The Steves discuss the 1988 cult classic horror film, Child's Play, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Movie Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves discuss the 1988 cult classic horror film, Child's Play, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's Making Us Happy?
Movie Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennett Martin,
Stephen:and this is Steven Martin Bennett, and welcome to a
Steve:Lifetime of Happiness, the podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy. While hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way.
Stephen:In this October, we're highlighting classic. So check the batteries in your teddy ruckman because we're going back to 1988 to talk about that killer doll Chucky in child's play.
Steve:I can't wait. But before we get into that, all my love, what's been making you happy?
Stephen:So I had some time off and I finally finished. Xena Blade Chronicles three for the Nintendo Switch.
Steve:Oh, that's the game that's been making you happy for about what, On and off for two months now? It's two
Stephen:months at least. Yeah. Yes, because that was 140 hours of total gameplay. I will
Steve:have to, I've got about halfway through and I need to go back to it, but the fact that it ended well, you said I
Stephen:loved the ending. You know, I was, I've played the first one twice, second one once, and now this one. And. It's just a really good series. And this one, I just feel that it's a, it honors fans of the first two. Excellent. Yes, I know
Steve:like it almost felt like after playing the first two, that the ties to the first one from the second one were kinda like thrown in in the last act or the last minute. But I could tell, and from what I've heard and rumbles on the internet, this one really connects the two together. Yes. But.
Stephen:I won't say how or anything like that, but it's not, what you could say is like, I don't know. I, I won't even go into it just because it, you have to see how it all
Steve:connects. But if you're a fan of deep game play mechanics in 140 hour rpg, it's definitely worth the time. Would you play it all again if you
Stephen:could? I would. I wouldn't play it again right now. Yes. But I would play it again and it may not take somebody 140. You know me. I like to explore everything. Yes, you do. Now what's been making you happy? Pretty
Steve:little. Nope, just kidding. It's one of us is lying. The series on Peacock. I missed somehow last year Uhhuh, when they had season one, but I just saw them announcing season two and I watched it and it legit is pretty little liars, except they're not all women. There's like a gay guy, a straight guy, and two girls. But other than that it's very pretty Little Liars. Or if someone dies mysteriously in the first episode and the suspects are the four people and one of us is lying and it just, you know, if you like Pretty Little Liars and you haven't heard or of, or checked out, one of us is lying on Peacock. I definitely recommend checking it out cuz everything that I loved about Pretty Little Wire. Like the mysteries mixed with the team drama. Were all here and done really well. Mm-hmm. like I blew through that season and in a day. But it was a good watch and I can't wait to check out season
two.
Stephen:Excellent. The parts that I saw seem very good. Yes.
Steve:Maybe I'll catch you up on what happened in season once we watch season two together. That's okay. All right,
Stephen:Now why do we love Chucky?
Steve:I love the series Chucky because it's horror, which we love. Yeah. But it's also silly and camp. It's been interesting seeing how the series evolved, but even going back to just this one child's play, I think that it holds up extremely well with the test of time, while also still getting to see a lot of nostalgia of the time. And everyone always, you know, had a doll or had a figure and the idea of it coming alive as something that I feel like everyone worried about at one point or another way. Before Annabelle. Yeah, there was Chucky
Stephen:and what, so like the, this one and the second one were definitely horror. The third one was a horror movie that was unintentionally campy. And for those of our listeners that don't remember, intentional camp is where you go over the top on purpose. The third one was unintentional camp to the point where some most people go, Ooh, that's the bad one in the series. Yes. And then you had Bride of Chucky, which was intentionally campy and went more towards horror comedy. The seed of Chucky
Steve:turned that up to
Stephen:11. Yep. And then you have Curse of Chucky, which went back to horror. Yeah. And then you had Cult of Chucky, which merged everything between the horror and the camp perfectly. And that led us to the TV series Chucky,
Steve:which is phenomenal. And you're a fan of her or the genre at all, and you're not watching Chucky on sci-fi. Yeah, you gotta check it
Stephen:out and. If you look at the series as a whole, they totally accept. All the craziness.
Steve:All, all of it. You know, we've talked in the past about series like Halloween that have had reboots or remakes or different timelines. Different timelines. Mm-hmm. and this one especially like they officially in the TV show were like, No. All that crazy fucked up shit happened. Yes. Even three, Yes. Even five. All of it happened and we're not sorry. And I just love something about that, that it's unapologetically itself. I mean, sure there was the one remake that bombed a couple years ago, but I'm think it's best that we all forgot about
Stephen:that. Yeah. And it wasn't horrible in its own. I just, I think it could have. Being called anything but child's play. Yeah. And it probably would've been better off. Mm-hmm. Now, what does IMDB tell us That this movie is about?
Steve:A single mother gives her son a much sought after doll for his birthday only to discover that it's possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
Stephen:Good job. I am D. That's exactly what
Steve:happens. Yes. And child's play was released on November 9th, 1988, which is weird because it's just after Halloween. You would've thought that they would've tried to get it out on time for Halloween. One
Stephen:would think there must have been something right around that time that it was up against.
Steve:Yes, and it was directed by Tom Holland. From a screenplay he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia based on Mancini's story. This
Stephen:is not to be confused with the 20 some year old actor that plays Spiderman. This is a different Tom
Steve:before he was born. Yes, Yes. And what's interesting is while Don Mancini and John Lafia helped create the story, they were barred from set. And after threatening to sue Tom Holland over a writing credit, And
Stephen:it's kind of interesting now that whenever you think of the Chucky and Child's play series, Don Mancini is the name that is associated with it entirely.
Steve:Yes. So things have changed with that. But with a budget of$9 million, the movie Gross, more than 44 million leading to a cult following and a franchise that continues on as we discuss today.
Stephen:And you know, that's really good for a movie that. Nothing going for it except people's fear of my body. Dolls. Yeah. Yeah.
Steve:and the first draft of the script was completed in December of 1985 and referenced Chucky as Buddy who came to life after mixing blood with Andy and killed those who basically pissed Andy off like a babysitter and a teacher manifesting Andy's loneliness and isolation from an overworked mother and absent. In addition to being a more psychologically driven horror film, buddy also only came alive at night when Andy was. Many scenes from later sequels originated in this draft like Angie's Andy's teacher's death and the climax set in the toy factory from child's play two.
Stephen:Mm-hmm. And you know the ending with the blood mixing with the melted plastic that begins to swirl child's play three. And Andy's teenage babysitter getting electrocuted bright of Chucky. Yes. And Buddy was supposed to have a pull string on his back to speak, and later when it was revealed he was alive, he would pull it further out of his back. To the point where his voice deepens and tries to use the string to strangle Karen, Andy's mom.
Steve:Yes. So funny story of what could have been. Yes. But I like what we got. Although I'm never opposed to a psychological thriller. I think that they did this the right way, having it be more, you know, it's Chucky.
Stephen:Yep. So Charles Lee Ray is a serial killer known as the Lake Shore Strangler, and he's being chased by Detective Mike Norris. Eddie Caputo, his partner is waiting for Charles in the getaway. Mike shoots Charles in the back as they're running, and an approaching police car scares Eddie into driving off, leaving Charles behind. Pisses Charles off Yeah, and Charles shoots off the lock and enters a toy store. Mike lands another shot on Charles, and Charles realizes that he's dying, but before he dies, he grabs a good guy doll and does a strange voodoo chant, which is called the dumbala chant, which goes a dumbala. Give me the power I beg of you. Dark clouds appear, lightning strikes, and the toy store blows up. The only thing left for Mike to find is Charles' dead body. Lying next to a good guy, doll.
Steve:Yes, and I feel like they had this happen really quick, but it tells you exactly what you need to know about Charles Lee Ray and the setup and how this all happened so that as we get prepared for what's ahead, we kind of are more on the side of knowing that it is Chucky and that it's not Andy. Yeah.
Stephen:They don't even really go. A lot of Charles Lee Ray's crimes until the Chucky TV series when we start finding out his childhood and things. Yep.
Steve:But Charles Lee Ray, the name is an amalgam of famous killers like Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray. Now
Stephen:I a child of the eighties. You were two at the time? Yes. I recognized some toys in the toy story. I, like I even pointed out last night, I was like, it's the original Fireball Island board game, which is one of the best board games to come out of the eighties. Yes.
Steve:And a couple years ago, you, you got us the Kickstarter reboot or whatever. I sure did. Yes. I didn't recognize. Toys in the store is having them. But I certainly have seen them in pop culture before, like the different dolls and things like that. And
Stephen:something funny I saw on the wall in the toy store. Charles was running around, was that there was a good guy. Machine gun. Yes. Which kind of cracks me up that, you know, like Andy gets the good guy. Toolkit set. Yeah. Which, that makes sense. But there's a good guy, machine gun that doesn't make as much sense an
Steve:interesting choice. Yeah. Now a possible translation of the chant, which is Haitian Creole, but often mistaken as French
Stephen:is. I call to the dumbala, Give me the power. I beg of you. Leave me mercy from this mortal coil. Grant me life beyond death. Move my mortal soul into this vessel I command to the dumbala. And it's repeated. Yeah, several times. So,
Steve:and I tried that on Remy and it didn't work.
Stephen:You tried to move your soul into Remy or he has the best life
Steve:ever and I just wanted to be like him, but it didn't work. It's fiction.
Stephen:I know, but do you know like how weird that would've been for me? Oh
Steve:yeah. Yeah. Huh. But I would've been living the best life.
Stephen:Congratulations. I would've also had a 30 something year old husband that thinks it's a puppy. Yes. Just as I
Steve:hold up Remy, like you all can see him
Stephen:right? It's not, It's not a video podcast. This one is just for the ears only. Yes. Now
Steve:Andy sees a commercial for the good guy doll on tv. He's obsessed with good guys, cereal, clothing, all the good stuff. Yep. Now he wants one for his birthday, which is today. Unfortunately, there's no good guy, doll inside the large present. Just a bunch of clothes. Boo. Andy's mother, Karen, didn't know about the doll in time to save up. Coworker and best friend Maggie comes up with a solution. There is a peddler in the alley who sells a good guide doll to Karen for$50 or$30 or
Stephen:$30. They got it down to 30 instead of the a hundred at retail stores, which has a great price. And a hundred in 1988 is like
Steve:two or 300 today. Yeah, that's a lot. At work, Karen's boss is a dick and says, Mrs. Howe is taken six. So she has to work overtime and fill her place. Who cares about her son and how he gets home? Yeah. Who cares that it's his birthday? Yeah. Maggie says she'll babysit Andy and nothing bad will happen. Mm-hmm. Andy's filled with joy having finally received as good guy doll. The doll introduces. Hi,
Stephen:I'm Chucky. I'm your friend till the end. Heidi ho
Steve:which is creepy. Yeah. Katherine Hicks, who placed Karen on set. Met Kevin Yeager, who's chucky's creator in the special effects genius who brought him to life and on set. They met and were married one year later. So
Stephen:I grew up watching Katherine Hicks as the wife of a minister on seventh heaven on. Wb. Oh, that's her.
Steve:Yeah, I watch
Stephen:that too. Yeah. Oh, look at that. So that's where she, she goes from the mother of a Demonn toy to the mother of Demonn children in Jessica Alba. There we
Steve:go. Yes. Now, did your parents ever go above and beyond when getting you
Stephen:a gift? So whenever I was turning 12, I finally convinced them that I want, was wanted a puppy. And I would go around going, I'm getting a puppy, I'm getting a puppy. And mom and dad were good enough to drive all over the state to different, I guess you would call them breeders. You know, people that had puppies for sale back then. There was no internet. Yeah. So you had to look in the newspaper ads and then call the phone numbers and like make appointments and stuff and drive two hours. And there wasn't any way to get a picture of the puppies ahead of time. So it was, we went to a lot of different places. Trying a bunch of different dogs.
Steve:And you finally found
Stephen:Apollo. Apollo the Dalmatian, and he was absolutely wonderful. Now what about you? What did you find?
Steve:Well, I was always pretty good at getting what I wanted for my presence and while I was young and spoiled. But I remember one year, the year the Game Cube came out, my parents like literally tried to find it everywhere. And when I got the box with my brother, like we both got it on Christmas like. Weird. Like it was dented on the side. And after, like they finally told me afterwards that or I found out when Angelo, my cousin-in-law who is involved with the mob apparently after my parents tried all the normal outlets, Angelo, they resorted to having him help them fall, have it fall off the back of a truck.
Stephen:Only in New York. Only in New
Steve:York, and it's j it was just, I. Actually like pretty proud of my parents cuz normally they like they turned down their nose on the whole Yeah. Connections in the mafia. Whatever he was involved in that was unconfirmed or not, you know, not denied. Yeah. But I know that through his illicit connections we were able to get a back market or a black market game cube. Congratulations. It was so worth it. It was such a good system. Now
Stephen:Aunt Maggie says that it's time for bed. She's gonna regret that later. Yeah. Andy says that Chucky wants to watch the nine o'clock news. Really a nine o'clock news.
Steve:Yeah, I guess it was before prime time went until 10. Ugh.
Stephen:Yeah.
Steve:And Maggie finds the TV turned back on and Chucky's sitting in front of it. She disrespectfully carries Chucky down the hall by one arm, barely missing, knocking him into walls and door frames. She tucks Andy in bed with
Stephen:Chucky. Now she startled by noise while she's reading by herself out in the family room, and she think the noise is coming from down the hallway caused by Andy. As she explores and hears another noise, she finds a jar of spilled flour on the floor in the kitchen. She goes to clean it up, and as she leans up, she screams and gets a hammer in the face. She stumbles backwards, crashes through the kitchen window, and falls several stories to her death landing on the roof of a truck.
Steve:Yes. And that must have been some hell of a swing cuz she flew back like six feet or stumbled down six feet and right out the window. But I love the little touch of having it be the flower because it's the type of thing that as we see, leaves footprints behind, right? And so it is that perfect little clue that, you know, something isn't how it appears. And
Stephen:there are shoe print. In the flower on the kitchen counter.
Steve:Yes. Detective Mike Norris looks at the souls of Andy's pajama shoes. They're the same design, although he doesn't notice it. But like Andy's feet are bigger than Chucky's
Stephen:feet. I mean, I mean that, I mean, that is the clear thing where Andy is a six year old and the Chucky is the doll. Right. Which would have shoe size of about a two or a three year old. Yeah.
Steve:So yes, they're the same design because he is wearing. Good guy.
Stephen:Pajamas, pajama shoes. Yes. Which that just seems, Would you wanna wear shoes to bed first of all? Well, not
Steve:shoes, but like I would have like those little foots on like
Stephen:pajamas. I know, but I don't think that those, these seem to have like rubber souls. I don't know. But
Steve:it's storyline. Yes. Karen says that Andy doesn't know how the footprints got there and just leave it alone. Yes. Mike points out that somebody made those footprints. So if it's not Andy, then. I don't know. Andy finds that Chucky has flower on the bottom of his shoes
Stephen:and he runs and tell he's a snitch. Yep.
Steve:Mike and Karen, don't believe Andy about Chucky being the killer by after Mike leaves, Karen finds Andy talking to Chucky. His real
Stephen:name is Charles Lee. Ray. He was sent down from Heaven by Daddy to play with me. Also adding. He says that Maggie was a real bitch and she got what she deserved. which I
Steve:love. Yeah. Just how calmly and coldly he says it because he doesn't realize the severity at that age of the words that he's saying. Yeah, and
Stephen:of course, mommy, Karen scolds him for saying that and tries to convince Andy. That Chucky is dull and not alive like he says.
Steve:Now, do you remember the My buddy doll line? My
Stephen:buddy. My buddy, my buddy and me, and then they released one for girls called Kid Sister. Kid Sister? Yeah. There's a whole thing. And they each had theme songs.
Steve:Well, apparently it was like the doll of the time. Oh yeah. Sons Chucky happened
Stephen:because they. Eerily similar. Yes. And like there were threats of lawsuits and shit. Oh,
Steve:yeah. Because I mean, originally it was going to, like Chucky's name was going to be buddy. Yeah. Like, they were not playing coy until they were had to for legally. But yeah, they said that the, the retail value and like the success of that business diminish drastically and never recovered after these movies. And
Stephen:it wasn't that the children didn't want them, the parents
Steve:didn't want them. Exactly. I mean, would you buy a my buddy doll for a child after watching this movie? Not even a little bit. Not even a child. You don't like?
Stephen:No And, and if I remember correctly, I don't think that my buddy dolls talked. I think that they were just like two and a half foot tall dolls. Okay.
Steve:Well, Chucky came to life with a mixture of two and a half foot dolls. Yep. Special. Children and little people. Now, as we mentioned, like originally it was gonna be like a guess who, is it Andy, or is it Chucky? Right. Do you, do you like knowing that it's Chucky from the beginning or do you think they could have toyed with the whole, maybe Andy's doing it for a little bit longer?
Stephen:Well, I think that it was really good the way they did do it because until we saw the flower on the feet mm-hmm. you didn't know if it was Andy or. Because of like, there had been no clue that the doll was alive. No head turn, no wink, no blink. And I don't know, I, I think for the scene that's coming up, Like right after this. Yeah. They had to already show us that it was alive or it wouldn't really make sense.
Steve:Yeah. Because as we see, Andy take Chucky to school with him, and then when Karen leaves, he skips out and goes in the other direction. He takes the L train to a house where Eddie Caputo's hiding, and obviously if this wasn't Chucky, he wouldn't be doing this. Right. He puts Chucky in the chair and leaves to go Tinkle. Yeah. Chucky in the first person point of view, enters the. opens the oven, blows out the pilot light and turns on the gas. Eddie's awoken by the noise he approaches the kitchen door, opens it and shoots leading the house to blow up. Yeah. And we don't really hear about Eddie Caputo like ever again except for one or two throwaway lines in bright of Chucky. Mm-hmm. But I just think it's interesting cuz they, they were very big on, like, he had a partner. He had a partner and so oftentimes we hear of like the famous serial killers of the time, like how they do it alone. Mm-hmm. And so it's just interesting that like a lot of them were like, No, it's just Chucky.
Stephen:Now in the police station, Karen tells Andy that if he doesn't start telling the truth, they're gonna take him away from her. And every child's worst nightmare with good parents Yeah. Is being taken away from their parents. So Andy tries to get Chucky to say something, even smacking Chucky around a little bit. Yeah. And Chucky does not say anything, but Andy seems to, you know, understand a little bit. And he goes, He told me never to tell about him or he'd kill me,
Steve:which, Work surprisingly good on children.
Stephen:Now, would you think that Andy was guilty or would you be open to a more supernatural Chucky? Did it answer if you were his
Steve:mother? If I was his mother or father or I, like, I knew the kid well and this was the story that they were creating, I would be open to, to believing it. I would at least like take the doll and like put it in the fire or something like Karen tries to do later. Yeah, I would
Stephen:throw the doll away or something like that at the very least because like if somebody came to us and said, Remy killed your next door neighbors. I would first say Which ones? Yeah. Because is it the ones we really like weren't the other ones? And then I'd be like, No, it wasn't Remy. And you know, Remy told us that it was his, it was his chew toy doll. The stuff unicorn came to life. The stuff unicorn came to life. And if Remy told us that, I would believe that that stuffed unicorn had come to life. I think it's about the child that, you know. Andy doesn't, I mean, we see it even from the first scene with Andy in the movie. It's his birthday, but he made his mother breakfast in bed. Yeah. That's the type of kid he is. He's not a killer. Yes. He's, and especially Aunt Maggie that he loves so much. Yeah. Yeah. This, I, I would think anything but that he did
Steve:it. Yes. Well, Dr. Ardmore feels like he's seen. Maybe an D should spend a few days with them. A 72 hour hold on. A six year old? Yes. Back in the apartment. Karen is now wanting Chucky to say something. She picks up the box and the batteries fall out. Oh. They were still in the box yet. He's been talking the whole time.
Stephen:And he's been doing all the Chucky lines the whole time
Steve:too. Yep. She opens the dolls battery compartment and it's empty while the head spins are in and says, Hi, I'm Chucky. Wanna. And she
Stephen:screams, drops the doll in fright, rightfully, and it rolls slash crawls under the couch. And later she gets it and she threatens to throw the doll in the fire. If it doesn't talk and it does talk and say, You stupid bitch. You filthy slut. I'll teach you to fuck with me. And then Chucky bites her arm and she throws him off and Chucky runs. And there's an elevator going down. And so Karen's running down the stairs, not as fast as she probably could. She must be in heels or something like that. Yeah. And by the time she gets at the ground floor, the elevator's already open. Somebo. He's already out the front door. She runs out and nowhere to
Steve:be seen. Yes. Now, now that Chucky is talking, I find it funny that all of Brad Doffs voice work for Chucky was recorded in advance so they can match up Chucky's mouth with the words, which makes. But because of this, dorf rarely ever appeared on set during the doll scenes. Instead, recording of his voices would be played back for Alex Vincent to go by. However, Dwarf did act out the dolls movements during rehearsals, which you can see in the making of videos with the DVDs. Now, by
Stephen:this point, ki started to believe before he came alive that Andy was telling the truth. Let's say you had a build a bear that you. Like the ones that we built that are the Pokemon bill of bears. Get you an ev. Yeah. Now, if it started to come to life in your arms, would your first reaction as an adult be, Ah, it's a demonn, or, Oh, it's my own Pokemon. It
Steve:depends on how it acts when it comes alive. Okay? Because if it, if it comes alive saying, You stupid bitch, you filthy slut. Yeah. I'll know that it's a problem and that it also knows me. But
Stephen:or if it just said
Steve:beka. Beka, Yeah. If it said that I'd be totally down for a stuffed animal coming to life. If it wasn't a creepy Chucky, do Okay, Now Karen runs to Mike Norris, but even the bite mark on our arm won't convince him that Andy was telling. Karen's off to find the peddler who solds her doll with Mike's warning her that it's not a good part of town to be in at this time of night. She goes off and finds the peddler and asks him where he got the doll from. I wanna
Stephen:pause right there for a second. Yeah. Because she works in a big department store. Yeah. Somehow during the day it's fine to work there and things, but it's not a good part of town at night. Mm-hmm. I find that interesting that. Either the department store's in the slums or everyone leaves that part of town and it's left to the vagrant at that point, which is
Steve:just, I mean, I guess in a big city like this, anything's possible. Yeah, the peddler is more interested in getting a rapey than her money this time. And as he's getting ready to assault Karen, Mike arrives, waving his gun around to scare away the other people and rough handling the peddler to talk. He found the Do a Burn Down toy Store at Wobo. Mike says Charles Lee Ray died.
Stephen:Now if you couldn't tell with a big revelation about the batteries, the original working title for this film was Batteries Not Included. But there's a problem with that because I remember growing up watching a Steven Spielberg movie called Batteries. Batteries not included.
Steve:It was then changed to Bloody Buddy,
Stephen:which is
Steve:an awful name. Well, also, they weren't allowed to call him Buddy. Yep. So that's why they settled on child's play. Yep.
Stephen:Now, if I remember correctly, batteries not. Was Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronan who found these robotic like creatures in a shed on top of an apartment building that were alive. And she would feed them with nuts and bolts and things like that. And I believe they turned out to be alien species, but were really friendly and it was a really cute movie. Very different
Steve:than child's play. Yes, very much so. Now, Mike goes to the police station to get the Charles Lee Ray file to do some more investigating and went back inside the car and driving. Chucky starts strangling Mike with a cord. Mike loses control of the car, grabbing the cigarette lighter and burns Chucky in the face with it leading to a very ugly little mark for the rest of the movie. Yep. Chucky's stabbing him through the back of the seats and the car is flipped upside down. Chucky says that Mike can't hurt him, but when Mike lands a shot on Chucky, it actually does hurt. The bullet wound bleeds too. And I just think it's interesting in this scene, I'm like, Yeah, that's where he would've normally used his string cuz they, you know, in real life they called Charles Lee, Ray the Strangler Uhhuh So he
Stephen:was gonna be the Lake Shore strangler. And you know, we talked that it was gonna be his pull cord in the back. Now do you prefer the idea of the doll being Chucky, the strang? Or do you like him being Chucky, the stabber that he is these days?
Steve:I love how creative Chucky gets with some of his deaths. Uhhuh you know, there's always the good old cla, classic stabbing, but there is something about strangling that's just somewhere much more personal and violent.
Stephen:Do you think it would've pigeonholed him, or do you think they would've moved away from that at some point? I think they
Steve:have to give more of a variety in the way that he kills. As we see even later on, he doesn't resort to one way of disposing of his victims. He'll use whatever's handy, and that's what you gotta love in a serial killer enthusiasm and the ability to adapt to the
Stephen:environment. Well, I mean, even if you look at the screen movies, everybody is stabbed Yeah. Until the third movie when they blow up the house. Yes. And which I think that's why that scene sticks out for me so much because it was so different than everything. Yes.
Steve:Now Chuckie visits voodoo priest, John Bishop, to find out what's going on. John explained that Chucky's turning human, The more times he spends inside the dial, the more human he becomes. Chucky doesn't like this and wants a way out. At First John Refuse. You're an abomination, an outrage against nature. You perverted everything I've taught you and use it for evil, and you have to be stopped.
Stephen:Chucky says that he thought something like this might happen, so he brings out a voodoo doll of John breaking his arm and his leg, and John says that Chucky needs to transfer his soul into the first. Who he told he was alive, which happens to be little Andy Chucky. Thanks John for this information and goes ahead and stabs at the Voodoo doll in the heart. Anyway, Mike and Karen arrive and John stays alive long enough to tell him about Chucky's Plan to transfer his soul into Andy. He says, Chucky's heart is almost human and the only way to kill Chucky is through the heart and with. John dies at the end.
Steve:Yes. Now, despite their long running collaborative effort to bring Chucky to life voice actor, Brad Dorf and the special effects wizard, Kevin Yeager never actually met in person until they were both guests at a horror convention in May, 2018. They did this all without ever meeting in real life. 30 years later. That's crazy. Yes. Now, if you had a working voodoo doll of someone, would you be tempted to use it? Yep. How far would you go with it? Would you stab it in the
Stephen:heart? I would not stab it in the. I think there would be times where I would pull its hair. Mm-hmm. or pinch it. Mm-hmm. or maybe little pins. Mm-hmm. I would not break its arms or its legs. I think that's a little far, but some. Little bits of pain might make me
Steve:feel better. Well, especially since I know exactly who you would want the doll of. We'll just leave it at that, but least it's not me.
Stephen:Its not you do. What about you? Would you
Steve:have a voodoo doll? I don't have anyone in my life right now that I would want to use one on, but there are certainly having times where having one would've been handy like when I was at.
Stephen:Now Chucky arrives at the institution where Andy is being held and he finds the keys and unlocks the door. He pulls off the bed cover, ready to stab Andy and finds it's a pillow underneath. Andy runs out the room, which he should have locked the door behind him. Stupid. Six year
Steve:old? Yes. Now question. Why is like he trying to stab him? If he's trying to take over his. I didn't
get
Stephen:that thing. Maybe he wasn't actually going to stab him and he was just gonna threaten him with a knife and make him hold still.
Steve:Okay, I'll take it now. Dr. Armour grabs the holds of Andy and tries to inject him with something to sedate him. Chucky picks up a scalpel and stabs the doctor in the back of the leg. The doctor falls to the floor and then Chucky sticks an electric band on the doctor's head and turns up the voltage. The doctor's face goes black and blood comes out of his mouth dead.
Stephen:Now you can tell that this is the eighties because they're still doing electroshock therapy, which I know still happens. But not as often that there would've been a room ready for it.
Steve:Yes. And I just love these over the top death scenes that the series later becomes famous for. Absolutely.
Stephen:I love that they will push the envelope with their death scenes.
Steve:Yes. Now Andy returns home because where else would a kid go when he is running away? Yep. And barricades the door. He finds a baseball bat in the. Chucky comes down the chimney like Santa Claus, except this
Stephen:ain't no Santa,
Steve:and kicks down the fire guard. Andy takes the bat at Chucky and misses Chucky, knocks Andy out with the bat, and he starts the BOL chant.
Stephen:Now this is a big rapid fire action as Mike and Karen break through Andy's barrier at the front door. Karen tries to grab Chucky. But he reverses the hold. Mike throws Chucky off. Karen Chucky slices Mike in the back of the leg, but not in the achilles tendon like he did with the doctor. He stabs Mike in the crotch with a baseball bat at what appears to be a very fast velocity. Yes. And then hits him in the head with it, knocking him. Karen shoots Chucky in the leg, and then Karen cages Chucky in the fireplace. Chucky tries to fake nice and says, No, Andy. We're friends to the end. Remember, To which j Andy replies this is the end friend, which, I mean, that's a cheering line
Steve:right there. Yeah, that is awesome. I mean, lights Chucky on fire and he gets the first aid kit for Mike. But Chuck, he has disappeared. A small foot trips Andy and a black burnt Chucky is following Andy with a. Karen shoots at Chucky the doll's head, the right arm and the left leg come off. Karen shoots the body twice.
Stephen:Oh, and now like we know at this point that they don't really have the technology to have a doll be moving around like this. How did this
Steve:happen? Well, in this scene in particular, Ed Gale, a little person, was hired to play as Chucky for the fire scene, but since he was around about 30% taller than the doll, the filmmakers created a living room replica stage that was 30% bigger than the actual living room and was actually set on fire that.
Stephen:Amazing to do that. I love that because when you're watching it, he looks the size of the doll. Yeah. So Bravo to the filmmakers for
Steve:that one. Yeah. Now Mike's partner, Jack Santos, appears literally out of nowhere. Yeah. Where's he been? This whole movie. And Mike shares that the doll's alive. Jack does not believe them until the doll's body pops out of the air vent and starts strangling. Jack. Pretty strong for a one-armed, one-legged headless.
Stephen:One eyed, one horn
Steve:flying Purple people leader. Now Karen gets the body off. Jack and Mike shoots the body in the heart. Blood spatters and chucky's. Finally dead. For now. For now, the head finishes off with the last quote.
Stephen:Hi, I'm Chucky. Wanna play
Steve:and the film ends with a free stream of Andy's forlorn look as he walks out the door. Ugh.
Stephen:So, I mean, there's so much to unpack at the end. I. Like whenever the police come in, they're gonna see blood splatter on the wall and are you going to tell them it's the doll? Or what are you going to say? Did all of this, like, I feel
Steve:like there's a reason why they didn't have the afterward ending the explaining this all away. There's even when they ask the partner like, Do you believe us now? He's like, I do, but I don't know who's gonna believe me. Yeah.
Stephen:and I mean, it does, you know, they. They probably didn't know there was gonna be a sequel at that time, but it's the eighties and the eighties. Love nothing more than horror sequels.
Steve:So I think that they did it. This is great where you can watch it and think that it ended, but also know that Chucky's gonna be back.
Stephen:Yep. Seven films total and a TV series now on its second season.
Steve:Yes. And so what are your final thoughts on the movie as a
Stephen:whole? I really, really like the movie. Little six year old kid did a good job with his acting in the movie. Mm-hmm. They played it really well. Know the disbelief and the fear and everything. I liked the practical effects that they used. I think it was really well done, and as we said, I think it holds up after 30 years.
Steve:It does. Yes. So we would love to hear what you think about both child's play as well as Chuckie, the series and where it's gone. You can do that by getting in touch with us with email at happy life podd gmail.com
Stephen:or you can get in touch with us on all the socials. Whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok at Happy Life Pod and until next time, everyone,
Steve:stay happy.