Child's Play

Review by Peter

Production Year: 1988
DVD Release Date: September 28, 1999
Studio: MGM
Director: Tom Holland
Cast: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon
Genre: Horror
MPAA Rating: R

The 1980's would see the rise of four of the most popular horror franchises: Friday the 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Hellraiser and last but no less loved, Child's Play. Each of these franchises are more recognizable by their "monster" than by name. Friday the 13th will forever be associated with Jason, the deformed "monster" who eventually would sport a hockey mask, even though this character was not in the original movie (except for a few seconds in the final scene). A Nightmare On Elm Street will always haunt peoples dreams because of Freddy Kruger, a severely burned killer who inhabits the dreams of children on Elm Street. Hellriaser will forever be remembered for Pinhead, a character driven by suffering and made recognizable by the pins in his head. And Child's Play will always be remembered for turning a cute children’s toy into a murderous doll named Chucky.

The plot for Child’s Play is as simple and ludicrous as those of many horror films. Andy Barclay’s birthday is fast approaching, and he asks his mother, Karen (Catherine Hicks), for a "Good Guy" doll. Unable to find the doll for sale, Mom resorts to buying it from a street peddler. Unfortunately, the doll she buys is no ordinary doll, it is Chucky, the "Good Guy" doll that a murderer named Charles Lee Ray possessed when he was wounded in a confrontation with police. Andy soon learns that Chucky is no "Good Guy", as the pint-sized demon wastes little time in wreaking havoc, getting revenge and planning his future, one that Andy plays a major role in. But time is running out and Chucky must act fast before he is trapped as a "Good Guy" forever.

The Child's Play franchise, while not as good as some of the others in this reviewer’s opinion, still produced some noteworthy (and scary) flicks. The original remains one of the most frightening of the franchise, especially for children. After all, how many adults are afraid of a doll that barely tops 2 feet? Without a doubt the original film is far removed from where the Child's Play franchise would head, as it seemed to transition from a franchise to scare the heck out of fans to a franchise that might be considered horror/comedy. Anyone who saw Bride of Chucky or Seed of Chucky can attest to the fact that these movies did a better job at making viewers laugh than it did of scaring them.

Video Quality

This DVD, being released in 1999, does not feature the stunning picture quality that we come to expect from new releases. The picture quality and specifications are quite disappointing. While the movie was filmed in widescreen (1.85:1), the DVD has only been released in the full screen format, made all the more shocking by the fact that the DVD was released overseas in the widescreen format. The picture does suffer from some very light grain but the biggest flaw are digital artifacts. While these do not make this movie any less enjoyable these problems simply should not exist. The only other complaints that I have are that at times the colors seem dull and the lighting a little dark. Despite these flaws, and the fact that your only choice is between this and a VHS tape version, I would say that the picture quality of this DVD beats that of a VHS hands down, especially a videotape that has been watched more than once.

Audio Quality

As this DVD has only been released in full screen it was no surprise that the audio was also subpar. We are presented with only two tracks, one an English Dolby Surround track and the other a French Dolby Surround track. The use of the surround sound is good, however at times I felt that the background music was up a tad high. This was especially noticeable when you hear dialogue over it. English and French subtitles are also included.

Special Features

In line with the other subpar specifications of this DVD it is no surprise that the special features were a downer. All we are blessed (or cursed with depending on your tastes) is a two-minute trailer.

Summary

While Child's Play may not be the "best" horror franchise ever, it does deserve a better treatment on DVD than this. I can think of more than a dozen titles that not only did not deserve special treatment but should have never even been released theatrically. The good thing about this DVD is that it at least has better staying power than a VHS cassette. There is a glimmer of hope, however, that horror fans may be blessed with a 20th anniversary edition shortly, since the movie was originally released in 1988 and 2008 is right around the corner. If you can't wait till then you may want to pick this up because you can never guess what the movie studios are thinking when it comes to re-releases.