CHILD'S PLAY 3

Before the release of the second "Child's Play" movie, Universal Studios was already considering on pushing for a third film. This forced screenwriter of the first two films Dom Mancini, to come up with a script in a short amount of time who unfortunately struggled writing a follow-up after being out of ideas. The only idea he had in mind for a sequel was to have multiple Chucky's come to life, except that the film would be too expensive to make. After finally coming up with something, the film was finally put in production and released nine months after the second film came out.

Because of the film's rushed production, the film was considered to be the black sheep of the "Child's Play" trilogy, for being too goofy, out of place, and dull. Many eons ago, when I did my favorite movie villain list, when I included Chucky on the number 11 spot from the trilogy, I counted this film rather than dismissing it. While I was talking about my favorite moments with Chucky, I said one day I would touch upon the film's pros and cons, and now is the appropriate opportunity to discuss them.

Set eight years after the second film, the Play Pals Company decides to bring the "Good Guy Dolls" back to the market after recovering from the bad publicity surrounding the doll. During the restoration of the abandoned factory where the dolls were made, a crane that moves Chucky's dead body gets the doll's blood mixed into a vat of plastic, incidentally creating a new body for Chucky (Brad Dourif). There's no explanation why they didn't just make new toys in the factory, or why Chucky's bloody remains haven't been touched, except there'd be no sequel. I'm still confused of how the person operating crane didn't notice the blood, how he or she would've reacted to the remains after dropping it, or how just a huge vat of plastic doesn't create multiple bodies for Chucky now that it's contaminated with his blood. After Chucky kills his first victim (who again doesn't consider the fact that he just revealed his secret to him, just like his first victim in the last movie) he discovers that an older Andy (Justin Whalin) is attending a Military School from failing to adjust to the numerous foster homes he's been sent too while his Mother is STILL away for treatment. What happened to Kyle some of you may be thinking, there is no explanation what-so ever! It's like the two never even met each other. I'll give the film this, her absence is less insulting than the reasons for Detective Norris not being in the sequel. Chucky somehow perfectly mails himself to the school, only to discover that one of the younger kids from the school named Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers) stole the doll for wanting one as badly as Andy once did when he was 6 (this kid looks way too old to be excited for a doll made for little kids). Realizing that he has not "revealed his secret yet", Chucky decides to go transfer his soul into Tyler's body instead. But like before, obstacles get into Chucky's way (that he could have easily dealt with half of the time), people think Andy is crazy, and we get a bloodbath of murders.

Just judging the film by its premise, you can already spot most of the problems that many fans and critics have with the film. For one thing, it pretty much follows the same exact predictable formula from both films, consequently suffering with the same amount of plot holes and confusing logic as the second film had. Therefore, the film's story doesn't just have the same cons as the second film, but now it feels boringly repetitive at this point. The only major changes the film has is being set in the future (that still feels like it’s taking place in the early 90s) at a Military camp, that just caused more outrage for how outlandish the location is. Looking at the film again, the way the school is captured (especially without Chucky) does seem to appear that we are watching a different kind movie. At times, I expect to see Sergeant Hartman to walk-in for how some of these scenes look so reminiscent to "Full Metal Jacket". Other times it looks like I am watching some kind of"Coming of Age" drama when we see Andy interact with his love interest, and get bullied by his superiors with his nerdy roommate. Yet when Chucky shows up, it feels somewhat odd as if he (along with Andy I suppose) just crossed over to a different movie.

As out of place as Chucky is within this war setting, I don't find the environment to be as boring as others have made it out to be. If anything, I find it to be an amusing change of pace. We've already had two films where Chucky goes after Andy as he's in an environment where he's surrounded by people who love him but think he's going insane. Here Andy is confined to a location that is based on teaching strict discipline in the harshest way possible as he's given ill treatment by almost everybody around him. And now that Chucky has entered this military facility he has access to any weapon of his choosing knowing that there's no escape for the people he prays upon. Only this time his presence in the camp is as outlandish as the environment in a Chucky film is due to the camp prohibiting fun of any kind, which makes Chucky trying to blend in a little more difficult than before. As intriguing as the concept is its still handled poorly for not going all out with the possibilities, as well as lacking the brutal nature that we're supposed to feel from this place. For a place labeled as "hell on earth" in the trailer, this place is heaven compared to other Military training locations I've seen in other movies.

The film does offer some environments that fit with Chucky's personality like a Penthouse filled with toys (why does a no nonsense businessman have toys in the place he lives like Gepetto would) and a cool haunted house ride located at a carnival, only those scenes don't last as long. The majority of it takes place either on the school grounds or in the woods where they take part in the war games. What's strange about how some of these locations contrast with each other is that the film throws two climaxes back-to-back. Giving its Military setting it would seem appropriate that the finale would take place during the "War Games" that the film keeps building-up its importance as Chucky is taking hostages and sabotaging the games by replacing paint-balls with real ammunition (which would never work in real-life, but still an intense idea). You'd think we get a big bloodbath finale in this warlike environment, but instead we find the characters wandering over to a neon-lit carnival (that they saw earlier) as the film attempts to be like the climax in the second film by turning a playful setting into something grim. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as well-staged as its predecessor as it seems to be shoehorned in, and not taking its time to build-on suspense, atmosphere, and Chucky's determination. Though it's not just this scene alone that lacks tension because after Chucky kills his first victim, the film doesn't contain any suspense or surprises for how predictable they are with little to no time given to have us anxiously wait for him to attack. The only scare that was well timed after the film's opening is when Tyler opens the package, regardless how predictable it was.

What this film really lacks that was done so well in the last two films are the characters. I can't exactly say that these are some of the worst characters in a horror film because there are some pros to have them. As disappointing as it is to not see Alex Vincent reprise his role as Andy, Justin Whalin looks and acts the part of playing an older version of the kid we encountered in the first two films. His feelings of torment towards the "Good Guy Dolls" are as believable as Vincent's performance, making him seem nearly as vulnerable as the character was a kid. But much like how Andy defended himself in the second film, he too gets himself ready for a fight against his old friend (despite not acting nearly as badass as Vincent's performance). Only this time he's not defending himself, he's defending Tyler, who has become a protector instead of the victim. And that's another thing I enjoy about the film, Chucky is no longer going after Andy, he's going after a different target. The film does follow the same formula as the previous two, which still makes the plot tiresome. Still I have to give them credit for switching up the person Chucky chooses to go after, where we see Andy grow from the events of his last encounters, as we get a bit more insight of what went on between Andy and Chucky off-screen in the first film through his relationship with Tyler. Alas, as interesting as these ideas are, just like its Military setting, the execution is dull. Whalin' is good as Andy, however his performance isn't strong enough to support the characters he meets at the school. This is due because every character he meets are all bland cliches that we've seen plenty of times before in other films. We see Andy have the nerdy misfit for a roommate, a high authority bully who acts like a humorless Nedimyer from "Animal House", the wide-eyed innocent who won't listen to reason, and a love interest who's strong but the writers forgot to give her a personality. Perhaps the actors playing these stereotypical characters can bring some kind of charm to them as the actors in the previous films did, except their acting is as boringly bland as how they are written.

The only supporting character who leaves such a big impression is the barber played by Andrew Robinson, who is scarier than the killer doll. This guy is a total creep who has a serious fetish for hair. When he cuts people's hair, he gives a sinister smile as he gets uncomfortably close to them while making sounds that seem sexual for practically every-time he cuts as he looks forward to seeing the skin on their head. His pleasure for cutting the hair of youngsters raises more flags as he has a wall of hair attached below a picture of the people he’s cut. It's surprising how such a disciplined environment would hire an obvious sicko. He doesn't even make them bald as he's supposed too, therefore he's not doing his job. This character is so creepy, nasty, and entertaining to watch for how insane he is, that he could have been the antagonist for a crime thriller.

But instead of having the demon barber of "Kent Military School", we have Chucky as the film's main villain. Due to the film's lack of suspense, including the fact that we know how Chucky thinks and acts at this point, he becomes less of an intimidating threat who is now played more for laughs than he's ever been in the last two films. He's still portrayed as a savage killer filled with rage, only now he's cracking more one-liners than he's ever done before, as his reactions to the abuse he gets when playing possum are played out as silly than they are scary. He looks menacing and kills people, but with the tension being pretty much gone you don't feel the stakes that are at risk. If anything, you are more rooting for Chucky than you are fearing him for how little connection there is to the characters (including Andy). I would even argue that this is the very film to what started Chucky's status as an anti-hero playing it up for pure dark comedy instead of "Bride of Chucky". It's disappointing that Chucky isn't played up for scares like he did before which can be seen as a prime example of the film's rushed production, however out of all the film's in the trilogy, this is where he's the most entertaining. Brad Dourif as always is perfect for voicing of Chucky, providing so many sick jokes and quotable one-liners that they are almost endless. When the film gets too dull and generic, Chucky's presence saves it for how much life and personality Dourif brings to the character.

The effects for the doll supporting Dourif's voice-over are still as animated as he is. It's quite amusing that as the film's go-on the puppetry for Chucky only get better, when usually in most horror sequels the effects would tend to get worse. Probably because this film was able to use computers to fix it's mistakes unlike the other films. Usually when computers are added with practical effects, it's easy to tell the difference between what's there and not. Even with films where the effects still look amazing today, there's still a tiny connection in the brain signaling you the difference. In this film, I rarely get that. If anything I'm shocked to discover that the use of computers were involved to help make Chucky act as lively as he does. It always feels like he's there with the characters. My favorite effect goes to Chucky's final form at the end of the film. We've seen Chucky making his last attempt at getting Andy looking burned to a crisp, or covered in molten plastic that both look monstrous, but here we see half of his face get slashed off that turns him into a "Good Guy Doll" version of Two-Face. The reason why the effect is so cool is for how fleshy and full of detail it has, making him look less artificial like his other final forms for how realistic it is. It's the most disturbing Chucky's ever looked in the end of a film in the trilogy, that in some ways makes me wish he still had that look in the sequels that followed.

With the film playing little on suspense and more on Chucky's wild personality, the murders are less shocking and more excessive than they were before. In "Child's Play 2" there was a feeling that the film couldn't go all out with Chucky killing people in extreme yet silly ways, and though this film doesn't quite go as overboard with the killings in the later films, it's pretty close to it. Some of the wildest scenes include Chucky killing a person with toys, or watching ounces of blood splatter out of a guy's throat as Chucky cracks jokes. Occasionally, Chucky doesn't directly kill people. He at one point gives a person a heart-attack just by scaring him causing Chucky to feel disappointed that he couldn't butcher his victim. The only kills in the film that aren't overboard are the deaths that happen during the "War Games" due to them looking like scenes made for a war movie.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

"Child's Play 2" may have had plenty of issues, but at least there was some kind of effort put into it to make it nearly as good as its predecessor. This film on the other hand is just simply a rushed product to cash-in on the popularity for this horror villain. The scares and thrills are mostly absent. The characters are nothing new. And the inconstant tone is more distracting than it was in the second installment. There are some great ideas thrown into the movie, except the film doesn't wish to fully explore them for taking the safe predictable formula used in the previous films. But while being the weakest in the trilogy, it's still highly entertaining. Chucky is more of a riot than he's ever been before. The updated puppetry is an impressive improvement. Most of these kills are some of Chucky's best for how wild they are if not scary. Whalin's is convincing as an older Andy, as Robinson makes for an entertainingly weird villain who should be the focus instead of Chucky. And its fun to see Chucky go from one interesting set-piece to another to cause mayhem. There's nothing in the film that's offensively bad, it just doesn't decide to take many risks with its new premise as things begin to dumb-down even more (though not as bad as the following films would go).

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON "THE CHILD'S PLAY TRILOGY

Growing up as a teenager, I was obsessed with these films for how scary, violent, and funny they are, thinking that they were top-notch slasher films. To this day I still enjoy them (I still consider Chucky to be one of my favorite movie villains) but they do not hold-up as well as I remember them. The confusing logic and plot holes are everywhere. The tone in the last two films are inconsistent. Chucky is more fun than he is scary (in the sequels at least). And a lot of the kills are goofier than I remember them to be. As silly and nonsensical these films can get there's still plenty of environment value to gain from them, mainly for how enjoyably devilish Chucky is as we watch him kill people in creatively extreme ways. These films don't fail to deliver with good thrills either, because the first two films do keep you in suspense for when or where Chucky will strike next whether you find him scary or not. Part of that has to do with how incredibly likable some of these characters are thanks to the charming performances of Vincent, Hicks, Sarandon, and McCarthy (the characters in the third film I can careless about). The sequels in the trilogy don't quite match-up with its predecessor (though the second film came close) but they are still worth a look for how much they explore Chucky's personality, while the first film served more as an introduction to this horror icon.