Child's Play

Scary, yet darkly funny, this thriller of the supernatural from the director of the terrific Fright Night moves with the speed of a bullet train and with style to burn. The film is a stunner--in all senses of the word.

Director Tom Holland keeps things moving along, turning the entire film into a pretty ruthlessly efficient scare delivery system.

Child's Play is junk fun. [09 Nov 1988, p.95]

Child's Play has some limp dialogue among the clever touches. Its appeal is clearly for upscale horror fans rather than a general movie audience. Yet it is a fitting successor to the classic television horror stories it takes off from.

The premise of Child's Play, in which the murderer is a much-merchandised doll patterned after cartoon characters known as Good Guys, is long overdue. Unfortunately, the package in which the present arrives is often too little, sometimes too much, and always too late. [11 Nov 1988]

Buoyed by a good cast, strong direction, and excellent effects, Child's Play almost works. Unfortunately, the screenplay is full of plot holes, lapses of logic, and missed opportunities.

Child's Play would probably be sickening if it weren't so relentlessly stupid.

Good. Of importance for it's relevance to 80's , classic, soft horror movie and the birth of an iconic character. First movie in the series ...often referenced (o mocked) in other film. Serious tone and less humorous that other child's Play movie. Watchable without much problem because it's isn't gory and disturbing like "modern" horror - slasher movie. It could be a good introduction to 80's horror

If you can get past the inherent silliness of all the voodoo magic, spontaneous lightning storms and reincarnated serial killers, this one actually isn’t half bad. In a genre that’s often defined by its willingness to play fast and loose with reality, I’ve certainly been asked to believe in worse than a possessed Cabbage Patch Kid. Chucky is the name of this little terror, as I’m sure you’re already well aware: bloodthirsty validation for everyone who was ever creeped out by the leering gaze of a forgotten baby doll in their bedroom closet. This particular red-haired monstrosity harbors the spirit of a psychopath and, after his whispering game of deception with a six-year-old boy is sussed out, he grows brazen in search of a life beyond the Playskool universe. The first act is a tough ask, cheesy and low-rent as can be, but as the tension improves and the atmosphere gathers, the production also gets its act together. Right around the time Chucky leads his young owner into a bad neighborhood and triggers a gas explosion, leveling an old tenement building, everything hits full stride. If you’ve made it that far, you’ve earned the ensuing rewards. While I would never call it smart, the story then finds its way; knocking off former associates, the doll leverages the adults’ skepticism to, literally, get away with murder. The action scenes progress from cheap, implausible jump scares to claustrophobic ambushes, much better suited to the small, slight perpetrator. Chucky’s appearance, too, improves by leaps and bounds. As the doll grows more audacious, his expression gradually shifts from a vacant, mass-produced grin into something more animated and sinister, climaxing in a fully-articulated sneer that not even a raging inferno can wipe away. I wonder how many cast members actually thought this story was going to amount to anything. No doubt, several reflected upon their professional choices as they shook a lifeless toy above their head and mustered their best tortured screams. Catherine Hicks, who plays the fraught single mother, is asked to do most of that heavy lifting and I think I caught a few hints of “what am I doing with my life” in her close encounters with the doll. She troops on, though, brows continuously furrowed in a blend of fright and disbelief, and serves as the anchor this concept so desperately needs. A little dash of recognizable humanity amidst a vortex of impossibility.

Chucky is funny, the kid acting is pretty good, the setup and premise is awesome.

It's not ok! Chucky made me laugh a lot .but it's a good movie, why not? For 1988..

I did watched "Child's Play" as a kid, which I'm not old enough, and as an adult, I didn't like it vey much. I found this movie silly and creepy when Chucky comes to live and starts killing people. And that was disappointing when Andy was in terrorized situation and being put to the mental hospital. So "Child's Play" is not one of my childhood for years. I thought that was scary and I didn't give recommendation for that. Sorry.