Product Details

• Actors: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif, Dinah Manoff
• Directors: Tom Holland
• Writers: Tom Holland, Don Mancini, John Lafia
• Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, David Kirschner, Elliot Geisinger, Laura Moskowitz
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM Home Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: April 27, 1995
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (208 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792836634
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,775 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)

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  Video > Horror > Things That Go Bump > Occult

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Horror maestro Tom Holland (Fright Night) brought wit and devilish energy to this 1988 scarefest about a murderer (Brad Dourif) who wills his soul into an innocuous doll named Chucky, and reveals himself only to the toy's owner, a frightened little boy. Catherine Hicks plays the child's mother, and Chris Sarandon a detective; neither of them knows what to make of the kid's story. Monster-doll stories are always wonderfully surreal, and Child's Play is no exception. Holland oversees some finely tuned special effects that allow Chucky to express himself and do some damage--it is truly unnerving but somehow good, subversive fun. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

The "chills come thick and fast" (Los Angeles Times) as voodoo and terror meet within an innocent-looking doll inhabited by the soul of a serial killer who isn't ready to die. From the Director of Fright Night comes a "clever, playful" (The New York Times) and stylish thriller with "excellent special effects" (Leonard Maltin) and heart-pounding suspense guaranteed to scare! After 6-year-old Andy Barclay's (Alex Vincent) babysitter is violently pushed out of a window to her death, nobody believes him when he says that "Chucky," his new birthday doll, did it! Untilthings start going terribly wrong dead wrong. And when an ensuing rampage of gruesome murders lead a detective (Chris Sarandon) back to the same toy, he discovers that the real terror has just begun'the deranged doll has plans to transfer his evil spirit into a living human beingyoung Andy!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dewee Day Dem Bal Ah Give me the 20th Anniversary Edition I Beg of You. Comparison of DVDs below., June 23, 2008

By	Mike Liddell (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Child's Play (Chucky's 20th Birthday Edition) (DVD)

A worthy edition of Child's Play hits shelves on September 9th as a nice appetizer before Halloween which is most horror fans version of Christmas. What better gift then a good guy doll.

Chucky has become a horror icon over the years. Directed by horror contributor Tom Holland who also directed Fright Night. Holland also wrote Psycho II and the screenplays for the brutal Class of 1984 and the classic 80s film Cloak & Dagger. Another horror regular Brad Dourif and that voice, he makes Chucky a doll version of Samuel L. Jackson's, Jules, from Pulp Fiction. Most notably his response to being thrown in the fire. Dourif along with the Fx team helped create one of the best doll horror movies. Other good one's that come to mind are the Zuni fetish doll from Trilogy of Terror and Stuart Gordon's Dolls.

The original dvd:
Originally Child's Play contained a non widescreen edition. As for special features it contained a collectible behind the scenes booklet that wasn't very collectible. If you'd like a real write up on Child's Play check out the somewhat new magazine HorrorHound. In issue #10 they do a in depth retrospective on the Child's Play series. I highly recommend this magazine as well, unlike Fangoria it does more articles on horror over the years instead of just new stuff.

The 20th Anniversary Edition:
Special Features
- Commentary track with creator/writer Don Mancini and producer David Kirschner.
- A second track with FX guru Kevin Yagher, Catherine Hicks (Kevin's wife; they met on the film), and now-grown-up Alex Vincent.
- A third track with Mancini and Chucky (Brad Dourif voicing in character).
- The film itself is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen.
- Making-of documentary blending archival footage with new, on-camera interviews with Mancini, Kirschner, Yagher, Hicks, Vincent, Chris Sarandon, John Lafia and Brad Dourif.
All this commentary should blow away the 1 page "collectible" piece of paper with the original dvd release.

I'd also recommend to those who like the series, which I do, (there a fun time) to pick up Chucky - The Killer DVD Collection, for those into cover art there is a doll of Chucky coming out of the cover with various weapons he can choose from on the side.

Hope this helps.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best Chucky movie ever, December 18, 2004

By	N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Child's Play (DVD)

Forget Seed of Chucky, Bride of Chucky, and the other two sequels that came after this surprisingly good horror romp. Tom Holland (Fright Night) directed this horror romp, in which the soul of a deranged killer inhabits a child's doll. Child's Play manages to boast a few genuine scares and add some creepy atmosphere to boot, with Brad Dourif doing great work as the voice of killer "good guy" doll Chucky. I won't go into the plot, since everyone pretty much already knows it, but what I will say is that this is about ten times better than any movie to feature the killer doll released since, and surprisingly the film hasn't aged too badly. All in all, if you've never seen the original Child's Play, give it a try; although I wish the DVD were presented in widescreen.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lance Zarders, October 26, 2007

By	F Block Sci High (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Child's Play (DVD)

that movie was so great it was really scary and it really had you going. i never thought that i would get scared just by watching a killer doll man they made they made the doll look so real.