 What is going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overload here, so this will be a review for a child's play I've never actually done deep digging into the franchise thus far on this channel besides comments I've made while talking about the TV show So what I'm going to do is start dropping reviews about each of the movies in the franchise because my channel Of course didn't exist at a time for me to do that So I'm going to start doing that going forward and we're going to start it off Of course with the old G back in 1988 that dropped and birthed horror icon So we know that child's play is directed by Tom Holland who also co-wrote the screenplay along with serious creator Don Mancini and John Laffia. It stars Catherine Hicks, Chris Sariden Alex Vincent and Brad Dorff now this film is revolving around a widowed mother Karen Barclay who is Giving her son a birthday gift a doll. He's always wanted a doll He's been wanting since he got announced from what we see in the film Unaware that the doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray So I don't think my review for this film will shock anyone but child's play is Undoubtedly one of the best horror films from the 80s and just in general it birthed the most iconic killer doll in horror history And it tells a great story about a child slowly losing their innocence and a mother who will do anything to keep that innocence alive It's also a phenomenal example of how to build suspense before giving your viewer the highly anticipated payoff At the center of this story We have young Andy Barclay who again is a six-year-old boy Who seems to be obsessed with the good guy brand and is eager to attain their newest release A good guy doll and he soon to be new friend to the end and then there's his mother Karen Who carries the story more than Andy does? I would say she's widowed trying to make ends meet And just wants her son to have an appropriate childhood and last but not least you have charles lee ray The lake shore strangler who is gunned down by detective magnors During the intense opening sequence and uses voodoo magics to transfer his soul Into Andy's new toy in order to cheat death What mancini and his co-writers do so well Is they demand your attention very early on with that gripping chase sequence involving some of our key players to open the film Then they gave us a group of compelling likable characters to invest in while constantly building the mystery that is shucky charles lee ray Karen and andy's relationship is easy to invest in and the loss of the husband slash father Is a throwaway line, but it aids In making the pair of characters people I'd like to see remain safe from shucky's wrath Andy is also one of the most or one of the more stronger child characters you could hope to have in a horror film He's a very resourceful little boy and is he's not working against the adults around him He's constantly trying to help solve the case, but no one will listen to him So how they chose to frame the narrative with us being able to see that andy is not a child that will annoy you He's a very resourceful again little boy This only adds to why I and many of you as viewers Love him so much because they effectively Establish a character worth getting behind and are putting him in some very unfortunate predicaments They're putting this boy that we love so much through the ringer All of these aspects make karen and andy's brief separation that comes in the movie Due to andy's assumed mental instability It strikes a core with the viewers since I actually care and want to see this relationship left unharmed Karen's determination to prove that her son is telling the truth about chucky drives the later half of the story Which does dig a little deeper into charlie charlie ray who he was while still preserving the mystique around the character To some degree, but we know that's slowly chipped at as the series progresses and we learn more about chucky And he becomes far more comedic Her path to the truth will also reunite her with her son So naturally this gives me as a viewer something to latch on to Because it will bring our two most important characters that chucky has created a divide between back together We know chucky is alive the entire runtime leading up to the iconic fireplace reveal with karen But the screenplay toys with the idea of andy being an unstable child Who has just simply gone off the deep end planting seeds of doubt that constantly keeps the story engaging Yes, you and I saw charlie ray transfer his soul into the doll But the film does make it seem like there's a chance andy possibly didn't receive that possessed doll And maybe they're showing us things that we want to believe because we want to believe that this is chucky doing it But of course our suspicions about chucky are confirmed when chucky attacks karen in the apartment The suspenseful scenes in the apartment Maggie's kill sequence that we know she has when she's watching andy while karen is still working Which any initial viewer could easily believe to be andy When he's running across the screen that one moment the skipping school scene etc All just create this unsettling feeling that grows as the story progresses And while yes, this is comedic It has the signature campiness that we come to know and love about the franchise Child's play is nowhere near what we see from this franchise going forward the humor is restricted to mostly One-liners from chucky moderately amusing character interactions like the one we see at karen's job with walter andy's iconic breakfast in bed Sequence we have after the opening and a few other moments that never break the overall suspenseful tone of the film Alex vencent is great as andy barkley and at one point he delivered the best performance in this film The moment when andy breaks down in tears is hard to watch sometimes now as an adult because no child deserves that Especially not one who is just telling the truth admittedly a very hard truth to accept Being a child at the time. He just captures the innocence perfectly, of course Also captain hicks is tremendous as karen barkley his mother and brad dwarf, of course Is just a nightmare fuel delight as chucky that switch in the voice during the fireplace scene remains one of the most Chilling horror moments for me dwarf captures the vindictive Manipulative and menacing nature of charlie ray in the best way possible The overall direction from tom holland is wonderful The pacing is really good as well and for how short child's play is it accomplishes a lot Moments intended to build characters don't go on for too long or too little the suspense moments with chucky gets a linger When they should and nothing to ever overstayed it's welcome this movie again It's a master class in how to build suspense Especially during that sequence where maggie is babysitting andy and we see these little things just to get under our skin Somebody running by hearing noises in the dark uh These brief glimpses of weapons being picked up and maggie not knowing about it All of those things are well effective ways to build suspense and keep your audience invested in what's about to happen to this character And again the while the humor is present It's just not as much as we get as the series progresses while I love the inherent campiness of it as it goes down the road Obviously child's play. I think everyone should be able to at least agree Is nowhere in the same vein as what you even see in child's play three bridal chucky seed of chucky Uh cult of chucky the tv show Hell sometimes I guess you could argue sometimes what's in curse of chucky child's play again one of the best Horror films we got in the 80s. It has a phenomenal score as well that really helps add on to the tension and suspense That's constantly swelling. You guys let me know what you think about the film down in the comments section below I would give child's play a 8 out of 10 if you haven't already, of course Make sure you subscribe turn on post notification number is a video in the description. I'll have links on my social media accounts I am on facebook twitter and instagram you can message me there, of course Let me see any movies newser the usual i'm gonna cover in the future and with all that in mind guys I will see you in the next video