Redundant Remakes: CHILD'S PLAY (1988 vs. 2019)

I was always terrified to watch the original CHILD’S PLAY, or as I referred to it in my head, “Chucky.” It certainly came as a surprise to me that the film was not actually called “Chucky,” but I digress. However, a couple weeks ago I finally took the plunge, despite my slight phobia of creepy dolls and/or children in horror films, and watched CHILD’S PLAY (1988) directed by Tom Holland, creator of one of my all-time favorites--Fright Night. And boy was I pleasantly surprised. To be perfectly honest, I loved this film. Brad Dourif is delightfully manical as the (not titular) sentient doll, and somehow pulls off the incredibly implausible premise of a murderer’s soul infecting a child’s toy with glee. As his victim, and eventual final boy (is that a thing?), Andy has got to be one of the most adorable young horror stars and certainly gives The Shining’s Danny a run for his money.

Therefore, having enjoyed the 1988 version so immensely, I had a feeling that nothing particularly good would come of the 2019 reboot--and unfortunately I was right. By replacing the supernatural elements of Chucky’s creation with an evil AI, the film removed not only the main source of humor, but also the main source of horror from the film. It is not nearly as frightening to imagine a robot stalking an aged-up Andy as it is to see an adult criminal watch a child sleep in the form of a doll. CHILD’S PLAY (2019) makes a few solid attempts at social commentary, ie. having Chucky learn to kill from watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 with Andy and his friends, or depicting the potential horrors of having one’s home controlled by a corporate AI. However, these critiques fall flat in the face of the original film’s portrayal of the consequences that follow when adults refuse to believe their children.

It is simply another weak attempt to capitalize on recent horror flicks starting a ‘Scooby-Gang’-like cast of characters (see It (2017) for a successful usage), and the poor characterization of Andy’s “friends” detracts from the film’s impact instead of adding to it. The writing of female characters and characters of color also feels more like an attempt to satisfy the industry’s desire to be diverse, when the plot could have made much better use of them. In the end, the film’s climax is unnecessarily large-scale and bombastic, while the original CHILD’S PLAY made the obviously right choice of ending Chucky’s reign of terror in the house where it started.

CHILD’S PLAY (2019) attempts to placate by bastardizing the most famous line from its predecessor (“This is the end, friend!”), but ultimately does not succeed at creating nostalgia for the original film or remaking it into something interesting and new. All the 2019 entry into the Chucky franchise ended up doing for me was solidify my belief that the original is superior in practically every way. The gags, kills, jokes, and horror sequences all land with weight in CHILD’S PLAY (1988), and exemplify all the facets of classic 80s horror films that make them great. A remake should never simply be an attempt to cash in on a famous name, but should bring something new and valuable to a familiar story. CHILD’S PLAY (2019) fails where many have failed, and neither its excessive gore nor unfortunate animatronic doll can save it.