson babysits Andy while Karen is working late. After tucking Andy and Chucky into bed, Maggie is hit in the face with a hammer by an unseen assailant and falls out the window to her death. The police search the apartment and Detective Norris deems Andy a suspect. Before going back to bed, Andy claims Chucky killed Maggie. Karen angrily tells the police to leave.

The next morning, Chucky orders Andy to skip school and take the Chicago "L" downtown to get revenge on Eddie Caputo for betraying him the night he died. While Andy is distracted, Chucky sneaks into Eddie's house, turning off the kitchen oven's pilot and turning on the gas. Eddie hears the noises from the kitchen, bursts through the door and shoots the oven, which causes his home to explode, killing him in the process. Andy is once again deemed a suspect and placed in a psychiatric hospital.

At dusk, Karen attempts to throw the Good Guys box in the garbage. While reading the box, a pack of batteries drop out. She realizes Chucky has been functioning without batteries and Andy was truthful. Unnerved, Karen picks Chucky and threatens him to speak. Chucky springs to life and bites Karen in the arm, causing it to bleed, before scampering from the apartment. Karen runs after him, only to find Mike at the station. After mistrusting Karen, Mike drives home as Chucky attacks him. Mike shoots Chucky, forcing him to flee.

Chucky visits John Bishop, his former voodoo instructor. John tells Chucky that the longer he stays in the doll, the more human he will become. After John declines Chucky's help, he tortures John with a voodoo doll. After revealing the solution, which is to transfer his soul into the first human he told he was alive (which would be Andy), Chucky stabs the doll, fatally injuring John. After leaving, Karen and Mike discover the gruesome scene. Before dying, John tells them that although Chucky is a doll, he's almost fully human at this point and vulnerable to fatal injury.

At the hospital, Andy tries to escape from Chucky. Dr. Ardmore finds Andy in the surgery room and attempts to subdue him before Chucky kills him with an electroshock machine. Andy runs home, followed by Chucky, who knocks him unconscious. Chucky prepares to possess him until Karen and Mike arrive to stop the process. Chucky emerges and hits Mike with a baseball bat before being tossed into the fireplace by Karen. Andy drops a lit match in it, burning Chucky alive. Karen and Andy leave the room to help Mike, but a charred Chucky escapes the fireplace and chases Andy. Karen dismembers Chucky with a gun and Chucky is again presumed to be killed when he stops moving. Mike's partner Jack Santos arrives at the apartment. However, Jack refuses to believe the trio's story until Chucky's body bursts to strangle him with his remaining arm. During the struggle, Chucky is shot in the heart and is finally dead. Mike is taken outside by Karen and Jack, while Andy stays and stares at Chucky's battered corpse before shutting the lights and closing the door in a freeze frame.

## Cast

* Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay
* Catherine Hicks as Karen Barclay
* Chris Sarandon as Mike Norris
* Brad Dourif as Charles Lee Ray / Chucky
* 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
* Juan Ramirez as The Peddler
* Alan Wilder as Walter Criswell