Child’s Play 2019

Man, seems I was just talking about the Halloween sequel we never thought we’d get, and now I’m here after seeing the Child’s Play remake nobody expected. In short: it’s really good, all kinds of fun. Most interested in how they updated it from 1988. Back then, the cautionary tale—or, what opens the cycle of justice—is economic: buying suspicious items from even more suspicious dudes. Not meaning to say in 1988 we were all being herded to only proper retail outlets or that ‘knockoff’ culture was in some way corrupting the world, just that, hey, when a deal’s too good to be true, well, then it’s probably a murderous doll.

For 2019, though, and in spite of the fact that this doll is gotten not completely above-board, still, the caution isn’t about point-of-purchase, it’s about the many dangers of letting intelligent devices into our homes and lives. Which is to say, Chucky was retooled to better fit our current set of anxieties. It’s quite an effective, and I guess probably even timely warning, too. That’s what horror provides, though, yes?

Just, horror goes so far as to wrap that warning in entertainment. Which is all cooking along quite well here. There’s a slightly older kid protag, who’s set up as that certain kind of lonely that can be drawn to a robot-doll, and there’s a mom who’s harried enough that she’s not a bad mother for not cueing into all this bad stuff going on: she’s just trying to hold on herself (Aubrey Plaza needs to be in all the horror, too. well, her and Toni Collette). And, yeah, this Chucky’s possessive, but, now that he’s not a killer possessing a toy, is instead a cute robot with all its governors turned off (and christened in blood at the factory, yes), he’s more like . . . is it Cherry 2000? That old movie about that sex-bot who thinks she’s the real girlfriend, sort of?

And there’s some killer kills, some good gore, but, it’s Chucky, too, so there’s plenty of good laughs as well. 2019 Child’s Play even has fun with the original: where 1988 started us OUT in a toy store, this one has it’s big FINAL battle in a toy store. As for new elements: there’s some kids in the same building who kind of crew up with our protagonist; the detective’s actually a good cop, not blind to the obvious. And, at least to/for me, it’s still got a slasher heart beating midst all that molded plastic and Tony Stark circuitry.

Score one for the good guys. And, yes, sometimes “Supertoys Last All Summer Long.”